
Coronet Peak
Ski 280 hectares just 20 minutes from Queenstown, with night skiing, First Tracks and NZ's largest snowmaking system.
Coronet Peak is Queenstown's closest ski area and the oldest commercial ski field in New Zealand, first opening in 1947 with a single rope tow. The resort spans 280 hectares of skiable terrain on the southern flanks of the 1,649m peak, seven kilometres west of Arrowtown and just 20 minutes by sealed road from downtown Queenstown. The mountain rises from 1,187m to 1,649m with a 462m vertical drop across 32 runs — 14% beginner, 34% intermediate, 25% advanced and 27% expert.
The terrain is characterised by its rolling, undulating profile — often described as roller coaster skiing — with open faces, natural gullies and back bowls that reward confident skiers willing to explore beyond the groomed trails. Northern Hemisphere race teams regularly use Coronet Peak as a southern-season training base, and the mountain is the home field of local Queenstown skier Alice Robinson, a World Cup giant slalom winner.
Coronet Peak is the only resort in the Queenstown region to offer night skiing, with floodlit runs open from 4–9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays plus select Saturday nights from late June through early September. Combined with a First Tracks programme offering exclusive early access from 8–9am, the resort delivers the longest ski day in New Zealand — up to 13 hours of on-snow time.
The resort is operated by NZSki alongside The Remarkables and Mt Hutt, and all three mountains sit on a shared Superpass and 3 Peak Season Pass. Coronet Peak is also included on the Ikon Pass and Mountain Collective, making it accessible to international pass holders without a separate ticket purchase.
Coronet Peak spreads 32 runs across 692 acres skiable of terrain. It leans intermediate at 34%, with 4 beginner runs to find your feet and 17 advanced or expert runs when you want to push.
Coronet Peak typically runs the longest season of any non-glacier resort in New Zealand, with the 2026 season operating from 13 June to 4 October. The new Snow Factory extends activity even earlier: from 30 May 2026, the learner slopes and a dedicated snow play zone will open for beginners, families and snow tubing, making Coronet Peak the first New Zealand resort to open for the 2026 season.
Average annual natural snowfall is approximately 2 metres, but the resort's comprehensive snowmaking system — capable of laying half a metre of cover across all main trails — means conditions are far less dependent on natural falls than at higher-altitude, non-snowmaking fields. The south-facing aspect helps preserve snow quality, and world-class grooming ensures piste conditions hold up even in variable weather.
The most reliable snow window runs from late July through August, when natural snowfall peaks and base depths are typically at their deepest. Spring skiing through September offers warmer days and fewer crowds, though the lower elevation means the season can tighten if conditions turn mild.
Night skiing runs from late June through early September on Wednesday and Friday evenings, with additional Saturday sessions during the July school holidays. The floodlit sessions draw a strong local crowd from Queenstown and are widely regarded as one of the region's signature winter experiences, with views across the illuminated slopes to the lights of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu below.
Coronet Peak sits just 18km from Queenstown on a fully sealed access road, making it the most accessible alpine ski area in the Southern Lakes region. The drive takes around 20 minutes from central Queenstown, with no chains required on the sealed road in normal conditions — a notable advantage over most other New Zealand ski fields, which typically involve gravel access roads.
Multiple shuttle bus services operate daily from Queenstown's Snow Centre, with hotel pick-ups available en route. The resort's proximity means it works well as a half-day activity, easily combined with Queenstown's other winter attractions. Arrowtown, the historic gold-mining village, lies just seven kilometres to the east.
Queenstown Airport is the nearest gateway, approximately 30 minutes from the resort, with domestic flights from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and direct international services from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The resort is also accessible from Invercargill (approximately two hours) and Dunedin (approximately three and a half hours).
The base area houses a large purpose-built lodge with restaurants, a bar, Cafe 1200, the iconic Heidi's Hut mid-mountain dining stop, and the Skiwiland childcare centre catering for children aged two to five. A retail shop, rental department and snowsports school round out the on-mountain facilities, and a new Heidi's Hot Tub provides a post-ski soak beside the hut.
Hotels and lodges near Coronet Peak, powered by Stay22.

Mount Buller closes out its 2026 season this Sunday, joining Falls Creek, Hotham and Charlotte Pass in a cluster of closures landing almost simultaneously and roughly a month ahead of schedule. The culprit is stark: Spencers Creek's benchmark snow depth hit 31.2cm on 3 September, just 18% of the 73-year average and an all-time low for this point in the season. Six of Victoria and NSW's best-known resorts will have shut their lifts early within a span of about two and a half weeks.

Tremblant has confirmed a major expansion of its Quebec ski area, with a new Timber Summit sector adding 62 acres of terrain, eight trails and a high-speed quad chairlift for winter 2027/28. It's part of a CAD 42.5 million investment that also includes a new beginner learning zone at Versant Soleil opening this coming season. The project has grown considerably since it was first announced back in 2020, when it carried a far smaller budget and an opening date that never eventuated.

We knew when the Bird Bath Pond Skim showed up on Hotham's Instagram that the season was on its way out. It's been a rough one - I only managed two days on snow all year, at Falls Creek - and now Baw Baw, Selwyn and Hotham have all called it, possibly the worst Australian season I've seen in a decade. Hotham's last day of lift operations is Sunday, 6 September, with a Retro Day, Father's Day après and closing sales before the lifts stop turning for good.

Thredbo Alpine Resort has confirmed plans to replace its 37-year-old Gunbarrel quad chairlift with a new six-seat Doppelmayr D-Line, targeting winter 2028. The AUD 35 million project will keep travel time roughly the same but lift capacity from 2,800 to 3,000 skiers per hour. It's part of a broader investment push that also includes doubled snowmaking capacity at Friday Flat for 2027, with the ageing Kosciuszko Express now flagged as the resort's next major lift replacement after Gunbarrel.

An aerial tram carrying around fifty passengers struck the boom of a construction crane on the route to Pic Blanc at Alpe d'Huez on Wednesday morning, injuring 23 people, three seriously. The cabin tipped on impact before the operator reversed it to right the car. Most of the injured were treated on site, with five taken to hospital in Grenoble, including a pregnant woman assessed as a precaution.

A deadly flood on the Nepal-China border, a decade-old tragedy on Italy's Marmolada, and an unstable glacier right now above a village near Zermatt - three very different mountain ranges, the same underlying story. Warming ice is destabilising terrain that was considered settled for generations, and the results range from catastrophic floods to slow-motion monitoring situations that could go either way.

Tyrol's highest ski area is gearing up to open a full month ahead of most of the Alps. The Pitztal Glacier is scheduled to start its 2026/27 season on Saturday 26 September, running through to 2 May 2027, with the lower-altitude Rifflsee area following in December. High-altitude terrain up to 3,440 metres gives the glacier a head start on snow, though as always, the actual opening extent will depend on how September's weather plays out. Early online ski pass bookings can save up to 30%.

A hanging glacier above the Swiss village of Randa, just south of Zermatt, has been shedding large chunks of ice for weeks, with authorities warning more break-offs are likely. A danger zone has been closed off since June, though officials say the village's 479 residents aren't at risk. It's a familiar pattern for this glacier - it's done this before, in 1819, 1972 and 1973 - but a reminder of how closely Alpine authorities now watch terrain once considered stable.
More Coronet Peak intelligence: snow report, lift system, webcams, resort overview.