What's New at the Skifields - New Zealand & Australia 2015

NEW ZEALAND

Porters

Porters has installed a 4-seater Doppelmayr chairlift over the past few months and it will be ready for the new season. The new chairlift replaces T-bar 1 and is called Easy Rider. The slope underneath it will be renamed Easy Street and will no longer be dissected by the T-bar track.

The Easy Rider chairlift at Porters (Source: Porters)

Initially it will mean still having to take 3 lifts to get to the very top of the skifield, but the plan is to replace those with another chairlift - not sure when. What happened to the grand plan for a gondola and a village development?

Treble Cone

Treble Cone has developed its intermediate trails in the snow-sure Saddle Basin. A new groomed intermediate run, Side Saddle, will run parallel to Rafill's Run in an under-utilised area of the bowl.

Treble Cone has also widened the long and narrow Saddle Back trail and made the entry easier for intermediates. The various entrances to all these runs off the Upper High Street track have also been adjusted for 2015.

The Remarkables

Treble Cone 2015 Trail Map (Source: Treble Cone)

The Remarkables will have a brand new base building in 2015. The base area will also allow direct access from the car park to snow.

This is the second year to enjoy the new Curvey Basin chairlift at The Remarkables.

Mt Hutt

Mt Hutt will debut a new intermediate-advanced trail off the Virgin Mile this season. Typically the steep and fast Platter Splatter is groomed, and the various other named ways down into the bowl are not. However, in my ten years skiing there I have seen High Dive and Bob's Knob also groomed.

A new intermediate track below the lower half of Highway 72 will also give better skiers leaving the Towers area with a quicker way back to the base area avoiding beginners on Highway 72.

Rainbow (Source: Rainbow)

Rainbow

New snow-making pipes have been added at Rainbow, extending snow-making to the top of the ski area. They are ready to start snowmaking in June.

AUSTRALIA

Mt Buller

Mt Buller has invested $500,000 in a new submersible pump which will increase snowmaking capacity. Eight additional fully automatic snowmaking guns are being installed on the southern side of Bourke Street, completing the automation of snowmaking in this area. The existing guns will be relocated to the south side of Baldy.

The Tirol T-Bar has been upgraded with the diesel motor replaced by an electric version. This should improve the reliability of this lift.