Families

Families are Cardrona. Wide open slopes, first class child care facilities, ski and snowboard lessons for all ages and abilities and a great selection of spacious beginner and intermediate terrain. It’s not the facilities but the the little things they do that will blow you away, from the friendly very helpful staff, to the mascots that wave you a cheery welcome at the bottom of the access road.

terrain

There are 3 magic carpet lifts in the beginner area and then the McDougall’s Chondola provides access to the rest of the green easy ski runs. For more of a challenge you can ski down to the Whitestar Express chair lift where you’ll get a good view of the terrain park enthusiasts on your way to the top of the mountain. From there you can make your way over to the Captains Valley or all the way down to Valley View which will definitely test your quad strength being a 4km ski run.

Captains Valley is so much fun, combining super wide rolling pistes with some natural hits and drops off and chutes off-piste. If you’re an intermediate skier or snowboarder this is an area that will give you confidence to push your skills to the next level.

Insider Tip: The Captain’s café is a great place to refuel, the pizzas are highly recommended.

To add to all the epic space, Cardies has the new Willows chairlift! Willow's is in Soho Ski Area, on the southern face of Mt Cardrona. It's the closest basin to the Whakatipu Basin, overlooking Queenstown. Willow's is made up of two big bowls, with undulating intermediate terrain. It opens up 65 hectares of great skiing and snowboarding! The basin is south-facing with fantastic snow quality.

Not in the mood for pizza, not a problem. At the Cardrona base building there are plenty more options including a Noodle Bar, Café food and even canteen staples - something to satisfy all hungry tummies.

Terrain Parks

Looking for the best in the south, look no further. The Cardrona Parks crew has set up some amazing terrain park facilities for all abilities including their famous half pipe. Find your feet on some of the beginner jumps and boxes or train for your next competition on their advanced lines. Want to get started - grab a lesson and learn from some of the best.

Spectactor sports 

Cardrona hosts a number of events and competitions each year including the NZ Winter Games which sees stars from the winter Olympics and X Games compete in their first major championships of the season. Definitely worth a watch!

Getting to cardrona

Cardrona Ski Field is situated roughly half way between Queenstown and Wanaka. It takes about an hour and a quarter to get to the base building from central Queenstown – slightly longer on a powder day. A stop at the Cardrona Hotel is a must, Apres Ski, great snacks and drinks in an historic old hotel with the best beer garden around.