Lifts & Terrain
The Remarkables ski area is made of three north facing bowls that are sunny and relatively sheltered from the elements. The resort is predominantly suited to freestylers and first-timers. When the snow is right, there is also terrain for advanced back-country skiers who don’t mind a bit of a hike. It’s amazing that there is steep terrain galore considering how small the resort is, with an area of only 220 hectares.
The Remarkables LiftsThere are three main quad chairs, all of which are fixed grip. The Shadow Basin Chair mainly services black runs whilst the Alta chair that rises from the main base area is for gentle easy runs. The Sugar Bowl chair provides access to mixed terrain and the parks and pipe.
Either the topography of the area is not ideal, or the lift locations were not well planned, as the lay-out of the lifts doesn’t work particularly well. You seem to have to do a lot of inconvenient traversing, and all the lifts seem like they need to go a little higher considering that the best terrain requires a hike. Getting to and from the Shadow Basin chair is awkward, and if you don’t stay really high you end up in the middle of the deck dining area or have to take your skis off to cross a small road.
For beginners there are three fantastic surface conveyor lifts (magic carpets) and a handle tow. Another “lift” is the shuttle bus that operates from the bottom of the homeward bound run.
Lift TicketsThe lift tickets seem pretty expensive for the infrastructure you get in return, particularly when you have to walk to get to much of the expert terrain. However if you’re a park rider then you’ll definitely get your money’s worth.
Snow and Weather ConditionsThe snow conditions at The Remarkables are fairly typical of New Zealand. The average annual snowfall of 3.7metres is reasonable, and the snowmaking capacity has been improved so that there are no issues with cover on the terrain parks, pipe and the beginners area.Many of the advanced areas can suffer from marginal cover, but when there is powder these runs can be awesome.
Like other NZ resorts the terrain is treeless, but the horse-shoe shape of the resort provides a little protection from the wind and weather. Considering that the bowls are north-facing, they are beautiful and sunny, but this also increases the likelihood of the melt-freeze cycle of the snow.
For the BeginnerThe learner area just below the base building with 3 magic carpets and a handle tow is a great environment to start. From here beginners can progress onto the Alta chair for Alta green, and then onto the next chair for Easy Out. Unfortunately this is all the beginner terrain, but for children in particular, this is more than adequate.
Intermediate Ski TerrainWhilst 40% of the terrain is rated as blue, there are much better mountains for intermediates. There are a couple of runs off each of the three chairs, but many of these have terrain parks in the middle of them, which is fine if you want to do a bit of freestyling, but annoying otherwise. If you want long groomers for cruising or speeding go to
Coronet Peak.
For the Family/KidsThe novice area at The Remarkables is very well located so that parents can languish around the outdoor tables or the café sun deck, and keep an eye on the children. The Ozone tube park at the top of the Alta chair also provides an alternative for the family who has had enough of skiing.The ski resort is incredibly family-friendly and laid back atmosphere is perfect. The only thing lacking for families would be if the adults are intermediate skiers and not into riding the terrain parks.
Parks and PipesThe Remarkables is a freestyling playground with tonnes of opportunities and jibs for all levels. The Fruju terrain park off the Alta chair is a beginner park with very basic features. Off the Sugar Bowl chair is the main terrain park (Up and Go), and the FIS specification superpipe. Next to this is the “Stash”, a Burton signature terrain park which has a kilometre of features. This park is really impressive, and in line with other Stash parks around the world, it aims to mimic natural hits but considering there are no trees in NZ, Burton have sort of cheated by putting log features in. There are also rocks, concrete slabs and a hut with a great roof to jump off.
The Remarkables wins the Powderhounds award for the
best terrain park in New Zealand.
Advanced SkiingEven though The Remarkables caters mainly for learners and shredders, there are some of New Zealand's finest expert runs to be explored and defeated.Off the Shadow Basin chair, there are lots of advanced runs. You can drop in anywhere off the outer trail on the skiers left, and into narrow bowls and chutes. Shady Lady is one example of such a run. They’re pretty short runs but rather sweet.
Further down this trail is the access to the Homeward Bound run. The status of this run is indicated on a board at the bottom of the Shadow chair. Homeward Bound is a large basin of off-piste fun, and is absolutely awesome with powder. It’s not particularly steep so you don’t have to be a super expert to tackle it, but it could become an experts run under some conditions if the snow was patchy. It runs down to the road where frequent shuttle buses will return you to the base area from 10am-3:30pm.
Off the other side of the Shadow Basin chair you can traverse to the East face, a favourite of many of the locals.The Gallipoli chutes are not too extreme, and are accessed off the top of the Sugar Bowl quad with a bit of a hike.
Expert SkiingSome of the terrain is quite testing, but it requires fitness and hiking. A short walk from the Shadow Basin Chair leads to the Alta Chutes area with runs like Elevator, Escalator, Terminator, Eliminator, Exterminator and the ridiculously difficult Diangulator. What other run names could end in “ator” – Strangulator, Alligator?
If you still want to do some climbing, you could also give the Toilet Bowl a go. This is the large bowl visible on the left as you drive up to the resort. It’s accessed via a climb from Sugar bowl.
For the PowderhoundYou’ve got to wait for the right day, but many of the bowls and chutes mentioned above are magic on a powder day. Unfortunately you won’t be alone.