Turoa, New Zealand

Andrew Nuske from AUSTRALIA writes:

Turoa is a large, open mountainside, with ski runs cut by groomers between large patches of hard ice. Unfortunately there is no shelter from the wind, so even when it is only 0 degrees, it feels significantly colder on the ski lifts. Forget early mornings, as the snow refreezes pretty much every night. Forget weekends, as the lift lines are ridiculous. Best bet for a weekend is to grab a private ski lesson, so you get some ski style tutoring, but the big bonus is cutting straight to the front of the lift lines! Runs are varied and interesting, but the mountain is dominated by hopeless snowboarders, whom good skiers will have to dodge all the way down the runs. On powder days and when the sun comes out to thaw the ice/snow, the skiing is absolutely epic! On windy days the whole mountain closes, as there is no protection for the lifts. My tip is head to Turoa in late August or early September, in the hope the temperature rises and the wind decreases. We stayed at the Powderhorn Chateau, which was brilliant! It is a half hour drive up the hill every morning (no on-snow accomodation sucks!), but is a beautiful through what seems like rainforest. The drive from Auckland is a good 4.5 hours - don't believe the websites telling you 3 hours! On bad weather days when the mountain is closed, head to scenic Lake Taupo - an easy 1.5 hour drive North-East (and there are many great restaurants there), or Rotorua is approximately 3 hours North/Northeast - many activities there including skydiving, jet boating, extreme freefall fan riding, Polynesian Spa resort (a must!) and all sorts of Volcanic geysers etc to see on the way. The town of Ohakune itself is quite basic, but has the bare essentials. We were just there for the Powderhorn Rail Jam & the Mardi Gras (end of July) which was fantastic! I recommend you check out Turoa and Whakapapa, as they are great ski fields (albeit very busy, and often closed), but from others I hear it is more worthwhile to head to the South Island where the weather is more favourable, and the tourism development is superior!

2006-08-14

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