Cardrona and Treble Cone have today announced their operational plan for the 2020 season. New Zealand has reached Alert Level 1 status which means everything is back to “normal”. Though ski resorts will still be operating with between 30 – 50% less clients while the Tasman borders remain closed.
The biggest difference for Cardrona and Treble Cone is that they won’t have as many staff as normal. HQ is planning to open Cardrona from June 26 till October 18, and Treble Cone from June 27 till September 6.
Lifts and terrain
The good news is the plan is to have both mountains open 7 days a week (weather-dependent) with all chairlifts apart from the Valley View Quad at Cardrona running. This is due to the lockdown which meant that maintenance was not able to be completed in time.
Ski Patrol, however, are going to look at access down Goldrush to the bottom of Valley View at the end of each day at Cardrona.
Learner facilities at both mountains will be operating. At Treble Cone the learners’ facilities will be dependent on natural snow fall.
At Cardrona, the Pringles boundary line will be moved up to Comeback trail.
The Pringles zone will be considered backcountry for the season
It won’t be patrolled so please talk to the team at the top of Captain’s for conditions information before you head down there.
Rentals and storage
Ski Concierge for rental gear at Cardrona will be run through the Rental department (not the on-snow option). Overnight storage will still be available at Cardrona in the lockers above the ski and snowboard school guest services. The workshop at Cardrona will run as normal.
Over at Treble Cone, there won’t be an on-mountain workshop or overnight storage. There will be day lockers available to hire. Ski Concierge at Treble Cone will also be available for rental gear only and also run within Rentals.
Food and booze
This year Cardrona will be running 7 of 8 food and beverage outlets, with Little Meg closed for the season.
At Treble Cone Altitude, the Bar, Grab and Go and Southern BBQ will all be on offer.
Transport
The resorts will be running transport from Queenstown to Cardrona as per previous years. However, this year the late rider option will not run and there will be limited buses so you’ll need to book ahead.
The Wanaka transport to Cardrona and Treble Cone will be operated by our friends at Yello this year – it’ll start on July 3rd, and finish at TC on August 2 and Cardrona on September 27.
The resorts are currently confirming the schedules for the Pine Trees at Cardrona/TC Mountain Shuttle buses. These will be a reduced service and as soon as they’re confirmed they’ll be listed on their transport page.
Ski School
Cardrona’s lessons and programmes are all running as normal this season, including the Ski Kindy and Kids’ Club.
At Treble Cone, they will be delivering pre-booked private lessons only.
There will be a limited number of instructors available for walk-in private bookings but the resort will not be offering any group lessons (apart from local kids’ programmes etc.). The Wanaka Ski Team, Cardrona Parks Squad and TC Freeride Programme will all be running this year.
Terrain Parks
Like most years, the terrain park team at Cardrona are starting small and working their way up. In order, they’ll build Lil’ Bucks, Stag Lane and Antlers Alley. Additional features throughout the season, including Big Bucks, are dependent on a few factors (including snow).
Due to border restrictions, all international events have been removed from the 2020 Events Calendar.
However there will be local events for all skiers and snowboarders. These include the TC Banked Slalom, Junior Nationals, Park Attack Slopestyle, Winter Pride and more.
ITC will operate at both Cardrona and Treble Cone this season and Weekend Warriors is back.
While we have you, help SnowsBest remain your independent source of snow news this winter with a “Covid contribution“, so we can continue to deliver the news and content you value in a season when we need each other most. Contribute here.
