New Zealand ski fields map

A list of 25 North Island and South Island ski fields on maps for easy access and with links to official New Zealand ski field websites.

There are 25 ski and snowboard areas in New Zealand, 18 of which are commercially operated ski fields. The rest are mainly run by nonprofit ski clubs.

Of the commercial ski areas, only a few offer onsite accommodation, which means that for most of them, nearby towns and resorts provide bed and après ski entertainment.

Whakapapa – on the northeastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu on the North Island of New Zealand – is New Zealand’s largest and busiest ski area.

Turoa – on the opposite side of Mount Ruapehu – gets plenty of dry snow from July to September and has the biggest vertical drop of any ski resort in Australasia.

Snow Farm – accessible from the Cardrona Valley between Wanaka and Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand – is New Zealand’s only commercial cross-country ski area.

For the approximate opening times of New Zealand ski fields, please refer to the When do New Zealand ski fields open? section further in this article. Also keep in mind that opening dates of ski fields depend on weather and snow conditions, so the dates are not set in stone.

New Zealand ski fields North Island maps

Below you’ll find a list of New Zealand ski fields on the North Island of New Zealand.

Click on the name of one of the ski fields to go to the website of that ski field and get more information about that ski field or click on the map link in brackets to see where the ski field is located on a map in Google Maps.

• Whakapapa (location on a map; trail map)
• Turoa (location on a map; trail map)
• Tukino (location on a map; trail map)
• Manganui (location on a map; trail map)

New Zealand ski fields South Island maps

Below you’ll find a list of New Zealand ski fields on the South Island of New Zealand.

Click on the name of one of the ski fields to go to the website of that ski field and get more information about that ski field or click on the map link in brackets to see where the ski field is located on a map in Google Maps.

• Rainbow (location on a map; trail map)
• Hanmer Springs (location on a map; trail map)
• Mt. Lyford (location on a map; trail map)
• Temple Basin (location on a map; trail map)
• Craigieburn (location on a map; trail map)
• Broken River (location on a map; trail map)
• Mt. Cheeseman (location on a map; trail map)
• Porters (location on a map; trail map)
• Mt. Olympus (location on a map; trail map)
• Mt. Potts (location on a map)
• Mt. Hutt (location on a map; trail map)
• Mt. Dobson (location on a map; trail map)
• Fox Peak (location on a map; trail map)
• Roundhill (location on a map; trail map)
• Ohau (location on a map; trail map)
• Awakino (location on a map; trail map)
• Treble Cone (location on a map; trail map)
• Cardrona (location on a map; trail map)
• Snow Farm (location on a map; trail map)
• Coronet Peak (location on a map; trail map)
• The Remarkables (location on a map; trail map)

When do New Zealand ski fields open?

Depending on the location and ski resort in New Zealand, you can ski or snowboard from early June to late October.

Ski fields on the South Island tend to open before ski fields on the North Island.

South Island ski fields generally open early June and close early October, while North Island slopes are open from late June to mid October.

Ski fields on the South Island also tend to be less crowded than ski fields on the North Island of New Zealand, although this does not apply to holiday periods.

When deciding when is the best time to visit New Zealand for skiing, you may also want to take the July school holidays period into consideration, because ski fields tend to get very busy then. Resorts like Coronet Peak and Cardrona in the Southern Lakes area Queenstown and Wanaka) on the South Island of New Zealand can get very busy.

Mt. Hutt near Methven and about 1.5 hours from Christchurch in Canterbury on the South Island of New Zealand is usually the first ski field in New Zealand to open its slopes but not always. Coronet Peak tends to beat it sometimes.

You can find all of the ski areas in New Zealand listed in the lists of New Zealand ski fields and click on any ski field to visit its web site.

The table below lists the approximate times when (commercial) New Zealand ski fields open.

Opening times generally depend on snow conditions, which are difficult to predict and which only mother nature has control over. So while you could contact the respective ski fields through their web sites to ask for exact opening times, please remember that they depend on the weather.

New Zealand ski field opening dates in 2019

The table below lists 2019 opening dates for New Zealand ski fields that have already announced ski field opening dates. This list was last updated on June 14, 2019.

For the most up to date opening dates, please visit the official ski fields websites, which you can find via the lists of New Zealand ski fields.

MetService also keeps track of the open and closed statuses of ski fields and provides weather forecasts for 23 ski fields.

New Zealand ski fields closing dates in previous years

The table below lists the 2017, 2018, and 2019 closing dates for New Zealand ski fields.

Note that closing dates of ski fields depend on the weather and may vary from year to year but usually fall in either August, September, or October.

Please be cautious when using the dates listed below for planning your future ski holiday and to get an idea of the date until when you can ski in New Zealand.

Judging from the dates listed below, the latest I would plan a ski holiday in 2020 is for early September and before the school holidays, which generally start at the end of September.

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