Ōhau is a small commercial skifield in the foothills of New Zealand's

Southern Alps The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) are a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand, New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The n ...

, near the boundary between the

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

regions, and close to the western shore of the lake of the same name. The skifield was originally developed by the Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Co.Wigley, Harry ''The Mount Cook way: The first fifty years of the Mount Cook Company'' Auckland: Collins, 1979 The field's service town, Lake Ohau Alpine Village, is located on the shore of the lake to the south of the skifield.

Details

In 2004, a new two seater

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers. They are the primary on-hill tran ...

was installed on the slopes. This chairlift opened up the snowfield a lot more and increased the lift-accessible terrain. The next year, the longest snowmat in New Zealand was installed in place of the ropetow. The skifield now has 3 lifts (1 chairlift, 1

platter lift A surface lift is a type of cable transport for mountain sports in which skiers, snowboarders, or Mountain bike, mountain bikers remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularit ...

and 1 snowmat). The base

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

is 1400 m and the highest altitude is 1825 m. The access road is an unsealed alpine road but is usually kept in good condition with buses leaving from the lodge daily. Historically, the season has run from mid-July to early October. In 2008, a new 23-cannon, fully automated

snowmaking Snowmaking is the production of snow by forcing water and pressurized air through a "snow gun", also known as a "snow cannon". Snowmaking is mainly used at ski resorts to supplement natural snow. This allows ski resorts to improve the reliabilit ...

system was installed, allowing the skifield to open earlier, capturing lucrative July school holiday business.

Expansion plans

In March 2012 it was announced that an ex- Treble Cone 2 seater chair lift had been purchased. This was to be installed over the following summer in time for the 2013 season, giving visitors a secondary access to the peak. This installation did not occur, and in June 2013 it was announced this chair lift had been traded for the ex- Cardrona "La Franchie" 2 seater chair lift to be installed depending on the success of the 2013 winter season. This new chair lift has a claimed increased capacity of 1200 skiers and boarders per hour on a 4.5 minute trip. In March 2014 it was noted, "unfortunately we cannot afford to put in the chairlift for 2014 but hopefully if the business continues to trend upwards we can put it in for 2015!".

Scenery

Ōhau has some of the most spectacular mountain views in New Zealand. From the summit of the skifield a view of the Southern Alps can be seen. From the skifield runs, Lake Ōhau and the

Mackenzie Basin The Mackenzie Basin (), popularly and traditionally known as the Mackenzie Country, is an elliptical intermontane river basin, basin located in the Mackenzie District, Mackenzie and Waitaki Districts, near the centre of the South Island of Ne ...

can be seen spread out below in the valley floor. There are good views across the lake to Ben Ohau.

References

External links

Ōhau Skifields WebsiteNew Zealand Ski Ōhau Ski page
{{Ski areas and resorts in New Zealand Ski areas and resorts in the Canterbury Region Ski areas and resorts in Otago