Queenstown is touted as the jewel in New Zealand tourism’s crown, each year welcoming about 3 million people, a huge number of them arriving during the winter season to either work or play. Seventy years ago, Queenstown was a very different place, particularly in winter, when the Wakatipu was virtually a ghost town. All of that changed when Coronet Peak opened for commercial skiing in 1947. Tracey Roxburgh reports.
Last year, Queenstown’s annual tourism expenditure hit $2.08billion.
Annually, about three million people visit the resort — home to more than 18,500 people — and, year-round, they’re spoilt for choice when it comes to activities.
The Wakatipu is booming and with that comes the pressure from seemingly unstoppable growth.
But you don’t have to go too far back in the history books to find a time when that wasn’t the case, particularly in winter.
In the 1930s, many of the resort’s businesses closed down for winter. You could, apparently, walk through the main streets and not see anyone.
It all started to change in 1939.
A massive storm hit the deep south that July, isolating Dunedin and delivering snow across the entire region.It didn’t let up for six days.
On July 24, 1939, the heaviest and most widespread of a series of storms became the worst on record in Otago — 50cm was reported to have settled on the ground across the region, 91cm lay at Garston and snow reached fence tops in Athol.
Reta and Jack Royds, Sandy Wigley — Sir Henry Wigley’s brother — and Captain George Herbert got together and the Wakatipu Ski Club was born.
But it soon became clear Coronet Peak, the club’s mountain of choice, held far greater potential than as a home for just recreational skiing.
Capt Herbert, the Tourism Department’s officer-in-charge, instructed Sandy, the Mount Cook Company’s Queenstown manager, Sir Henry, and their father Rodolph, founder of the Mount Cook Company, to further develop skiing in the resort.
They started at the Crown Range, skiing from the summit into the Cardrona village, and around Lake Johnson, near Frankton.
But it took just one mild winter for them to realise the future of the industry was at Coronet Peak.
Sandy Wigley got in touch with Sir William Hamilton — who would go on to invent the jet-boat engine — and asked him to help.
The result was the country’s first rope tow.
Powered by a Bedford truck, the tow ascended just over 100 vertical metres.It moved at 10 miles an hour — about 16kmh — and could lift 500 skiers every 60 minutes, reducing their climb time to two minutes.
The skifield launched commercially in July 1947 and, in doing so, it forever changed Queenstown’s tourism offering.As the skiers flocked, investment on the field and in the town followed.
Seventy years on, both the skifield and the resort remain synonymous with innovation and success.In just over 100 days every year, about quarter of a million visitors head up the hill.
There are now 500 staff employed at Coronet Peak, of whom 350 are on the mountain on any given day.
A state-of-the-art base building — JSD’s Lodge at Coronet Peak, named after NZSki board chairman Sir John Davies — opened in 2008. There are 217 snow guns hooked to an automated system enabling snow-making when the temperatures drop low enough; a network of lights that, when viewed from across Queenstown, makes the mountain look a bit like the North Pole when night skiing is under way; snow tubing facilities; three chairlifts; and a T-bar along with magic carpets.
It’s that type of investment that has transformed Queenstown from a sleepy settlement in the coldest months of the year to a vibrant, internationally renowned winter playground.
Sir John says there is "no question" that’s largely due to the Coronet Peak ski area.
"If you look at the likes of Te Anau, that hasn’t got a winter resort for tourists to come and visit, the early days of Wanaka, before Treble Cone and Cardrona, the towns were very different.
"It was a downturn and lengthy and gloomy winter.
"It [Coronet Peak] has been an amazing thing for Queenstown ... it’s been the driving force behind Queenstown getting to where it is."
The ski area stimulated the economy; suddenly there was a market for visitor accommodation in the winter months; eventually, equipment-hire facilities, such as Brown’s Ski Shop, which opened in 1972; and, of course, transport.
Queenstown Airport now welcomes about 25 flights a day during the winter months from around New Zealand and Australia. That’s in part due to the popularity of Coronet, the Remarkables, Cardrona and Treble Cone.Sir John believes his business philosophy — ‘‘get the product right’’ — has helped cement Queenstown as a snowsports destination, nationally and internationally.
"You’ve got to spend a lot of money, whether it’s skiing or, in our case, the Hermitage Hotel ... pouring money into it to give people a pleasurable experience.‘‘It’s a continual drive to make sure that [everything] is right.
"We want to make sure that everybody that sets foot on Coronet Peak goes away with a satisfied and very happy feeling."
NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson says continual investment at Coronet, particularly in technology and experienced staff, has made the difference.
"This year Coronet Peak was the first mountain to open all its lifts and it’s because of that investment in snow-making and grooming and high-speed lifts that gives us that ability.
"It’s just critical."
Looking ahead, Sir John says global warming is the biggest risk factor for the ski area — the top of Coronet is about the same height as The Remarkables’ base building.
"In 10 to 15 years we’ll be able to make snow longer [at The Remarkables] and there’s less risk, commercially, on the Remarkables than there is at Coronet," Sir John says.
Mr Anderson, however, believes there will still be skiing at Coronet in 100 years.
"That’s not because climate change isn’t a reality — it absolutely is — but the investment we’ve made up there helps us manage that impact.
"Technological change will help us manage that impact better ... knowing how to use the snow-making system we’ve got better will ensure that we will still be skiing up at Coronet Peak for a long, long time."
He says the bigger challenge is for Coronet to hold its own among the "absolute plethora of activities" on offer in Queenstown for those looking to spend their holiday dollar.
"I think, to be honest, our biggest challenge is ... making sure we keep the experience on the mountain fresh and inviting and easy for newcomers to the sport.
"That’s really one of our mantras, to make it as easy as possible for new people to come up and get into the sport because we know that once they’re up there and they get into it, they’ll be hooked."
