Shadow Basin greenlight
Skiers and snowboarders will be zooming into Shadow Basin up The Remarks on a new chairlift next ski season.
NZSki, which operates the Queenstown skifield, has been given approval by the Department of Conservation to replace the slow, 33-year-old four-seater chairlift.
It plans to install six-seater Doppelmayr chairlift which will reduce the journey time by about five minutes, taking passengers to a higher elevation in Shadow Basin, allowing them to access the Alta Chutes and other black runs more easily.
The bottom station will be in a similar place, to the right of The Remarkables base building, but will be a new construction and lower, so the existing steps up will be removed.
Altogether, it will increase the carrying capacity from 1,500 passengers per hour to 2,400, and open up around 47ha of new terrain and new trails.
The project as a whole, including new snowmaking equipment etc, will cost around $23 million.
NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson says the Curvey Basin and Sugar Bowl chairlifts at The Remarks, which opened in 2014 and 2020 respectively, are good comparisons to the new chairlift.
"Like this one, they increased the capacity and the speed of the trips, opened up more lift-access terrain, and enhanced the snowmaking capability.
"Our guests are going to find this is a faster, much more comfortable and behind the scenes safer lift, as well as enabling us to open those trails earlier in the season with the snow-making capability."
The chairlift model itself is exactly the same as the one that serves Sugar Bowl.
"That's the premium lift that Doppelmayr offers," Anderson says.
It will reduce Shadow Basin travel time from 8mins 20sec to 3mins 30secs. Snowmaking will be extended up further up into Shadow Basin. It currently only reaches as far as the old, old lift station.
But the runs will only suit intermediate and advanced skiers and boarders.
"There won't be a green run, but there's a blue run from the top all the way out, and with more snowmaking, we'll be able to do more grooming. We'll also widen that narrow section before you hit the cat track."
One of the main attractions will be improved access to not only the Alta Chutes over the ridge, but also the Sunrise Face in the basin.
"That all becomes much more easily accessible, rather than having to hike or traverse around."
This will be the fifth major chairlift project Anderson has seen completed since he became NZSki boss just over 10 years ago, including two at The Remarks, Coronet Express at Queenstown's Coronet Peak, and the Nor'west Express at Mt Hutt in Canterbury.
"It does take a lot of planning and coordination, particularly as you have to deconstruct the lift, prepare access to the site, then obviously get the new lift in, as well as the snowmaking, other services, power and data so you've got comms from the top to the bottom.
"There's a lot to it but we're confident we can get it done."
Several organisations submitted objections, including Forest & Bird, Ngāi Tahu and Queenstown Climbing Club, based on the perceived impact on wildlife, views and other considerations.
But Aaron Fleming, DoC Director of Operations for the South Island, approved the 30-year concession subjected to NZSki meeting numerous conditions.
Fleming says there are no provisions in the Reserves Act 1977 that would be breached by the granting of a concession in the form of a lease. The skifield is in The Rastus Burn Recreation Reserve.
"I have reviewed the landscape assessment report and agree with the summary that landscape effects will be low to low-med, and that the proposed activity is consistent with the purpose for which the land is held, and are consistent modifications for being a ski area," he says in his decision.
He's also satisfied the chairlift will not be visible from Lake Alta.
"These effects are also further mitigated by the conditions in the concession, such as lighting and colours."
"I support the conditions set to manage the impact on wildlife, such as lizards and invertebrates (including Peripatus/ngaokeoke). I note that previous reports provide little evidence of wildlife at this elevation/altitude, but the proposed conditions provide guidance in the scenario wildlife is encountered during construction."
Anderson says the DoC consent was a "long and very thorough process", with the application submitted back in May 2022.
"But it deserves to be because we're privileged to operate in a very special part of the country, on the DoC estate. We've got to make sure to do that responsibility, so if that takes preparing all these reports and making sure the environmental impact is well understood and managed, then we're comfortable doing that."
Anderson says the company's also happy to meet the environmental protocols.
"We're committed to making sure the ecological impact is minimised and we actually pride ourselves on making it even better than when we started, through the rehabilitation work, revegetation and predator control."
Public access will be maintained through the works, except when heavy machinery is working.
NZSki has a separated application in for its overall 40-year consent to operate in The Rastus Burn Recreation Reserve, which includes plans to expand The Remarks base building, but asked DoC to prioritise the Shadow Basin application.
The Shadow Basin lift project still needs Queenstown Lakes District Council approvals, but that's not likely to be an issue.
