NZSki has plans to super-charge Coronet Peak’s mountainbiking operation with an extensive network of new trails, including one it hopes will attract the World Cup to Queenstown.
The operator has applied to the Department of Conservation for a 30-year licence to construct, operate and repair 14 mountainbike trails, including two that link to existing trails within the Coronet Park Recreation Reserve.
NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson told Mountain Scene the planned expansion would make better use of skiing infrastructure "all year round", to "keep on growing that mountainbiking scene and make Queenstown a world-class destination for that".
The proposal was not necessarily an attempt to future-proof the low-lying skifield against the effects of climate change that University of Otago School of Geography climatologist Nicolas Cullen recently forecast would halve Queenstown’s ski season by the end of the century, Mr Anderson said.
"We would be doing this regardless of climate change.
"We only put in the Coronet Express [gondola lift] three years ago, so that points to our confidence in our ability to have ski operations in the future of Coronet Peak.
"We’ll be skiing at Coronet Peak for many decades to come."
Mountainbiking was first introduced to the skifield with the opening of the Coronet Downhill and Cross Country trails in 2006.
The Upper Rude Rock and Rude Rock link runs were added in 2021.
The proposed new trails cater for the full range of mountainbiking abilities, from grade two "easy" to grade six "extreme"; broadening the appeal of the existing runs — grade three "intermediate" to grade five "expert".
"We want to make it more of a family destination, rather than just the downhillers coming up to Coronet Peak," Mr Anderson said.
The new trails would be accessed by the Coronet Express gondola, fitted with bike hooks; the plan being to "expand the market out" to get more people using the gondola for mountainbiking as well as sightseeing in spring and summer.
"The timing is totally dependent initially on when this [consent application] comes through.
"And we’ve got to look at resources because we’ve got a lot of work to do around revegetation.
"For every 5m of trail there’s at least an hour’s work ... planting tussocks ... it’s not unlimited, you can’t do it all at once."
The proposed tracks were a combination of full-length and link trails intended to give people more options once they were down the mountain a little way.
One trail, dubbed "World Cup", was a 1847m grade six "extreme" downhill run named after his aspiration to hold a global showpiece mountainbiking comp on the mountain, Mr Kerr said.
"I’m a dreamer and my dream these last few years has been that we would host a world cup downhill ... and that trail is something we have been putting a lot of work into.
"It is a long shot, but it would be fitting for Queenstown as it forges recognition on the international stage as a mountainbiking centre."
NZSki had a "hand-in-hand relationship" with Queenstown Mountain Bike Club, which had been briefed on the proposal, he said.
Committee member Emmerson Wilken said the club was in support.
Public submissions on NZSki’s proposal close on Friday, August 25.
By Matt Porter
