Coronet Peak

While recreational skiers may have their concerns about conditions at Coronet Peak, elite ski racers in Queenstown for Winter Games NZ are giving the course a thumbs up.

A waste management initiative at Coronet Peak, prompted by staff feedback, has seen a significant increase in recycling at the ski area.

While completing their "summer" training programme at Coronet Peak, the Russian men's and women's alpine ski teams have also been competing in a transtasman competition.

Cougar and Tallulah Bryant do not mind getting up early if it means they are the first to hit the slopes at Coronet Peak - they have done so two years running.

Coronet Peak opened in perfect conditions on Saturday morning. More than 200 patrons were lined up at the chairlift for the cutting of the ribbon, the first having arrived at 4.30am.

Coronet Peak Hotel Ltd in Queenstown has voluntarily been put into liquidation, owing more than $1.4 million, after a plunging market, "unsustainable rental" and the building's poor condition saw it fail this year.

CORONET PEAK Snowbase: Upper 147cm, lower 122cm. Last snowfall: 5cm on September 18.

A Christchurch woman who took a wrong turn on the Coronet Peak skifield late on Saturday afternoon hiked about 10km over "very challenging terrain" in the dark to a farmhouse.

Four teams of four firefighters turned out for the inaugural Firefighter Chill Factor Challenge at Coronet Peak on Friday, which saw ski and snowboard-clad quartets competing to finish as many sponsored runs as possible in two hours.

Surely, there could be no more romantic a setting than a twilight ride on the Coronet Peak chairlift, overlooking Queenstown's beauty below.