New Zealand

The Remarkables Ski Area

Off season
Official site

No snow yet. Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear once snow is on the ground or forecast.

Typical snowfall
142cm

A weather-model figure, worked out the same way for every ski area, and lower than what actually falls. Use it to compare ski areas, not against the resort’s own totals. How we measure →

Elevation
1,607–1,986 m
Across
3.6 km

We do not show a snow depth here. The weather model we use reports snow lying on the ground — it knows nothing about grooming or snowmaking, and it is not the base depth a ski area publishes. In Japan we can check our figures against 234 weather stations. Outside Japan there is nothing to check them against, so we do not print a number we have not verified. Snow report on the official site ↗

The Remarkables Ski Area, in New Zealand, runs from 1,607 m at the base to 1,986 m at the top. Its mapped area is about 3.6 km across, with 26 marked runs and 7 lifts (about 16 km of piste in all).

Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 142 cm of snowfall a season, 1,775th (tied) of 3,069 worldwide and 14th in New Zealand. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2015 (206 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2017 (98 cm). Snowfall days average −5.0°C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 7th of 25 in New Zealand.

How much snow it gets

Modelled from weather data the same way at all 3,069 ski areas we cover. These are not the resort’s own published figures.

Seasonal snowfall
142cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
98cm
The middle winter of the 12: 143 cm. The best: 206 cm.
World rank
1775
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
14
of 26 in New Zealand
Elevation rank
15
Highest to lowest, of 26 in New Zealand. The centre point sits at 1,615 m, 4 m below the national median.
Quality rank
7
of 25 in New Zealand
Temp when snowing
−5.0°C
Japanese median: −3.6°C
Rain days
30%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
9%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
8km/h
Average daily peak, 10 m above ground across a model grid cell; not the wind on ridges or lift tops
Dryness 50
Frequency 24
Freedom from rain 35
Calm when snowing (model grid) 100

The tick marks the median across every Japanese ski area we measure. All four bars run the same way — longer is better.

The quality score leaves out how much snow falls (it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind).

Compared with what is nearby

Within 50 km in a straight line. Ski areas in the same weather-model cell (about 30 km across) get the same figure.

Ski areaDistanceSeasonal snowfallWorld rank
Coronet Peak Ski Area16.0 km116 cm2148
Cardrona Alpine Resort23.0 km154 cm1612
Snow Farm30.0 km116 cm2148
Invincible Snowfields45.0 km392 cm190
Treble Cone47.0 km282 cm561

Runs and lifts

Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.

Marked runs
26
Run length
16km
Lifts
7
Vertical
379m
Top 1,986 m · base 1,607 m

Run map

EasyIntermediateAdvancedOther Lift
North is up. Runs are coloured by difficulty; black lines are lifts.
Run map

Drag to move around, and use + and − to zoom. On a phone, swipe to move and pinch to zoom in further.

Slope shape, difficulty and lift types

The shape of the mountain

Longest run on the map2.1 km
Steepest pitch33°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs11.2°

Which way the slopes face

North 30%
East 26%
South 14%
West 30%

56% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east; plenty of the terrain faces the sun as well, so the lean is modest.

By difficulty

Easy 3 · 2.5 km
Intermediate 14 · 8.4 km
Advanced 7 · 4.2 km
Other 2 · 0.6 km

Lift types

  • Chairlift4
  • Magic carpet3

See past trail maps on Skimap.org ↗

Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.

When it falls, and how winters differ

Month by month

The most snow falls in September. September brings as much as July, or more. In amount, September brings 39 cm, more than the median of 32 cm.

28cm
Jun
37cm
Jul
32cm
Aug
39cm
Sep
Average snowfall by month, last 12 winters

Winter by winter

Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 142 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2017 with 98 cm; the biggest was 2015 with 206 cm (2.1 times as much). For 54% of the 26 ski areas in New Zealand the leanest winter was 2016; here it was a different one.

206
135
98
141
133
126
103
157
148
161
147
144
’15’16’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26

Snowfall each winter (June–September total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.

Map

The weather map, and where it sits among nearby ski areas.

Official piste map ↗

Other booking sites: Booking.com ↗ · Agoda ↗

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