Treble Cone

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Treble Cone is a skifield and a mountain near Lake Wanaka in the South Island of New Zealand.

The patrolled ski area is approximately 550ha (1,359 acres) in size and the field boasts the Southern Hemisphere's first high speed detachable six seater chairlift which was installed in 1996. The terrain as classed by difficulty is 10% Beginner, 40% Intermediate and 50% Advanced. Treble Cone is renowned both nationally and worldwide and hosts many overseas racing teams in the Northern Hemisphere's summer, including the world champion Austrian Ski Team. Unlike many other ski fields in New Zealand, Treble Cone has somewhat of a cult following, and fans of the area are known as 'Coneheads,' a term the field has been eager to promote.

Fans of the field tend to be attracted there for the fairly steep and challenging terrain which they claim is some of the best in the country. Ready for the 2006 season are three new superwide groomed trails, providing more expansive beginner and intermediate groomed trails for skiers and boarders. A new terrain park has also been completed ensuring permanent terrain park features are available from early season.

The ski-area came under new management in 2003 by private investors after fears of the field being bought out by rival Cardrona. Over the off season from 2004-2005, a new Quad seater chairlift was installed in the Saddle Basin opening up 45ha of new terrain previously unacessable other than by hiking.

Treble Cone boasts the longest vertical rise in the Southern Lakes and spectacular views over Lake Wanaka and Mount Aspiring.

Elevations

Base Buildings: 1250m
Top of Volkswagen 6 Seater Express: 1760m
Top of Saddle Quad Chairlift: 1960m
Summit: 2088m

Lifts

High Speed Detachable Six Seater Chairlift
Quad Chairlift
Platter Lift
Magic Carpet

Other

Vertical Drop: 700m
Average Annual Snowfall: 270cm

1 Treble Cone Race Academy
2 Proposed Gondola
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Treble Cone Race Academy

The Treble Cone Race Academy is renowned for being one of the top ski racing training grounds in the Southern Hemishphere. Coordinated by an internationally qualified coaching team, programs are designed to improve young athletes racing skills. With participation in many of New Zealands races of all levels, this gives a great advantage to athletes from the Northern Hemisphere who come to Treble Cone to train. Treble Cone holds many races up to FIS level, giving a home advantage to athletes training with the Treble Cone Race Academy. For more info. visit www.wanakaski.co.nz

[edit] Proposed Gondola

On Friday 14th July, The Press ran a story^[1] on Treble Cone Investments lodging resource consent applications regarding a proposed gondola from Cattle Flat (at the base of the skifield access road) to the skifield itself. The proposed gondola would travel 3.3km in under 11 minutes, and be capable of carrying 2000 people an hour. It would rise 945m.

Talk of a gondola has been around for some time, but has been re-ignited recently due to the deaths of three young Australian skiers when they drove off the access road in 2004. It also coincides with other objectives for the skifield, said Treble Cone director, Richard Hanson.

It is expected the building process should take 10-months, with an opening at the start of the 2008 season at the earliest.