This is the beginning of the road up the mountain to Treble Cone. New Zealand ski resorts differ from most North American and European resorts in that they don't take up the entire mountain. Since New Zealand mountains are lower in elevation (the base of the Treble Cone mountain is somewhere around 1200 ft), the ski resort must start halfway up the mountain in order to get snow. The upside is that you don't have to live in the freezing cold snow; Wanaka doesn't get much snowfall in the winter. The downside is that, since the resort only takes up the tops of the mountains, there is much less skiable area to enjoy (about 550 hectares compared to Copper Mountain's 985, for example). It also makes for some amazing views from the resort.
In this picture, you can see how most of the surrounding mountains don't have snow on them. After a large snowfall, they will only be covered on the top half. Lake Wanaka is also really beautiful when seen from Treble Cone. It is almost always calm and makes for some amazing mountain reflections on sunny days.
This picture was taken from the stairs on the base building. You can see some of the parking lot, the meeting area for ski school, and the beginner's platter with the Palmer lift. The lower part of the mountain is for beginners and is free to use for all ages.
We are not having the greatest snow this season. It sounds like they had a lot more at this time last season. On the front of the mountain, a lot of snow must be made to keep the groomed runs covered. You can see in this photo how the mountain surrounding the Treble Cone boundaries is still green.
Something else that happens a lot around here is an inversion layer of clouds, which the lake seems to influence somehow. When the atmospheric pressure is high and we get easterly winds, we have overcast skies in town and around the lake, and sunny blue skies up on the mountain.
Working on the mountain requires us to wake up early in the morning, and we have seen some amazing sunrises from the mountain.
This is the building that contains the cafeteria, the staff room, the ticket offices, snow sports sales, rentals, and the bar/cafe. You can see the parking lot and road attendants in the green vests. They help the cars park in a coordinated fashion.
This picture was taken one of the first mornings I was working in one of the ticket sales windows as I was waiting for customers to show up and buy tickets. Can you feel the anticipation as I nervously waited, unsure about my ability to sell the products effectively?Fortunately, almost two months later, I feel very comfortable in my job and I feel as though I perform well too.
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