TEMPLE BASIN SKI AREA

New Zealand Skiing & Snowboarding

TRANSWORLD SNOWBOARDING : "If I had to stay in one area, on one mountain, in one place, to snowboard for the rest of my life, it would be Temple Basin. It's that good".

P156 Transworld Snowboarding magazine; March 1996.

Temple Basin SkiLodge The pioneering spirit lives on at Temple Basin with rope tows and an absence of groomers. A quick 45-minute walk takes you to the lodges. And a free goods lift takes your gear up for you, but thats progress! Theres full equipment hire, a professional ski school for private or group lessons, a canteen, bar, hot showers, comfortable bunk room beds, pay phone, eftpos (bank card & credit card), wireless connection - so bring your laptop computer along.

Image of Snowboarder Great terrain that covers everything from beginners to daredevil stuff. Brilliant upper slopes. Ski touring. Snow boarding. And the sunny aspect means Temple Basin can have great snow when other South Island ski areas are barely covered.

Smell the crisp air of isolation. Hear the deafening silence. Take a deep breath of exhilaration and then, go for it. Night-time is the right time. Floodlit skiing on the top of the Southern Alps.

Temple Basin is a true alpine environment on the Main Divide of the Southern Alps at the heart of Arthurs Pass National Park. It faces north-west and offers long sunny days over 320 hectares of ski-able terrain with a vertical rise of 430 meters. The highest point, on Mt Blimit, is at 1923 meters.

The Temple Basin Ski Area covers a great variety of terrain spread over four separate basins. There are gentle slopes for complete beginners, adrenaline-pumping challenges for the expert, and everything in between. Three tow ropes and one beginners fixed grip tow provide the lift. Floodlit slopes make night skiing a pleasure.

Check out what the Powder Hound Magazine had to say (Australian Issue 01, 2000 by Sam Masters) ..........

Elevation: 1750 metres
Vertical drop: 420 metres
Number of Lifts: 4

"Temple has the potential. It has got the sickest terrain. World Freeskiing tour-ranked professional Todd Windle lives and trains here during the winter. You'll see him negotiate the knife-edge ridgeline by himself with ice axe and crampons before dropping an epic descent.

Todd gave us the tour royal and, Frankly, it scared the hairs off my arse. Temple is as gnarly as you want to go. The mind-boggling amount of terrain you can see from the lodge is not even half of it. There is the back ridge as well. Temple is about hiking because the nutcrackers here don't make much of a dint in servicing the skiable terrain. Too damn big.

An American snowboarding magazine (yes, even I get stuck in the dentist with nothing better to read) rated Temple as the best resort in the world. I know where they are coming from. The lodge is a 45-minute walk from the carpark and once there you are isolated in a pristine alpine world. Its about deep powder, hearty lodge feeds and playing hacky in the dinning room after a hot shower has melted the aches out of your legs."

Home

Activities

Alpine Shop

Travel Insurance

Ski Resorts

Snow Reports

Tours

NZAS

Sitemap

TEMPLE BASIN SKI AREA

New Zealand Skiing & Snowboarding