Cardrona and Treble Cone have acknowledged capacity issues at the two skifields this winter and say work is being done to address constraints so locals and visitors can have a better experience.

The skifields’ general manager of experience Laura Hedley said there had been consistently high visitors numbers throughout August.

“A lot of this is due to the good snow conditions, international borders opening and the unfortunate weather and snow in the North Island,” she said. 

Locals say ensuing issues, such as leaving for a skifield trip only to find the road closes during their journey, or having to regularly wait in very long chairlift queues, are becoming frustrating - and they are demanding solutions. 

“Surely having a 50/50 chance of getting in when you leave home isn't a great customer experience,” Queenstown Lakes District councillor and Wānaka resident Quentin Smith said on a popular Cardrona Facebook post. 

“Getting the car packed, dressed and burning petrol, only to be turned back isn't that exciting.”

Nikki Dougherty said two Fridays in a row she had paid for set ski lessons for her child but hadn’t been able to get to them due to capacity constraints and she questioned what had changed. 

“We have been doing the school ski thing for 12 years and have never seen such issues with the access road and parking.”

Locals gave suggestions like counting cars, booking in for carparks and resuming shuttle transport to provide a more reliable experience. 

Laura said the Cardrona and Treble Cone management team had two key areas of work underway to address capacity constraints.

“The first is a project of designing flow through our constrained areas, and having more resource will help a lot here,” she said. “The second is a master plan to create more capacity on the mountain, so watch this space.”

Encouragingly, the snow has stuck around as visiting skiers and snowboarders start to head home.

“We are fortunate that with the current snow conditions, we expect to have a good spring and do expect to see a drop in numbers in September so there is some great skiing to still be had,” Laura said.

Treble Cone’s closing date has been extended to October 2 and Cardrona is scheduled to remain open until October 16.

PHOTO: Supplied