Plans for new ski trails in the Soho Basin will require modification of more than eight hectares of land but Cardrona Alpine Resort’s parent company RealNZ says it has worked hard to reduce the environmental impact of the project.

The Wānaka ski field has submitted a series of resource consent applications for earthworks and indigenous vegetation clearance to establish ski trails, snow making infrastructure and a water storage dam within the ecologically significant basin.

“Alongside key authorities, ecologists and herpetologists, we have undertaken a lot of work to understand the environmental impact of the Soho project – our goal is minimal damage to the environment and habitat,” Cardrona general manager Laura Hedley told the Wānaka App. 

“We have taken this into consideration when designing the ski trails and infrastructure, which has added a lot of complexity to the project, and we are confident that our plans will achieve this goal.”

A new chairlift for the Soho Basin was approved by Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) last year and it is scheduled to be open for skiers and snowboarders in time for winter 2025, substantially expanding the skifield’s lift-accessible terrain, but it still needs to secure consent for snowmaking infrastructure and ski runs. 

Application documents submitted by RealNZ say the route selection proposed avoids “as much as possible any adverse effects on any particularly sensitive or high value receiving environments, such as wetlands, cushionfield, fellfield and lizard habitat”.

Significant work adjusting the design (with the help of an ecologist and herpetologist) has sought to utilise existing roads and tracks as much as possible to “have the least environmental impact”.

RealNZ said the snowmaking infrastructure and groomed runs need to be established in order for users of the chairlift to have skiable terrain available for the expected opening date in 2025.

Cardrona announced the acquisition of the ski area rights for Soho Basin in 2018. 

Soho Basin faces Queenstown and covers all the southern and south-west faces of Mt Cardrona. 

Plans for the installation of a chairlift in the Pringles area within the Soho Basin were abandoned when rare lizards were discovered in the area in 2020.

The site for the chairlift was changed and it later became the Willows Quad, in the adjoining Willows Basin, which opened up lift access to 65ha of terrain.

The other consented chairlift, Soho Basin Express, is expected to create lift access to another 150ha of the Soho Basin’s 500ha of terrain.

The Soho Basin is in the Ski Area Subzone within QLDC’s Proposed District Plan.

As well as requiring consents from QLDC, Cardrona Alpine will also require approval from Otago Regional Council. QLDC is currently considering Cardrona Alpine Resort’s applications.

PHOTO: Supplied