Snow Farm

Snow Farm is a ski area near Wānaka, New Zealand, dedicated to cross-country skiing.

This article is about a ski area. For the synonym for snow dump, see Snow farm.

Snow Farm
The main Snow Farm building
The main Snow Farm building
LocationSouth Island, New Zealand
Nearest major cityWānaka
Top elevation1965 m (Mt Pisa) 1544 m (trail) [1]
Base elevation1520 m[2]
SnowmakingNo
Night skiingNo
Websitehttp://www.snowfarmnz.com

Description

Snow Farm features 55 km of trails, and the conference centre has accommodation for about 60 people. It is located on the Pisa range close to Cardrona, at an altitude of approx 1,600 m. The area is used for cross country skiing in the winter and during the summer months for altitude training with trails climbing out to 2000m. The proximity of Wānaka (275m) and Queenstown (310m) and the training options around these two towns makes the Snow Farm one of the best locations in the Southern Hemisphere for a live high, train low training regime.

An aerial of Snow Farm on the left and the Southern Proving Grounds on the right

The Lodge itself is a wedding, conference and meeting venue with seating for 150 people, a private bar, restaurant, and viewing deck; with accommodation options. Private hire options are popular amongst the conference organisers along with the breakout activities onsite including: Cross Country skiing, snow shoeing, Husky dog sled tours, and a snow and ice driving experience.[3] During the summer months, mountain biking, hiking, orienteering, rock climbing and adventure racing are available.

It is also the location of the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds. The series of twelve vehicle test facilities are used by car manufacturers from around the world for ice and snow testing during the northern-hemisphere summer.

View of Meadow Hut in winter

Access

Snow Farm is around 55 km from Queenstown and 35 km from Wānaka.[4] The 13 km[5] gravel access road is used for the internationally known Race to the Sky hillclimb.

Merino Muster

An annual cross country skiing event called the Merino Muster is held in September and covers distances of 42 km/21 km/7 km and 1 km for children.[6]

References
  1. "Merino Muster Trail Map". merinomuster.com. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  2. "Wanaka Ski Field Information". basenz.com. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  3. "Snow Farm Activities". Powder Hounds. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  4. "Snowfarm". Copyright nzXsports 2012 all rights reserved. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  5. "Snow Farm". destination-nz.com. What's Hot New Zealand. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  6. "THE MERINO MUSTER". merinomuster.com. Retrieved 16 August 2016.

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