- 1Destination Queenstown says the very first rope ski tow at Coronet Peak was installed in 1947.
- 2The rope tow was designed by local Queenstown inventor Bill Hamilton, Destination Queenstown says.
- 3Destination Queenstown calls Coronet Peak the country's first commercial ski resort.
- 4The Wakatipu Ski Club was set up on Coronet Peak two years later, and its members still ski there, Destination Queenstown says.
- 5Destination Queenstown says The Remarkables ski area opened in 1985.
Skiing at Coronet Peak goes back before the lifts. Destination Queenstown says that Coronet Peak, then a high-country farm, became a popular ski area for very fit and inventive locals, who trudged up the mountain, usually with home-made wooden skis and metal poles on their backs.
Then, in 1947, the very first rope ski tow, designed by local Queenstown inventor Bill Hamilton, was installed at Coronet Peak, and Destination Queenstown says that made it the country's first commercial ski resort.
Two years later, the local Wakatipu Ski Club was also set up on the mountain, and Destination Queenstown says its members still ski there.
The club has a famous offshoot. Destination Queenstown says the One Ski in the Grave club began there in 1996, after a remark by Derek McKeown, then 58. To join, members must be at least 55 years old and pay a 10 dollar joining fee in any currency, and the eldest skis first.
Another Queenstown ski area followed. Destination Queenstown says The Remarkables ski area opened on the mountain range of the same name in 1985.
We use Destination Queenstown's own wording here: it calls Coronet Peak a ski resort and says the first lift was a rope tow. We have not found an independent record that ranks New Zealand's first commercial ski areas, so treat the first commercial claim as Destination Queenstown's account.