Mount Olympus Ski Area, dubbed "playground of the gods", is a

club skifield In New Zealand, a club skifield is a small ski resort run by a ski club to provide affordable skiing to its members. While members of the public can ski, members of the club receive heavily discounted rates, in exchange for a yearly membership fee ...

in Craigieburn Range, on New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. Near the town of Windwhistle, and in the vicinity of other club fields such as Mount Cheeseman and Broken River, it is approximately 2 hours' drive from

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. The skifield is run by the Windwhistle Ski Club. Ranging in elevation from 1430m to 1880m, the terrain distribution is 10% beginner, 55% intermediate and 35% advanced. There are four

rope tow A surface lift is a type of cable transport for mountain sports in which skiers, snowboarders, or mountain bikers remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher ...

s, and with a bit of walking, 60 hectares of terrain is available. In 2020, Mount Olympus was unable to open due to COVID-19 and a lack of snow. This was the first ski season since 1978 that Mount Olympus was unable to open. In 2021, the access road was badly damaged by an early winter storm. It was estimated that it will cost $30,000 to repair the road in order to open for the 2021 season. Many donations were made and the road was able to be repaired in June 2021.

References

External links

*
Official website

Olympus Olympus or Olympos () may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Lesbos * Mount Olympus (Euboea) ...

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