Coronet Peak extends season!

Coronet Peak is to extend it's season by an extra week following a great late season storm cycle which saw bucket loads of snow fall over the Southern Lakes district. This is great news for all those season pass holders and local businesses who could see a final little boost for the season.

It seems that just over a month ago scientists were talking about the Polar Vortex and how it was on the move from antartica after being stuck there for a several weeks more than usual. This meant we saw an unusually warm August, meaning we just weren't seeing those cold polar fronts coming up and hitting us to give us our usual winter snowy conditions. But it seems they were right and we got hit by front after front bring daily snow dumps day after day for over a week! I dont think we have ever seen it snow so consistently in Queenstown for such a prolonged period, let alone at the end of September!
Anyway, the end result is that we can now play in the snow at Coronet peak for an extra week, where as previous years it was just Remarkables left open! A great decision, favoured by locals and ski bums alike! Great decision nzski!

Spring snow dump takes us back to mid-winter!

Who would have thought a week ago that we would have been back in the midst of a winter cold snap, with oodles of fresh snow around! A week ago Queenstown was bathing in 15 degrees sunshine where sunbathing and getting out on the mountain bikes was the order of the day.
Not anymore, a welcome storm, one of the biggest seen in the country for many years, has taken grip and we are right back in the heart of winter, with some beautiful snow around to play in. Below are some pictures from Coronet Peak back bowls today, where we were skiing in some beautiful light powder. It was nice of the storm to give us some clear skies for the afternoon to allow us to take advantage of what it had delivered to us the previous few days. Forecast is looking like more is on the way over the next few days! Just in time for the Aussie school holidays! Woop woop!

Finally....we get a break!

It feels we have been waiting for a day like this all season, a day where all the elements and deciding factors came together to allow us to finally go for an explore in the backcountry! You would think it would be easy to plan a mission in this town, but what with conflicting work shedules, an unstable snow pack, and unsettled weather, it seemed like we were destined to ski inbounds for the remainder of the season. But finally, with a favourable mixture of moist/wet snow consolidating and good frosts refreezing the wet new snow the snowpack started to look more stable.
We decided to head to the Remarkables ski area as it gave us the quickest access to the backcountry. We started early heading up to Wye Saddle and then east towards Doolans Creek, and the carried on a traverse in a mostly southerly direction. We were in unfamiliar terrain, and the aim of the day was to stay safe and familiarise ourselves with the area.
We decided on the peak we wanted to summit, and we chose it because it had a nice north facing slope, and by the time we got to the top, the good old sun would have played it's part in softening the snow and giving us some nice spring corn.
We got the the top of the peak, sitting at an altittude of 2115m, giving us a spectacular vista, with the very imposing looking Single Cone peak (check the pictures!).
We dug a pit to check the snowpack, planned our route back, took some pictures, re-fuelled, buckled up and strapped in and we enjoy the fruits of our labour with some beautiful spring corn skiing all to ourselves.
Two hours later we were back at the car with big grins, a good day for the soul, and a good reminder of why we live in this place.

Roundhill....more like Bighill!

The recent storm that passed through the South Island saw the centre of it focussed on the small town of Lake Tekapo in the Mackenzie country.
A few of us were up skiing at Roundhill skifield on Saturday to check out the new "Heritage Rope Tow" that they have installed for this year. Having never been to Roundhill before, I had heard that until the new rope tow had been installed, it was a very small skifield, with very much a family feel to it, with just one T-Bar and a few learners tows.
I had been excited ever since hearing that Roundhill had installed this new tow, as I have seen pictures and heard what the terrain that the Two Thumbs range offers. I wasn't disappointed, the 1.5km tow has opened up a vast amount of skiable inbounds terrain which bascially takes away the need to ever want to go heli skiing again! A huge amount of vert, with some of the best snow conditions in the country and views to die for.
Skiing on the Saturday was great, there had been no fresh snow for a week or so, but it was a warm day, and the sun did it's part of softening the snow on certain aspects giving some great spring corn skiing. Five runs on the Heritage Tow and we were done for the day, and I was left thinking that I couldn't wait to get back here after a fresh snowfall. Well, just as we were leaving the field the predicted weather front was coming in and snow was starting to fall, but we couldn't hang around as we were off to Ohau to ski on the Sunday.
We awoke the next morning to find out that the snow gods had come up trumps and 70cm of snow had fallen at Roundhill! That much snow had meant the field was closed for the day, but talk was of the front passing through and Monday was going to be a clear day!
Monday rolled around and we rocked up early to Roundhill, it was still a bit cloudy but the sun was trying to break through and every so often you got glimpses of the huge untracked face that the Heritage Tow gives access to. The word on the hill was that they were going to try and get the tow open by mid-day. Patrol had been working since 4.30am that morning to do avalanche control work and dig out the tow from the 70cm+ of fresh that has blanketed it the previous day.
The anticipation of the tow opening was immense, there was a great buzz in the air, with about 60 or so skiers and boarders lapping out the t-bar on the main field, checking in the poor patroller every 5 minutes to ask if the lift was open!
It finally opened at 2pm that day after a fantastic effort from the patrol, along with some volunteers to get it open. And boy was it worth it, the pictures will do the rest of the talking. Needless to say after 2 hours of everybody trying their best to track out the vast amount of terrain, we probably only managed to cover a quarter of what is there. Once thing is for sure, Roundhill is going to be near the top of my list from now on, a great ski field with insane terrain and endless backcountry. I'm already planning my next trip back!

August snow conditions are shaping up great!

Snow conditions in Queenstown are shaping up great for August, just as the "Moon man" predicted! Long range forecasts said that August was going to be a very snowy month and who can argue with them so far, with several large dumps hitting the South Island over the weekend.
The Southern Lakes region saw some great dumps, ranging from 30-40cm of beautiful dry powder, adding to the already great base we have.
Further up the South Island, in Mackenzie country, 50-70cm of snow fell, with some outstanding skiing on the smaller fields. I was lucky enough to have the day off to head up to Roundhill Skifield beside Lake Tekapo to take advantage of the 70cm+ snowfall they had. Definitely a great month for a ski holiday in New Zealand!

Winter Classic Round 2

It seems Tuesday race days are somewhat cursed for weather, with the snow gods having a bit of a giggle at us! Tuesday rolled around again this week and just like clockwork the heavens opened and we got 12cm of new snow overnight. So the marshalls had a busy morning trying to scrape the new snow off the racing lines! The course marked out next to the t-bar turned out great, with some great times being put in by everyone involved.

The poor racers did have to sit and watch the rest of the mountain get tracked out, with the snow being absolutley beautiful top to bottom, nice and light and fast! Some great turns were to be had out to skiers left of the t-bar, where you could just keep going further and further gettig fresh lines every run.

Anyway back to the racing, the Browns A-Team came 3rd overall this week, with our main man Timmy O-Rock (Tim Cafe) making a sneaky appearance and posting the fastest time of the day! Super impressive skiing by the young olympian!
Second fastest member of the Browns A-Team was Kylese Zaiger, she puts her great time down to all the telemark skiing she has been doing recently.

Browns B-Team had a solid race this week with them taking the win in the B-Division with all the team members putting consistently fast times in. Stand out was Damo "wannabe ski racer" Myers, who managed to complete 2 runs for the first time ever, and as a result beat Richard Stokes for the first time. Rich put this down to the lack of pole planting in his run, which made him loose his rythm.
Bad luck this week again for Simon "Fatcat" Gray who crashed out again, resulting in a DNF. Simon is still one to watch though and definitly can put time up there with the big boys when he wants to.

Results to follow

Winter Classic Round 1

The first round of the 2010 Winter Classic racing at Coronet Peak took place last Tuesday, the results are in and finalised, and both Browns A-Team and B-team put in solid performances. The results are up below for you to scroll through, notable performances were from rookie winter classic racers Kylese Zaiger (K-Bomb) and Big Steve Puletaha (Shogun).
Big Steve, who is famed for looking like a character from NZ movie "Boy", was our only snowboarder on the team and his usual laid back, relaxed and "gun it in a straight line" style of boarding paid dividends once we managed to persuade him to turn through the gates. Quote of the day also goes to Big Steve who was standing at the start gate ready to go and then turned round to the rest of the team and said "so I have to go around the gates...right?"
K-Bomb who was in the Womens A Division, a former ski racer in the USA, had huge pressure on her shoulders to perform, with the reason for her being employed at Browns being based on her ski racing history. If she didn't deliver the goods, her job for the rest of the season would be in doubt. But boy did she deliver, beating all the rest of the team apart from our Olympic hero Tim Cafe, and placing 2nd overall in the Womens A division.
Other notable happenings were Damian Myers crashing out of both runs, remaining true to his usual form, Ronnie Wood putting in some great times despite pole planting in each turn and Tyler Kitchen doing really well despite buying womens ski boots.
Until next week....

Winter Classic Racing 2010!

Next week will see the start of the 2010 Winter Classic racing at Coronet Peak. Many businesses in Queenstown sign up a team and a fierce (yet scoail) battle begins for the next couple of months to see who is the fastest through the gates, and fastest behind the bar!
Browns Ski Shop loves the winter classic, it is a great event which we embrace every year. Look out for weekly updates on this blog, along with photos of this years race outfits!

A bit of backcountry wonderfulness

At a time of year when the mountains are packed with tourists and we havent seen much snow for the last couple of weeks, it is nice to know that with the right gear and a little hard work you can get yourself to places where no-one has been and the snow is still pristine.
A few of the Browns crew decided to go backcountry during the middle of the school holidays, to escape the madness.
A quick check on the avalanche advisory website showed that the current danger is low, so we were confident we were going to have a safe day out there, but usually when the danger level is low the snow conditions are not that great, but we were pleasantly suprised! We found some beautiful freeze dried powder stashes on north to north east facing aspects. The runs weren't long but there was no rush to get back up and hit them again as we were the only ones out there. It was a great day for the soul and made me realise why I live here again!

Queenstown Winter Festival hailed as best ever!

It seems this years Queenstown Winter Festival has been hailed as the best one yet by a recent report on www.snow.co.nz, read up about it here

It's a great time of year to be in Queenstown, with lots of amazing events taking place, local's really get involved and embrace the week of snow filled fun!

School Holidays!

It seems we are in the middle of the 2010 school holidays period of the winter season, this is always typically the busiest time of year for Queenstown. This year it seems busier than ever before as the Australian school holidays and New Zealand school holidays have all been condensed into a three week period, as opposed to 5 weeks last year. This has meant some pretty long lift cue waiting times and lots of the rental shops in town stretched for equipment, including the mountain. Surely it would make sense for the government to change the dates of the New Zealand school holidays so that they don't overlap with the Australian ones, and therefore businesses in town could enjoy a 5 week period of steady business as opposed to 3 weeks of bedlam!
Whatever happens, we are thankful for the Australians coming over and spending large in Queenstown. It is a great time for local business to flourish, but a bad time for locals to enjoy the mountain, but hey we have it for the other three and a half months of the season I guess!

Browns Ski Shop celebrates being 30 years young

One of Queenstown’s most long-standing and successful businesses is celebrating 30 years in the snow industry.

In 1980, national ski racers Nigel and Derek Brown opened a ski shop in their home town of Queenstown, a successful family partnership that continued until 1997 when long-term Browns’ employees Kris Vermeir and Paul ‘Haggis’ Vaitkus joined Derek in part ownership.

The following year, Haggis and Kris bought the remaining 50% from Derek and the duo has successfully directed the steady expansion of the Browns Ski Shop brand ever since.

Now Browns ski shop has three outlets around New Zealand – a retail store and a rental and tuning business in Queenstown, and another retail outlet in Newmarket, Auckland.

From 1980 when Derek and Nigel had just 60 pairs of skis for rent and operated out the back of their mother Betty’s Antiques Store, the business has grown into one which serves the needs of thousands of customers each season.

But for Kris Vermeir, success is not judged by figures alone.

“Success is the fact that we are still around, which not many businesses can say, particularly in Queenstown.

“We employ nearly 30 people locally so they’re dependent on us for their living, and we take that very seriously.”

“It’s also the fact that we still have real passion for the snow, that we’re still keen to help people get up on the slopes and have a fantastic time in the mountains.”

That passion for snow was what originally brought Doug and Betty Brown to Queenstown. The Browns’ affinity for skiing began in the late 1950s when they traveled regularly from Invercargill to Queenstown to ski at Coronet Peak. Doug began skiing in the late 1940s when Coronet Peak sported just a rope tow and club hut.

Doug taught his four sons- Nigel, Derek, Julian and Maurice - to ski on Coronet Peak on a little pair of skis fashioned from an old set of wooden adult skis. The same skis are still on display in Browns ski shop.

Derek and Nigel shone on the New Zealand ski racing scene as members of the National team competing on the World Cup circuit in Europe.

In those early days of running the ski shop, the pull of the mountain on a good snow day was always strong – they would open the doors at seven in the morning and close three hours later so they could hit the slopes before re-opening mid-afternoon.

Bavarian skiing personality Günter Raedler persuaded Browns to import Erbacher skis, and by 1987 Browns was ready to move into the retail scene. Unparalleled knowledge of the world’s best ski gear and fanatical attention to comfort and function meant the store quickly gained a reputation for up-to-the-minute clothing and as the best bootfitters in town.

Youngest brother Julian joined the business helping out part-time while he was at high school, then began ski-racing as a full-time occupation and continued working at Browns whenever possible.

The company was also ahead of the competition in technology – in the late1980s when computer systems were becoming an essential part of running a successful business, the brothers scoured the world for a good rental system, couldn’t find one and developed their own, which they then sold to other ski hire businesses in New Zealand.

Looking back, Mr Vermeir said where Browns is at today was the result of everybody’s contribution over those 30 years.

“We owe it to the hundreds of staff who have worked with us and the hundreds of thousands of customers who’ve come through the doors, as well as the support we’ve had from Queenstown locals and snowsports enthusiasts from across Southland, Otago and more latterly in Auckland.

“We’re not corporate and we remember our roots, knowing we couldn’t have done it without Queenstown. We will always remember that. We owe Queenstown, not the other way around.”

Mr Vermeir said he looked forward to the next 30 years of Browns.

“Hopefully in 30 years time one of my kids will be running Browns, talking to the children and grandchildren of our loyal supporters.”

Browns PNC Cocktail night 2010

You always know when the season has truly started when the Browns Ski Shop PNC (Premier Neige Club) cocktail evening comes around. A new venue for this year, The Bunker, on Cow Lane, a very nice choice, a more intimate and cosy atmosphere I thought compared to previous years.
The cocktail night is a way of Browns saying thank you to all it's loyal customers, and recongnising that it is because of their support that we are where we are today. It is very humbling to be part of a company that has so much community spirit, and likes to show it's appreciation with generous events like this.
The proceedings kicked off at about 8.30pm, with Kris Vermeir giving his usual enjoyable and jovial speech. This was followed by Fizz doing a touching speech and presenting Kris and Haggis with a suprise cake, to celebrate the fact that Browns turns 30 years old this year. You can see by the photo that Kris and Hag are as close as they were the day they took over the business all those years ago.
Highlight of the night was Browns sponsored Olympic skier Tim Cafe doing a presentation of his time during the Olympics this year. This reminded us all just how amazing his achievement was, both in getting to the Olympics in the first place and also coming away with a credible 38th place in the Super G event. Browns is very proud to be part of his Olympic effort.
A great night had by all, and hear is to another great winter ahead of us in Queenstown.

I heart Remarks!

The season has been underway for less than a week, with Coronet Peak opening last weekend. Remarks is due to open in another week. A couple of weeks ago I would have never thought we would be skiing fresh, light deep powder up Remarks, what with there being pretty much no snow on any of the mountains in the Southern Lakes. But never count mother nature out and we have seen consistent storm fronts hitting the southern lakes over the last two weeks, and it has seen the mountains getting caked in the white stuff!
A few of us backcountry happy people at Browns went for a mission up the Remarkables a few days ago, and we got a very pleasant surprise! Not only were we greeted with an inversion layer (we were sitting above the cloud) but there had been 30cm fresh snow over the last 24 hours!
So we strapped on our tranceivers, put our skins and snow shoes on, had a quick chat to ski patrol and headed on up.
What followed was a couple of runs down the gallipoli chutes in the sugar bowl, and luckily for us I had my camera with me to document the days proceedings. Well the photos talk for themselves! What a day, pre-season powder goodness! I heart Remarks!

2010 Ski Season Begins in Queenstown!

The first day of the 2010 ski season went off with a pop this morning, with Coronet Peak opening with some bubblies and smiles all round. The new anticipated lift system which brings the area on par with european resorts worked perfectly all day. It was a busy day on the mountain, with only a few runs opened this early in the season, but the snow conditions were great, I think the only issues were peoples legs giving out on them after not skiing for so long!
I got a few snaps from the front of the cue this morning, and on my way up the lift for my first run of the season. It was a beautiful morning, with a glorious sunrise, and the Wakatipu basin had never looked better!
The Browns staff were there in force to enjoy their first few turns together for the season. Fantastic day all round.

Browns Robot Official Press Release

Media Release from Browns Ski Shop
May 31 2010

ROBOTIC TUNER TAKES OVERNIGHT SHIFT AT BROWNS

One of New Zealand’s longest-established ski shops with a passion for the snowsports industry has made a significant investment in its business with the purchase of a Montana robotic ski tuner.

Browns Ski Shop in Queenstown, established 30 years ago in the ski resort town, has made the $270,000 investment in the aptly named Montana Snow Cruiser Max that uses digital technology and robotics to tune skis or snowboards ready for another day on the slopes.

Browns is following an international trend by investing heavily in the new stone-grinding and edge-sharpening machines.

Browns co-owner Kris Vermeir said the company was automating its workshop to give clients a better, more consistent product.

“With this new technology we can promise customers that their skis and boards will be tuned as well as or better than when they were new,” he said.

The Snow Cruiser Max has radial tuning, meaning pressure can be varied to achieve different profiles on different parts of the ski. It features different settings to ensure tuning is matched to the ski itself and to the ability level of the skier.

“The technology won’t make any mistakes when it comes to tuning the ski or snowboard to the appropriate level. It can be tuned from beginner or intermediate levels to World Cup standard, and will be set by our technicians to meet those levels throughout the night,” said Mr Vermeir.

“Over winter we tune more than 10,000 pairs of skis and snowboards per season, so we’re always striving to ensure we provide the very best service available we can.

“Thanks to this investment this season we will produce the most consistently tuned ski and snowboards in town,” he said.

The Snow Cruiser Max has an automatic loader so it can tune three or four pairs of skis or boards at one time.

“As always people will be able to drop their gear off after a great day on the slopes and rest assured that it will be tuned to the highest quality overnight and be ready to go the next morning.

Two Montana technicians came to Queenstown from Switzerland earlier this month to install the machine and train staff.

Picture caption: Browns directors Paul ‘Haggis’ Vaitkus (L) and Kris Vermeir (R) with importer Ian Bright from importer Brandex in Christchurch (centre) and the new Montana Snow Cruiser Max at the company’s ski shop in Queenstown

For further media information or high resolution images please contact:
Kris Vermeir
Phone +64 3 441 8929
kris@brownsnz.com

Wakatipu Ski Sale

The big annual ski sale held out at Frankton's Event centre went of with a bang yesterday, hundreds of people, both locals and people here for their first season rushed in once the doors opened to try and grab a bargain, with only a week to go until Coronet peak opens for the season! Browns was there in full force, offering advice to people about ski and snowboard hardware.

Post Storm Photos

The weather front that has brought us into winter for 2010 has passed and we awoke this morning to a beautiful snowy wonderland, I couldn't help but get excited and take some snaps! What a great start to the season! Helps me remember why I live in Queenstown! Enjoy!

Browns Staff

Every year we seem to be able to select a group of individuals to work for Browns that turn out to be both amazingly dedicated workers and also life long friends that we share a lot of good memories with. Whether it is down to how good our staff training is or how good the Boss is at picking the right people, it just seems to work! The team synergy year after year just amazes me. It is for this reason that Browns continues to be at the forefront of customer service in the ski industry, not only in Queenstown but New Zealand and it is something we are very proud of.

The reason for this little story stems from a photograph that I found of last years staff, when we were all up Coronet Peak one Tuesday afternoon taking part of the Winter Classic racing series. I love how the photo shows how much fun we are all having together, and this is what it is like working at Browns year after year, it feels very much like one big happy family! I look forward to the same thing happening again this season, with staff training not that far away now!

Browns Retail Shop is now open for business

Browns winter season of 2010 is underway with the retail shop on Shotover Street opening for business at the weekend. All the beautiful clothing that Fizz has picked for this season is in stock, with lots of brands that are not only exclusive to Browns in Queenstown but also exclusive to Browns in New Zealand. Brands such as Poivre Blanc, Killy, Eider, Degre 7 and Flash Geo can only be purchased through Browns, in both our Auckland and Queenstown stores! So if you want to stand out from the crowd on the slopes with some ski wear that is not only extremely fashionable but extremely technical then come and talk to Fizz and the team in the shop.

Our hardwear is arriving daily, with the new 2011 skis from Volkl, Head and Fischer gracing our ski racks. Lots of new technology for this year and lots of new fancy colour schemes which we always like!

There is just over 2 weeks left until Coronet Peak opens for the season and with talk of them firing up the guns this weekend, the buzz in town will soon be in top gear!

New Montana Robot arrives in Queenstown

Browns Ski Shop has just taken delivery of it's Montana "Snow Cruiser" ski tuning robot for it's workshop. It arrived on the back of a rather large truck in several pieces today, ending it's long journey from Switzerland. The new machine is going to revolutionise our workshop facilities here at Browns.

Browns co-owner Kris Vermeir said the company was automating its workshop to give clients a better, more consistent product.

“With this new technology we can promise customers that their skis and boards will be tuned as well as or better than when they were new,” he said.

A full press release will be out soon.

Winter 2010 is underway!

The 2010 winter season is gaining momentum, Browns rental and retail shops are under construction once more. The retail shop is set to open for business this coming weekend, and the rental shop gearing up for staff training which starts in 2 weeks time!
Lots of new goodies are arriving everyday, with the new 2011 Fischer Skis line up already in shop! Exciting times! Cant wait to try them out on the slopes....which open in less than 4 weeks now! Eeeek! :-)
There is still no snow on the hills, but as they say- "snow is May will go away"