Overview

Escape the summer heat and head Down Under for the ultimate New Zealand snowboard holiday – a roadtrip through the South Island's three best snowboard regions and seven best resorts. Enjoy expert instruction, untracked powder, unforgettable heli and snowcat-boarding, world-class terrain parks and stylish accommodation while touring the very best of  Middle Earth's'spectacular scenery.

This is the ideal trip for those who want a good overview of the New Zealand’s mountains, scenery and culture. The trip is freeride focused but also allows for extensive freestyle opportunities. You can choose to focus solely on freeriding, or you can work on developing your freestyle and  freeride skills. There will be plenty of opportunities for both. Beginners, intermediates and advanced are welcome.

Beginners

Our snowboard trips are open to snowboarders of all abilities, including beginners who want to learn how to snowboard. If you've never snowboarded before you might want to try it out for a few days before you join us on our trip. But once you've decided that the sport is for you, we'd love to have you join us. We offer systematic learning program for beginners to ensure that you learn how to snowboard correctly from the beginning (or to ensure that we correct any bad habits that you might have developed before). Relative to other board sports, it is quite easy to learn how to snowboard, but it is also easy to pick up bad habits if you do not receive proper instruction from the start. Our instructors are experienced in teaching beginner how to snowboard and love introducing new people to the sport. They will teach you at your own pace, in a relaxed and non-intimidating way. After two weeks of ski lessons from our expert instructors, you will not only be amazed by how much you progress, but also by how hooked you'll become on snowboarding.

Intermediate

Our intermediates program is designed to ensure that intermediate snowboarders optimize their technique, develop their style, and challenge their performance. At the beginning of the trip we'll assess your particular development needs and then work with you to achieve your goals by providing you with snowboarding tips, advice and instruction. To increase your confidence, speed and technique you will be taught to exercise more control of your board by developing your carving tec, riding switch, doing  ollies, 360 slides, and tail and nose slides, and skiing steeper terrain. We will also check to ensure that you ride using the optimal technique and body positioning. For intermediates who are interested in freestyle, we will provide snowboarding tips and instruction on jumping kickers, sliding rails and boxes and riding pipe. Intermediate snowboarders who are more into freeriding will be familiarized with different turning techniques, such as carving and fakie riding, and will be encouraged to ride more confidently and aggressively. You will also be encouraged to test your riding by taking advantage of natural hits, bumps and walls. In addition, we will teach you the correct technique for riding powder and we will familiarize you with using avalanche transceivers and other backcountry safety equipment. There will also be informal evening workshops on such topics as backcountry safety and waxing and tuning. To minimize your chance of in injury, we will start each day with a warm-up session targeted specifically to skiers.

Advanced

Our advanced program is for freestyle and freeride snowboarders who are very proficient riders and who would like to improve certain freestyle tricks or freeride techniques, or who are looking to push their overall riding by snowboarding with world-class athletes. You will be accompanied by a professional or former professional snowboarder who can help you with whichever skills you wish to develop. These coaches will provide you with all the snowboarding tips you need to develop your skiing long after the trip is over. We will also film you during the day and analyze the footage with you in the evening to provide you with additional feedback and ski tips. There will also be Informal evening workshops on such topics as backcountry safety and proper ski care.

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Terrain

Our New Zealand trip is suited to both freeriders and freestylers. We'll visit up to seven New Zealand ski areas in the regions described below:

Ski Resorts in the Queenstown Region : The undisputed adventure capital of New Zealand, the Queenstown region provides access to four of the best know ski areas, offers incredible heli-boarding and is home to one of the most spectacular mountain ranges in the world. A wealth of easily accessible backcountry terrain and several excellent parks makes this region ideal for all-round skiing.

Ski Resorts in the Wanaka Region : Also home to some of the best New Zealand ski areas, Wanaka draws snowboarders from all over the world thanks to its proximity to one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most famous freeride resorts, recently voted the 3rd best resort in the world, and to it's accessibility to several first-rate freestyle parks, including te world's first freestyle-only ski resort.

Snowcat Boarding in the Land of the Rings : Our final days will be spent in a remote region of the Southern Mountains, which few people ever access. This ski area boasts the highest annual snowfalls in New-Zealand and offers unforgettable freestyle terrain. We'll take a short heli-ride to our mountain base and from here our group will enjoy a full day of snowcat runs through pristine powder. The terrain is extensive and with a maximum of 14 people allowed on the private terrain each day you should never have to cross another track all day.

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Accommodations

The goal of our snowboard holidays is to give you the most memorable experience possible and this extends to our choice of accommodation. In fact, we've selected the coolest, funkiest, most comfortable accommodations we could find. Aside from two memorable nights in a remote mountain lodge, all our accommodations are modern, spacious and attractive, with unbelievable views and cool locations. They have all amenities you'll need, including TVs, VCRs and stereos, and are in walking distance of the main town centers we visit during our ski holidays.
Our first home is Provençal-syle apartments just a two-minute walk away form the main restaurants and bars of Queenstown. In Wanaka, our second base, we'll stay in modern homes with stunning lake and mountain views. These are spacious, architecturally designed homes with large living areas, open fires, and stylish decor. The final home of our ski holidays is more rustic, bur very memorable – a cozy mountain lodge set deep in the mountains. This lodge is set in dramatic scenery wher large sections of the Lords of the Rings were filmed.

More, if you want to know some awesome people and enjoy some memorable nights out, there are always plenty of willing participants and plenty of things to do. Every night, we'll book a restaurant for those who want to eat as a group. Wanaka and Queenstown have a ton of excellent, reasonably priced restaurants with food for every taste: from Japanese, Indian and Thai to Italian and Fish & Chips (budget around US$12 – US$20 per day for lunch and dinner). After dinner the choice is yours, you can hit the bars, watch a movie, head to a café, or just chill at home. As far as nightlife is concerned, Wanaka and Queenstown offer a multitude of bars and clubs – more than you could ever hope to discover during the period of our trip.

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Agenda / Itinerary

Day 1
Welcome to New Zealand’s incredible South Island - the home of Middle Earth! Our New Zealand snowboard holiday starts in Queenstown, New Zealand’s most famous resort town, set beside a stunning lake and surrounded by the jagged peaks of the Southern Alps. After settling into our accommodation - stylish villas that are an easy walk to the town centre, you’ll be free to explore the many shops and cafes of this vibrant town. We’ll meet in the evening for dinner at one of our favourites restaurants.

Day 2
The riding begins! There are four world-class resorts within easy access of Queenstown and we’ll explore them all. Today will be a warm-up day and a chance for your coach to find out what your goals and development needs are. If conditions are right, we’ll head to the Remarkables Resort to enjoy the varied runs, wide bowls and backcountry steeps that characterize this resort. In the evening we’ll meet for dinner in Queenstown and then you’ll be free to check out the nightlife Queenstown is famous for.

Day 3 & 4
During days 3 & 4 of our New Zealand snowboard holiday we’ll continue to explore the resorts around Queenstown, choosing whichever resort offers the best conditions on the day. We can visit Coronet Peak, the nearest resort to Queenstown , head back to The Remarkables, or take a short drive over a spectacular mountain pass to two more quality resorts. Your instructor will accompany you throughout the day providing you with tips and encouraging you to challenge your riding. In the evenings there’ll be video coaching to help you further develop your technique.

Day 5
Today will be an optional activity day – choose from bungy jumping, jetboating or paragliding. Or, hit the slopes for another day of awesome skiing. In the evening we’ll take a short drive to our next destination: the laid-back resort town of Wanaka. Set beside yet another spectacular lake, Wanaka is a small but lively town that offers a good selection of cafes, restaurants and bars. We’ll be staying in luxury houses with spacious living areas and kitchens, breathtaking views, and modern décor.

Day 6, 7 & 8
The three resorts surrounding Wanaka offer some of the best freestyle and freeriding on the planet. Treble Cone was recently voted the 3rd best resort in the World thanks to incredible backcountry terrain. Cardona, New Zealand’s most popular resort

Day 9
Heli-day! Enjoy a full-day of long powder runs in the mighty Southern Alps (please see optional extras for pricing). Heli-skiing is the ultimate for any powder lover, and if you’re going to do it, it pays to go in New Zealand where prices are lower than in most other countries. Those who do not opt for the heli day will enjoy another day of awesome riding in the Wanaka region.

Day 10
Today is a rest day. We’ll take a spectacular four hour drive past emerald lakes, wild tussock lands and Mt Cook (the Southern Hemisphere’s highest peak) to arrive at our base for the remainder of the trip: a hidden region where large sections of the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed. Here we’ll stay in a remote mountain lodge.

Day 11
Jump in a helicopter for a short ride to New Zealand’s highest snowfall mountain. We’ll have the entire mountain to ourselves and will spend an unforgettable day accessing deep, untracked powder using snowcat transportation. Prepare for the best freeriding of your life - 14 runs through pristine powder bowls, steeps and bumps. In the evening we’ll enjoy delicious food, video coaching, pool and drinks back at the lodge.

Day 12
Our New Zealand snowboard holiday ends in Christchurch or Queenstown, depending where your flight departs from.

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Snowboard Freeride Roadtrip / New Zealand (12 days)

Dates: August-September

Number of people:

Min. 4 peoples, max. 20 peoples

Prices : 2930 USD

Registration deadline: 3 months before

Included:
- Airport pick up
- All accommodations
- All breakfasts, 2 dinners, 1 lunch
- Full days of riding coaching
- Unforgettable heli & snowcat day
- Tour New Zealand’s best resorts & scenery

Not included:
- the flight from your origin country
- other optional heliboarding day
- the travel & accident personal insurances

The schedule can be subject to modification, dependent of your flights and the weather forecast.
For more information: info@kosta5.ch