Porters Ski Area
Porters, is a commercial ski resort just over an hour's drive (98km) west from Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. Originally functioning as a club skifield, it has one beginner magic carpet, one platter tow, one chairlift and three t-bars. The difficulty of the slopes is distributed as 15% beginner, 35% intermediate and 50% advanced. Modern grooming equipment is used, and snowmaking facilities operate along the main pistes along the chairlift.
| Porters | |
|---|---|
| Location | Selwyn Canterbury New Zealand |
| Nearest major city | Springfield |
| Coordinates | 43°16′26″S 171°38′34″E |
| Vertical | 620 m |
| Top elevation | 1995 m (6545 ft) 'Allison Peak' 43°15′45″S 171°37′53″E |
| Base elevation | 1302 m (4272 ft) |
| Skiable area | 700 Ha |
| Trails | 29 - 15% beginner - 35% intermediate - 50% advanced |
| Longest run | 2km - McNulty's Basin |
| Lift system | 6 lifts: 3 T-bar lifts, 1 Platter lift, 1 Magic carpet, 1 Chairlift |
| Terrain parks | 1 |
| Snowmaking | Yes |
| Night skiing | No |
| Website | https://portersalpineresort.com/ |
There is one club-run lodge with 42 beds, situated along on the mountain's access road, said by the company operating the field to be "the least intimidating in Canterbury".
With poor snow fall between 1987 and 1990, Porters became the first skifield in New Zealand to install snow making in 1991.
In 2007 the name of the field changed from Porter Heights to simply Porters to reflect a change in ownership. By 2020 it was again rebranded as Porters Alpine Resort. This has brought various improvements to the field, including a new groomer, cafe and platter lift.
In 2011 a proposed land swap attracted controversy. Blackfish, the Australian company that owns the ski field, offered to swap 70 ha of land on Banks Peninsula for 198 ha of conservation land adjacent to the ski field. Alan Morrison, the director general of the Department of Conservation, agreed to the land swap in principle. The land swap is opposed by the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board and by Forest and Bird.
Porters wish to expand into the adjoining Crystal Valley, which has better snow coverage.
In 2015 Porters had plans for a $60m gondola and $100m hotel complex. These have yet to be developed. Porters wishes to grow the operation to a year round business and has plans to install zip lines, hot pools, mountain biking trails and hiking. Currently, Porters has 2.3km of purpose-built mountain bike flow trails. With a vertical climb of 120 metres.
On Friday 22nd of July 2021, Porters had one of its biggest days ever during the July school holidays with 1200 people skiers. This was bigger that the 2020 holiday maximum of 900 skiers and also greater than the 2020 July school holiday average of 501 daily skiers.