I’ve been to many of the club fields but hadn’t been to Fox Peak. Considering the season’s been a good one, I felt it was time to tick it off.

The drive up was challenging. Lots of ski fields have been having trouble with their roads due to all the rain and have had to put a lot of work in, and perhaps Fox couldn’t get the hands on deck to do some maintenance. You’d definitely want to have a very heavy duty 4WD.

It had snowed a lot during the week and as we were gathering around the base I asked a group that looked like regulars about the snow, specifically about aspects and the wind and any tips for snowpack stability. I get that it’s nice to keep some secrets about stashes but their answers were very unhelpful.

One of the tows stopped working mid morning & it was taking a while for the clubbies to get the old motor going again. A clique gathered at the base of the lift and some of their conversations were directed at other newbies and a bit of a FIOFO attitude. There were various other times during the day when I noticed “the locals” giving off a strange vibe of wanting to have the ski field all to themselves.

With lots of traversing it was easy to find fresh lines, although it was hard going because in places the wind had damaged the snow and it was thick and crusty. The terrain was mostly big wide faces, with some interesting nooks and crannies off to the side. It looked like it had some decent potential, especially for ski touring access, in easier snow conditions.

Nevertheless, I’m not sure I’ll return. I think I’ll save my time for friendly club fields like Broken River.
See our video here

Firstly, you have to check to see if they're open before you even bother driving up the road. Because more often than not, they only open on weekends. They obviously don't get a lot of visitors then so you will never have to fight the crowds to ski. But it means it becomes hard to hitch if you don't have a car.

Anyway, there are no crowds here. And like any good ski field, the best runs are all off piste so don't bother unless you are keen to skin or hike. The access road is not great either and may provide more 'excitement' than you bargain for. Also beware of high winds as this skifield is very exposed and will not be open. Or worse, they will take your money and open one tow or platter or whatever that first access is (I've only been there the once and will never be back) and not give you your money back.

Apparently the backcountry out back is really good but it would have to be a good snow year to tempt me back up there. I don't care how cheap it is if the skiing is no good.
See our video here

One good thing about Fox Peak is that you don’t have to share the terrain with many others. Apparently the record for the busiest day at Fox Peak was 70 cars in the car park, whilst there were only about 10 cars when we visited.

One of the possible reasons for the lack of crowds became apparent just after we arrived. We met the “manager” for the day who was nothing but unwelcoming. Firstly I got chastised about what I was wearing. I then enquired as to where the toilet was and he thought that was hilarious for some reason. When we got to the middle tow (which we’d waited for a while to get fixed) to add to his unwelcoming nature, he then laughed and laughed that I couldn’t get on the ropetow. I tried to explain to him that the rope was too high and he’d given me a belt with a rope that wasn’t long enough to actually reach the rope, unless of course I put the belt under my armpits. His suggestion was that I should pull down on the rope HARD to reach my nutcracker, and then continued to laugh at my inability to use their substandard equipment. Skinning up to the next ropetow (which wasn’t working at all) became my mode of transport which was greeted by more guffaws by him and other members.

Fox Peak has been described as timeless, but that’s really just because nothing has changed. Fox Peak is very primitive and it makes the Craigieburn ski field look like the Shangri La Resort. The deck was breaking away, the picnic tables gave off major splinters, the road was in a poor state, and the tractor motors on the tows seem to frequently kark it. Considering the super cheap lift tickets, you don’t expect an opulent resort experience, but you at least expect a ski field that you might be able to access.

In the end it wasn’t worth heading up the ski field because it was like a cross between a glacier and an ice skating rink. Other NZ ski fields can also suffer from melt-freeze cycles (and rain sometimes), so in the spirit of outlining the pros, at least Fox Peak has a variety of aspects so when the snow’s frozen, there should be some aspects in the sun that may soften during the day. Another pro is that Fox Peak has nice steep terrain and terrain features such as chutes and bowls, so if the snow is good, then at least there’s good terrain for experienced riders.

General information about the ski field can be found on the Fox Peak overview page.
See our video here