great on a powder day especially if you don't mind a bit of walking
See our video here

We thought we’d be spending the day on a winery tour, but the weather gods smiled upon us with 40cm of fresh snow so we thought we’d better make the trek from Blenheim to Rainbow. The ski field was only letting 4WDs up the mountain road with chains on, which by all accounts rarely happens, so we assumed we were in for a treat.

It was about 10am by the time we finally got there and we’d anticipated that the small ski field would be tracked out, but from the car park we could see there were still fresh lines aplenty. It was a Monday and there were some school kids, but barely anyone else chasing powder. A quick bootpack to the top of the West Bowl access tow (it wasn’t running and locals said it hadn’t been running for some time) and there was not a trench in sight. What luck! Well it was partial luck anyway. The fresh snow was deep, but it was thick and gluggy, and the cover below was thin. Thank goodness for very durable fat skis.

After a handful of runs with fresh lines (that required a decent traverse) the weather gods stopped smiling upon us and the ski field became socked in. Like a lot of NZ ski fields, it was mighty difficult to ride the peripheral lines without much visibility, vertigo ensued, and we had to retreat to the runs right near the lift.

The staff and visitors were incredibly friendly. It was probably pretty obvious that we were out-of-towners because everyone was dressed in grey, brown and black, and we were the only ones dressed in rainbow colours (it seemed apt!). Even though we looked out of place, everyone was very welcoming in a delightful skiwiana manner. The amenities had a pleasant simplicity to them, which was in keeping with the laid back affable vibe.

We were very lucky to experience one of Rainbow’s strengths – the ability to easily get freshies – and we’re glad we made the long trek from Ruapehu down to Rainbow (via the ferry and Blenheim).

You can see our thoughts on more pros and cons on our Rainbow overview page.
See our video here