Ski Auckland
by Jules Older, Ski Area Management Magazine

At first glance, Auckland’s North Shore doesn't look like prime ski territory. For the careful observer, there are a number of clues.

There's, let’s see, the conspicuous absence of mountains. And, this mountain-free environment is a snow-free environment as well. No snow, whatsoever. Then, there's the prevalence of sub-tropical flowers, usually not a good sign for skiers. Finally — and this is the dead-giveaway — palm trees. Rarely do ski hills and palm trees coexist.

Yes, while Auckland’s North Shore has a certain charm — rolling hills, lush vegetation, ever-growing suburbia, occasional palm trees — to skiers, it’s a vast wasteland.

Only, it’s not. Since March 5, 2005, the North

Shore has been home to Snow Planet, New Zealand’s first, biggest (and only) indoor ski slope. It’s a snowdome… without the dome.

Snow Planet differs from most other indoor ski hills, a.k.a. snowdomes, in that the hill itself was already there. No need to create one or appropriate a slagheap or a garbage pile; one of the North Shore’s rolling hills has become the dirt beneath your skis.

Snow Planet is built onto what was a hillside cow paddock, and it follows the natural slope of the land. Only now, instead of grass and thistle, it’s covered with snow. Outside, the cows still graze.

The man behind Snow Planet is Eduard Ebbinge, 36, a Dutch investment banker and avid skier. He met his Kiwi wife in the Swiss Alps, and he’s lived in New Zealand since 1995.

How did he think to build a snowdome in an Auckland suburb? It was the Kiwi-Dutch ski connection.

Skidomes have become big biz back in Holland, where there are seven operating now. One of the Dutch domes is twice as wide and twice as long as Snow Planet’s 202 by 41 meters. Ebbinge says, “I came to the view that this would work in the Auckland market.” So, with a partner, Alistair Yates, he “bought a bit of dirt, built a relationship with a Dutch operator who gave us technical advice, navigated the zoning laws, raised capital, and after 18 months of building, here we are. It’s been good fun.”

The result of all this fun is a white structure that snakes down the hillside, looking like a squared-off huhu grub inching over the landscape. Inside, there's a ski shop, a rather nice restaurant with an unobstructed view of the slope, a full snow academy, two platter lifts and one slowly moving ski mat for beginners. The slope is solidly intermediate range (30% grade at its steepest) most of the way down, turning to beginner (9%) near the bottom. It’s punctuated by jumps, bumps, kickers, a c-rail and a flat-down rail, and a fun box. You can negotiate all this on ski and snowboard, toboggan and Airboard.

And it’s fun. The 50-cm-deep snow is packed powder, very consistent and a bit grainy. It makes for easy learning conditions and a solid base for practicing moves. The temperature is a pleasant minus five C, and Snow Planet is open 365 from morning to nearly midnight.

If you get tired of skiing or just want to warm up, go out and feel the cows.