For the Love of Ben G.: Ski Treble Cone. No, Seriously. Do It.

I'm not kidding when I say that if you're at all into skiing, you absolutely must make the pilgrimage to Treble Cone on the south island of New Zealand. Skiing Treble Cone left me at a loss for words: it's situated thousands of feet above glacial valleys and lakes below, with views of the majestic Southern New Zealand Alps all around you.

Treble Cone a few hours' drive from the adventure capital of Queenstown, so most of the tourists down there stay where they belong; the real pros from all around the world come here to the ski town of Wanaka to make the trip up the mountain. Since it's winter down here when it's summer in the rest of the world, North American and European skiiers all come down to the Mecca of skiing here in New Zealand.

I actually came here on a lark: I was driving south from the beautiful Franz Josef Glacier, and after making my way through the "holy shit, it's so beautiful" Haast Pass, and I came to the tiny, adorable ski town of Wanaka, where I'm currently sipping a long black in an internet café. I saw all the ski bums and happy boarders hanging around town, and stayed in a little lodge with a bunch of backpackers, resolving to ski Treble Cone in the morning.

Choices, Choices…
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Bright and early, I woke up and drove my little orange Barina Holden up the zigzagging mountain road, with gasp-inducing views of Mount Aspiring and Lake Wanaka unfolding below me. I ran into a few fellow computer geeks on the ski lift who were way interested in VMware Fusion, and we rode together nearly to the peak mountain elevation of 1960m (6430 feet—yes, that's right). I'm no pro, so I took my time, enjoying my way down Upper High Street, a great blue square (intermediate) course down the mountain.

Treble Cone's claim to fame is that they have a huge variety of intermediate and advanced slopes, but even then, I didn't feel out of place at all among all the pros. Every slope was way steeper than anything I saw at Whakapapa or back home at Lake Tahoe, and every view of the lakes and glacial valleys below made my eyes pop out of my skull. I'm sore as hell now, but I'm still absolutely chuffed (to use a Kiwi expression) to have experienced the best in New Zealand skiing.

Cheeky Kea
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The most unique part of the Treble Cone experience is the Kea bird, which are one of the only alpine parrots in the world. The parrots literally hop around the slopes and nibble folks' food at the café when they're not looking; they're quite intelligent and very naughty! Kea are everywhere here, and their inquisitive, cheeky nature is most apparent when they jump up on your car and nibble at the rubber around your windshield. I have muddy parrot tracks all over the hood and roof of my car now!

As my New Zealand vacation draws to a close, I'm going to start the drive down to the beautiful Milford Sound in the Fiordland of the south island. I'm not sure how far I'll make it tonight, but that's the beauty of this trip: I've been playing it completely by ear, traveling as far as I like and staying wherever my fancy falls. And so far, it's worked terrifically. Oh, if only I could pull up my roots and stay in New Zealand forever. It's more than a little tempting!