Skiers and snowboarders at Cardrona Alpine Resort now have 65ha more terrain to explore. 

The landmark opening of the Willow’s Quad yesterday (Thursday July 29) creates lift access to two basins which feature undulating intermediate terrain. 

It’s the first major piece of lift-accessed terrain opened in New Zealand in almost a decade.

Former Cardrona general manager and Wayfare chief experience officer Bridget Legnavsky was on the slopes for the opening. 

James Mulcahy making the most of the fresh terrain. 

It was “absolutely epic” to see the much-anticipated vision come to life, she said.

“It’s early season still so there’s not huge amounts of snow - it’s still a little bit ‘agricultural’ at the bottom I’m afraid - but what we are excited about is skiing lots of brand new terrain here in Aotearoa.”

Willows’ two basins are located in the Soho Ski Area on the southern face of Mt Cardrona. 

Overlooking Queenstown, Willows sits below the last couple of corners of the skifield’s Skyline trail.

The Willow’s Quad opens up 65ha of undulating intermediate terrain in Soho Ski Area.

Cardrona announced the acquisition of the ski area rights for Soho in 2018. 

The Willow’s Quad chairlift is the former McDougalls Quad, which has been refurbished and relocated to service the new terrain.

The disused chairlift was originally proposed for the Pringles terrain within Soho, but when rare lizards were discovered in the area in early 2020, Cardrona abandoned the Pringles project.

Timon Tasker, Sam Smithers, Harry Sinclair, and Caleb McDougall were the first to load on to the Willow’s Quad this morning.  

Skiers and snowboarders were loving their first taste of the new terrain yesterday, Bridget said.

PHOTOS: Troy Tanner