As Kaitiaki of the mountains we have an enduring commitment to our environment, people, and communities to ensure they benefit from our presence. 

We use the concepts of kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga to guide us, understanding that our environment is the backbone to our operations and the reason we love what we do. Our promise is to share our passion for the mountains with our people, community and guests, making sure they have an unforgettable experience.   

On the mountains

Biodiversity

NZSki has established a strong record of enhancing the biodiversity on our ski areas through initiatives, including:

• Weed and pest control
• Hare control
• Wilding pine eradication
• Revegetation through propagation of the existing flora (eg. tussock seeding)

Wetland areas on our ski fields are preserved by creating terrain around them, or through relocation initiatives, for example removing small wetland areas, holding it safely and then replanting in the reinstated wetlands.

Waste reduction

We operate a strong policy of waste minimisation initiatives across our three ski fields, specifically in the reduction of food packaging waste, for example:

• Removal of single-use plastic sauce portions replaced with re-fillable industrial size bottles
• Encouraging the use of ceramics across all food and beverage
• Providing compostable paper coffee and soup cups
• Single-serve grab-and-go compostable cardboard holders
• Recycling stations across food and beverage and recycling at back of house

Energy efficiency

We focus on lowering energy usage across our operations, for example, each one of our buses offsets 50-60 cars per day making it by far the most environmentally and economically sustainable form of transport to the mountains. This transport service is well in alignment with both the POW and TIA objectives with a newer, more efficient fleet that encourages the use of public transport.

Our new snowmaking technology is highly efficient too. For example, Coronet Peak’s state of the art snowmaking system uses 95% recycled water sourced from high-altitude water storage reservoirs, which at 1200m above sea level keeps the water at about 0C, at least 20% more energy-efficient than from other sources.  And we’re constantly investing in new equipment which runs more efficiently.

Passionate staff

Our staff have a genuine passion for the environment and this sets the foundation for what we can achieve in this area.  Across our fields, we have volunteers who assist with projects including waste sorting, replanting of native vegetation, wilding pine eradication and trapping for pests to protect bird wildlife.

For example, at the Remarkables, a formal committee meets every week to take action on improving education, waste management and environment conservation at the ski field, while at Hutt, a team of volunteers plant native trees for carbon offsetting. In 2017 Coronet Peak staff volunteers removed wilding pines (which are an introduced species), onsold them as Christmas trees with all monies being donated to a local charity.

Fairtrade and Better Cotton uniforms

Through our partnership with Kathmandu, our staff uniforms are socially and environmentally sustainable, and in some cases a mix of recycled cotton and virgin cotton.

A large portion of the crew collection is certified Fair Trade meaning these were manufactured by people receiving a living wage.

Kathmandu is also a member of Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) cotton, a non-profit global organisation that works with a diverse range of stakeholders across the cotton supply chain to promote measurable and continuing improvements for the environment, farming communities and the economies of cotton-producing areas.