“who we are and what we do”

The Otago Ski Club (Inc) was formed on the 15th August, 1932 after a particularly heavy snowfall in Dunedin, New Zealand. The club rapidly established a base at the foot of the Rock and Pillar range near Middlemarch west of Dunedin.

A mud-floor hut was built at top of the range in 1937/8 providing sleeping accommodation for 28. At the end of the war, a major building programme saw the erection of a 72 bed lodge also on the top of the range and not long after, the first steps into moving the club’s operations to Coronet Peak, near Queenstown.

By 1954 a lodge had been built on Coronet, and by the middle 60’s the club shifted operations entirely to the mountain where it is still based today. Club membership was originally limited to those that lived within the Otago Land District, but now membership is open to all.

The club is administered by a committee elected at an Annual General Meeting. Subscriptions are set at the annual meeting and the policy of the club for some years has been that all fixed costs should be covered by subscriptions and all running costs covered by usage fees.

Many seasons in the past have been affected by poor or variable snow conditions, but since the company that runs the lifts (nzski.com) has installed extensive snowmaking, seasons have become more reliable and longer in duration.

The lodge opens and closes when the mountain is open for business which over recent years this has been from June to October. Use of the lodge can also be arranged over the summer for groups participating in outdoor recreational activities.