Description

The 'Chutes' are a controlled part of Treble Cone.

They are reached by going left off the Saddle chairlift, where you will find a boundary fence which has gates all along it.

Only go to this area when the gates are open, otherwise you can get in a lot of trouble within the area, so respect what ski patrol say. The chutes are made up of lots of couloirs of all difficulties.

Generally they are on the steep and narrow side and you need to be a competent skier to get down them.

NZ terrain is very harsh and will test your ability. If you stick to skier's left (next to the boundary fence) then you can drop skier's right into various mini chutes - these are great if you want to just lap the chutes as you can easily traverse back out which means minimal amount of hiking. If you head either fall line or out towards Hollywood Bowl then you will get into the guts of the Motutapu.

These are the bigger runs and go all the way to the valley floor.

There are many different chutes in here and you can usually pop out of one and into another.

On a powder day you want to get in here early before it gets tracked out, it's definitely worth the hike back out. Snow collects in the chutes and so there is a lot of patrol work that takes place, but time it right and you will have the turns of your life. If you go all the way to the valley floor then there is an easy 30 minute hike back up to the chairlift.

If you stay skier's left (near the boundary fence) and ski the shorter chutes then you can traverse straight back to the chair.

It just means you don't get to ride the full chutes. Avalanche gear is still required, but the danger level is not so high.