Most of the services and facilities at Cardrona Ski Resort are housed within a few buildings at the main base area, which are progressively being upgraded. The base area includes equipment rental, a retail shop, child care, ski school, and a courtyard with outdoor seating.

If there have been too many thrills and spills in the parks or pipes, Cardrona has a medical centre that is staffed by a doctor at all times and has a physiotherapist on standby.

Cardrona Ski Hire and Snowboard Rental

There is a large Cardrona ski hire and snowboard rental shop on-mountain that rents out a range of equipment for beginners, park riders, and performance gear and clothing. The Cardrona ski hire rates are generally a little higher than Wanaka ski hire and Queenstown ski hire prices, but they offer the convenience of not having to lug your equipment up the mountain. If you’re not exactly sure if you’ll be skiing every day at Cardrona, Cardrona Alpine Resort offers the option to drop your hire equipment off in Queenstown or Wanaka at the end of your holiday.

Facilities for Children

Cardrona scores highly from the Powderhounds for family friendliness. Having some on-mountain accommodation is the first plus so you don’t have to lug the family and all the gear up the mountain each day (if you’re lucky enough to be able to secure an apartment). The main drawcards are the impressive licensed child care programs that are segregated according to age, the kids’ ski school, and the family ski areas.

Child care starts in the nursery for ages 3 months to 5 years old. The child care is for the full day so unlike at some NZ ski resorts, you don’t have to look after the kids during the middle of the day if you don’t want to. Spaces are limited, so be sure to book.

Kids 2-5 can also attend ski kindy which combines full day child care with a ski lesson in a fenced off dedicated area.

Kids aged 5-14 can attend snowsports school in a 2 hour group lesson format or all day ski school.

Cardrona Ski School

In addition to the many programs for kids, the snowsports school offers lessons in pretty run-of-the-mill formats of group or private lessons. They also run special programs such as those for masters, women and advanced riders. Cardrona also has adaptive programs.

Eating On Mountain

The main base area at Cardrona ski field has a few cafes with typical ski resort cafeteria type food, noddles, and drinks such as coffee, juice and smoothies. There is also a café/bar with more restaurant type fare and alcoholic beverages.

On the mountain near the Captain’s quad chair lift is Captain’s Cafe, another cafeteria style eatery that tends to have fewer crowds.

There are also plans afoot to develop another day lodge with a restaurant on top of the mountain, which will overlook Soho Basin and Queenstown.

Cardrona Shopping

Cardrona Alpine Resort has a large retail shop that sells various Cardrona souvenirs including t-shirts and hoodies. They also sell ski and snowboard accessories such as sunglasses, goggles, socks and gloves and lots of outerwear (ie ski/snowboard pants and jackets) as well hardwear.

Or for more substantial ski or snowboard related needs or wants, there are plenty of Wanaka and Queenstown ski shops and snowboard stores, as well as plenty of other shopping opportunities. 

If you’re staying on-mountain at Cardrona, stock up with groceries and grog before you arrive. You can do this in Queenstown or Wanaka; both have large supermarkets with reasonable prices.