Porters Ski Area

Porters, is a commercial ski resort just over an hour's drive west from Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. Originally functioning as a club skifield, it has one beginner magic carpet, one platter tow, one chairlift and three t-bars. The difficulty of the slopes is distributed as 15% beginner, 35% intermediate and 50% advanced. Modern grooming equipment is used, and snowmaking facilities operate along the main pistes along the chairlift. There is one club-run lodge with 42 beds, situated along on the mountain's access road, said by the company operating the field to be "the least intimidating in Canterbury". In 2007 the name of the field changed from Porter Heights to simply Porters to reflect a change in ownership. This has brought various improvements to the field, including a new groomer, cafe and platter lift. In 2011 a proposed land swap attracted controversy. Blackfish, the Australian company that owns the ski field, offered to swap 70 ha of land on Banks Peninsula for 198 ha of conservation land adjacent to the ski field. Alan Morrison, the director general of the Department of Conservation, agreed to the land swap in principle. The land swap is opposed by the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board and by Forest and Bird.