New Zealand's ski season (roughly June to October or November) starts as snows on northern hemisphere slopes finally melt away. This, combined with the South Island's backbone of 3000m peaks and the North Island's equally lofty volcanoes, make New Zealand an increasingly popular international ski destination. Most fields, though, are geared to the domestic downhill market, and the eastern side of the Southern Alps is littered with club fields sporting a handful of rope tows, simple lifts and a motley collection of private ski lodges. They're open to all-comers, but some are only accessible by 4WD vehicles, others have a long walk in, and ski schools are almost unheard of. Conversely, lift tickets are only $20-40, queues are short and there's usually a gear-rental shop not too far away. Throughout the country, there are also a dozen exceptions to this norm: commercial resorts , with high-speed quad chairs (lift tickets around $55), ski schools, gear rental and groomed wide-open slopes. What you won't find are massive on-site resorts of the scale found in North America and Europe; skiers commute daily to the slopes from nearby après-ski towns. Gear rental , either from shops in the nearest town or on the field, ranges from around $30 a day for a full set of decent equipment to around $40-50 for the fancy stuff or for snowboarding tackle.

The best up-to-date source of skiing information is the free, annual Ski & Snowboard Guide published by Brown Bear Publications, PO Box 22630, Christchurch (tel 03/365 4792, fax 365 4797, info@brownbear.co.nz ). For each field it gives a detailed rundown of facilities, expected season, lift ticket prices and an indication of suitability for beginners, intermediates and advanced skiers. Heliskiing is also dealt with and there's brief coverage of the main ski towns. Their Web site (with the guide in downloadable, ready-to-print format), and the best starting point for all things skiing in New Zealand, is www.snow.co.nz .

The main North Island fields include the country's two largest and most popular destinations, Turoa and Whakapapa , both on the volcanic Mount Ruapehu, which erupted during the 1995 and 1996 seasons but has remained quiet since. The Southern Alps give the South Island a great deal more scope, with the greatest concentration of commercial fields being around Queenstown - Coronet Peak and The Remarkables - and Wanaka - Treble Cone , Cardrona and the Waiorau Nordic Ski Area , New Zealand's only organized cross-country site. Further north, Porter Heights and Mount Hutt are within two hours' drive of Christchurch, and the Nelson region is home to New Zealand's newest commercial field, Mount Lyford .

At weekends and school holidays the tow queues at the major fields can become unfeasibly long, and the ideal solution is heliskiing . Guides conversant with the routes and skilled in reading avalanche danger take small parties onto virgin slopes high among the sparkling peaks of the Southern Alps. Provided you are an intermediate skier and are reasonably proficient at skiing powder you should be able to pass the ability questionnaire, but at around $500 a day it isn't for everyone. If you can't resist, places to consider are the usual suspects of Fox Glacier, Wanaka and Queenstown; in Canterbury, you can ski the wonderful Tasman Glacier from Mount Cook Village or get a taster from the Mount Hutt skifield car park.