Roundhill Ski Area

is another family-run field. Austrian immigrant Karl Burtscher and wife Audrey moved their family of seven to Tekapo in the 1970s to run a farm and open a ski field. Their kids relished skiing every day in winter — after they'd finished school lessons and ticked off their farm chores, that is. The ski field closed in 1990 and sat quietly for 11 years until two of those nostalgia-gripped Burtscher kids, Christian and Karoline — and Karoline's Swiss husband Oscar — brought it back to life. Roundhill has long been loved for its gentle slopes but it also has Australasia's highest vertical: 783m of snowy vertiginous-ness. The Heritage Rope Tow is the world's longest at 1473m and gives access to chutes, bowls and lots of steep, ungroomed terrain. 2544 Lilybank Road, Lake Tekapo. 021 680 694, roundhill.co.nz