Remarkables ski field hit by Queenstown power outages

Skiers at the Remarkables were forced to wait amid widespread power outages in Queenstown. Photo / File

The power went out on a leading Queenstown ski resort ahead of a busy weekend.

Skiers at the Remarkables turning up for a Friday morning ski reported being redirected to Coronet Peak as the ski field was without power.

Owners NZ Ski said there would be a delay in operations and some lifts might not be in operation.

"Our power has gone out, we're on generators at the moment," said Ross Lawrence, area manager for the Remarkables. "It'll probably be a few hours before we have lifts back up and running."

Lawrence said there would be a delay in operations and would update skiers as soon as possible.

The Herald's George Heard was on site in Queenstown, and reports some skiers were being redirected to NZ Ski's sister field at Coronet Peak while the power issues continued.

Many skiers waited to see if the lifts would come back on rather than heading back into the disruption in Queenstown.

Traffic around a road accident was causing many skiers to say that "Coronet is not an option".

By 10.30 the first lifts were back up and running with generator power restored.

The ski field said that despite the long queues and delayed start it would be "Business as usual" for the Remarkables and the access road remained open.

Energy supplier Aurora reported several outages in the Queenstown area this morning, including Arrowtown and Frankton.