page_title: South Island
section_title: Ski areas and resorts
hierarchical_section_title: South Island / Tourism / Ski areas and resorts
caption_attribution_description: English: Captains Basin during ski season looking towards Queenstown on the right and the Cardrona valley on the left.The Captains Basin chairlift is in the centre
context_page_description: The South Island, also officially named Te Waipounamu, is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres, making it the world's 12th-largest island. It has a temperate climate.
  The South Island is shaped by the Southern Alps which run along it from north to south. They include New Zealand's highest peak, Aoraki / Mount Cook at 3,724 metres. The high Kaikoura Ranges lie to the northeast. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines such as Fiordland, a very high proportion of native bush and national parks, and the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The main centres are Nelson, Christchurch, and Dunedin. The economy relies on agriculture and fishing, tourism, and general manufacturing and services.
  As it is 32 percent larger than the North Island, the South Island is sometimes nicknamed the "mainland" of New Zealand.
context_section_description: This is a list of ski areas and resorts in the South Island.
caption: Cardrona Alpine Resort
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4272", "Image ImageLength": "2848", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "Captains Basin during ski season looking towards Queenstown on the right and the Cardrona valley on the left.The Captains Basin chairlift is in the centre", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2014:04:04 22:24:25", "Image Artist": "Andre Chalmers", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "496", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1398", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3008", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Landscape Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:08:31 13:57:16", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:08:31 13:57:16", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "53/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "4294967295", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF SubSecTime": "38", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "38", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "38", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3842", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1460", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1272", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "2136000/439", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "356000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}