Lift accessed skiing and snowboarding in Soho Ski Area near Queenstown will become a reality in 2021 with the installation of the Willows Quad chairlift due for competition this winter.

In 2018 Cardrona Alpine Resort acquired the ski area rights for Soho, the terrain that sits on the reverse face of Mt Cardrona, overlooking the Wakatipu Basin and the Southern Alps.

Cardrona/Treble Cone general manager Bridget Legnavsky says Willows Basin is the inaugural area to be unlocked within Soho and further lifts are planned in the future.

She says Willows Basin will be the first new major lift accessed terrain in New Zealand since the opening of the Valley View Quad at Cardrona in 2021.

Sixty-five hectares of primary intermediate terrain will be accessed from the top of the McDougall’s Chondola at Cardrona through to the bottom of the willows Quad at Soho.