A town of pubs and pies where SH79 meets SH8, with one ski shop for two small fields: Mt Dobson, up 15 km of gravel to the country's highest car park, and Fox Peak, the club field up Clayton Road. Summer bookings are horse treks and trout guides.
Where do skiers hire gear in Fairlie?
At the Ski Shack at the top of Main Street, or at the Rental Shop beside Mt Dobson's car park, where adults paid $76 a day for skis or a board in 2026. Fox Peak has no hire and no lessons, so anyone heading up Clayton Road collects gear in town first. Both ski roads expect chains in the car, whatever you drive.
What is there to book around Fairlie in summer?
Mostly horses. Real Kiwi Horse Trekking rides out from Awarima Station from $140 for an hour, and Blue Mountain Station has more than 200 km of marked trails. Back Country Trout guides sight fishing for wild browns and rainbows, and Alpine Alpacas on Nixons Road lets you hand-feed the herd.
Main Street or 1725 m
Fairlie has one ski shop, and it's where the Fox Peak club tells its skiers to go, because the club field rents out nothing but nutcracker belts. Mt Dobson runs a rental counter of its own at the car park.
| Shop | Adult ski set, full day | Adult board set, full day | Hires | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ski Shack
Top of Main Street, on SH79 just before the SH8 corner
|
Ask in store | Skis, snowboards and clothing, plus tuning and repairs | Phone 03 685 8088 or call in | |
| Shop | Adult ski set, full day | Adult board set, full day | Hires | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mt Dobson Rental Shop
At the car park, 1725 m
|
$76 | $76 | More than 150 sets of skis, 40 snowboards and a little clothing; no touring skis | On the day, at ticketing |
Mt Dobson's figures come off its 2026 rate card, in NZD, and every set came with a free helmet. The Ski Shack keeps no price list online; ring 03 685 8088 for a quote.
Summer business moves out along Clayton Road to the high-country stations, and onto the rivers with a fly-fishing guide who collects you from town.
Both stations are reached from Clayton Road, which leaves town toward Fox Peak.
Guided treks of one, one and a half and two hours, or half a day, from Awarima Station at 23 Awarima Road. Riders from age 4, in groups of 2 to 10, and bookings are essential.
Treks and prices →Riding packages, a three-day station adventure, a cattle muster, hunting in the roar, and 4x4 and motorbike track access, with huts, a lodge and PLB hire. It's on Blue Mountain Road, off Lochaber Road.
Their website →Kevin Payne guides sight fly fishing for wild brown and rainbow trout, supplies Sage rods and collects you from where you're staying. Based on School Road in Fairlie.
Their website →The guided paddock tour, or a walk around the laneway loop on your own, with horses over the fence and an alpaca-wool shop. Weekdays 9:30am to 5pm, weekends 10am to 5pm.
Their website →A flat course on Talbot Road, par 70 for men and 72 for women, where self-contained vehicles can stay the night in the car park.
Their website →SH8 or Clayton Road
Dobson skiers can pick up gear on Main Street on the way through or wait until ticketing at 1725 m. For Fox Peak, the Ski Shack is the only option.
Fairlie to 1725 m, by way of Kimbell
Dobson puts the drive at anything from 20 to 40 minutes, and slower once chains go on, at 25 km/h. Chains go in the car every trip.
Timaru students started the club in 1929 and built a 12-bunk hut on the mountain in 1933. Members still run the field at weekends, and a turn on the roster comes around once or twice a season.
From Fairlie to the Fox Peak base
Most vehicles get up, but chains must be carried. Snowmobiles and snowbikes are banned on the ski area.
SH8 runs through the middle of town between Timaru, 58 km southeast, and the Mackenzie Basin, and SH79 comes in from Geraldine. Lake Tekapo is a half-hour drive on past the Dobson turnoff.
One run a day each way between Lake Tekapo and Christchurch Airport, calling at Fairlie, Geraldine and Ashburton. Northbound it pulls out of Fairlie at 9:45am; southbound, the 2:15pm from the airport is in Fairlie at 5:15pm. An adult seat is $89, with $5 added to each booking. Wait across SH8 from the BP.
The Tekapo Bus timetable shows no service in June or July 2027, the heart of the season at both fields. Mid-winter trips need a car, or the Dobson shuttle once you're in town. Timetable →
It's on SH8, 11 km west of Fairlie and 18 km short of Lake Tekapo. Park in the free car park beside the highway, never on the shoulder of SH8 itself.
Westpac closed its Fairlie branch in 2017 and the town has had no bank since. Mt Dobson takes EFTPOS, Visa and Mastercard and has no cash machine.
Self-contained vehicles can stay in the Fairlie Golf Club car park on Talbot Road, free if you pay green fees and $25 a night if you don't. Fairlie Holiday Park, at 14 Allandale Road, checks guests in from 3pm to 8pm.
The club field has a BBQ but sells nothing hot, so Fox Peak skiers stock up at the Four Square on Main Street before turning up Clayton Road.
Peter Foote chose the Dobson basin in 1972 as the most sheltered, snow-sure terrain around, finished the road in 1976 after about 10,000 hours on bulldozers, and the family has run the field since 1979. It covers more than 400 acres, a quarter of its trails black, with views across Lake Tekapo to Mt Cook.
The Opuha Saddle triple chair dates from 2001, on towers Bruce Foote built himself, and starts turning at 10am. The Fairlie Ridge T-bar, the Bunny Platter and a beginner tow make up the rest.
The Learners Platter has its own pass, which cost adults $86 a day in 2026, and the Easy Pack bundles ran $135 to $199. Group ski lessons start at 10am and snowboard lessons at noon, and Dobson asks learners to arrive an hour early.
Look for Te Kahui Steeps and Stackit on the trail map. A $30 single-ride hiker pass gets you up for the summit hike or the West Ridge short hike; anyone going further tells the desk first.
A child's day pass was $42 in 2026, and the snow school runs a program called Dobo Youth Snow Pro. Dobson's 2026 rules bar babies in backpack carriers from the field.
Peter Foote climbed Fox Peak in 1962, joined the club committee and put in tows there before he ever looked at Dobson. Dobson's platter came in 1983 on a loan at 26.5% interest, and the first groomer followed the 1989 season, when Aucklanders came up daily because Queenstown had no snow.
Dobson usually runs from the July school holidays to mid or late September. In 2026 it was set to open on Friday 3 July and posted its closing notice on 22 September after a season it called tricky for wind and weather. Its 2027 opening day hasn't been named.
A learners' platter with its own cheaper pass, and group lessons at 10am and noon.
A quarter black, led by Te Kahui Steeps.
Lake Tekapo and Mt Cook from the slopes.
15 km of gravel with chains aboard, or the weekend shuttle.
How Dobson rates for a carload driving up from Fairlie, scored 1 to 5.
Book Dobson's ski school by email at least 48 hours out, and its 4WD shuttle by phone. If wind keeps the road shut, the alpaca paddocks on Nixons Road and the Heritage Museum on Mount Cook Road are the fallback.
Group and private ski and snowboard lessons, NZSIA Fundamentals courses, race training and the Dobo Youth Snow Pro program. Book by email or inquiry form at least 48 hours ahead; privates run at 10am, 12pm and 2pm.
Their website →In 2026 an eight-seat 4WD left Fairlie at 8am from opposite the Ski Shack at 85a Main Street ($45 return), the access road entry at 8:15am ($35) and Top Saddle at 8:45am ($30), and came down from ticketing at 4:10pm. Seats were booked by phone, or on the intercom at Top Saddle.
Their website →A guided walk through the paddocks on Nixons Road, off SH8, lasting 45 minutes to an hour, with gumboots lent to you and alpacas and llamas to hand-feed. Open every day except Christmas and Boxing Day.
Their website →The old Fairlie railway station, vintage vehicles, farm machinery and a gyrocopter that the museum says actually flies, on Mount Cook Road. You go in through the café; adults pay $10 and under-16s are free.
Their website →Most of it is on Main Street, from the Gladstone at number 43 up to the Bakehouse at 74, which was baking about 2,500 pies a day at its 2020 peak. Up the mountain, Dobson sells the same pies, and Fox Peak sells none.
Opened in 2010 by Austrian-born chef Franz Lieber. Pork belly with apple sauce and crackling is the best seller, ahead of salmon and bacon or venison and cranberry. 6am to 4:30pm every day, closed 25 and 26 December.
Bread, pretzels, sourdough and pies baked on the premises, and a fireplace, next to the Heritage Museum at 49 Mount Cook Road.
In part of the old blacksmith's shop at the Heritage Museum, and the way in to the exhibits.
Stonegrill meals, burgers and a beer garden at 69 Main Street, open every day from 11am, with a courtesy coach.
The restaurant opens at 5pm daily in an 1884 building at 43 Main Street, facing the park.
A milk bar at 71 Main Street, across from the Bakehouse, with ice cream and milkshakes in summer and bags of beans from Fairlie Good Coffee Co., a local roaster that sells its coffee with terrible puns.
The town supermarket on Main Street, for the Fox Peak BBQ.
At the car park, 9am to 4pm in season, with Fairlie Bakehouse pies, Underground Coffee and hot chips.
Lollies and soft drinks only. Bring lunch for the BBQ.
Carnegies, in the old Carnegie library on Allandale Road, is listed as temporarily closed.
Read this before Top Saddle
Chains and gravel, mostly, plus a couple of rules Dobson enforces at the car park.
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FAQ
Answers checked October 2026. Prices and rules change each season, so confirm with the operator before you go.
Contact UsAt the Ski Shack, at the top of Main Street, which hires skis, snowboards and clothing and does tuning and repairs. It publishes no prices, so phone 03 685 8088. Mt Dobson also rents at its car park, at $76 for an adult set in 2026.
Photos: Ulrich Lange, Bochum, Germany (CC BY-SA 4.0), Orangesclub (CC BY 4.0), Wildman NZ (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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