Porter Heights (or Porters as its known) is around 90km from Christchurch and as such is probably the closest ski hill for ChChers.  The skiing at Porter Heights isn't the most impressive in New Zealand, but it is pretty good and suitable for a wide range of abilities.  There's a shuttle bus to that leaves for Porters from Christchurch at 7.30am and returns at 6pm.

The Porter Heights ski cafe is some weird Dr Who Dalek type invention, but apart from that everything seems pretty cool.  Porters has a couple of beginners lifts and three main t-bars giving access to some pretty decent skiing.  For those up for a hike there are also a couple of nice bowls with steep but never crazy terrain.

Despite its proximity to Christchurch, Porter Heights doesn't tend to get hugely busy and in general there tend to be more families and snowboarders than skiers.