SNOW PARK CLOSURE – What it means for freestyle in the Southern Lakes

Mountainwatch | Caitlin Reid

Snow park NZ has recently announced it will not be open on a regular basis for the 2013 winter season. Fans of the South Island institution are absolutely gutted, as the resort is world renowned for its variety of hits, features and massive half pipe. Why? What happened to cause the world’s first park-only resort to be closed for most, if not all of the season?

The sheer cost of maintaining Snow Park has proved too much this year, says General Manager Sam Lee. Sam and the SnowPark team are passionate about maintaining the standards of the resort.

By staying closed on a regular basis to the public, Snow Park is taking responsibility for its trading partners, and loyal customers. “This is one of the hardest decisions I have had to make” says Sam, but it comes down to capital and time. Sam says “we had hoped to get on our feet sooner,” but with winter fast approaching, the resources aren’t available to maintain the world class standards Snow park customers expect.

Will there be resources available for casual open days? At this point it is unsure, but Lee has said Snow Park may be open on an ‘ad hoc basis.’ What does this mean? We can’t yet be sure.

So what will happen to the events usually scheduled at Snow Park? Remember the mention of opening on an ‘ad hoc basis?’ This vague statement instills hope that events like the Burton Open, and some slope style events in the Winter Games will be held at Snow Park despite the public closure.

New Zealand is keen to ensure winter sports athletes partly train in the Southern hemisphere, instead of chasing purely northern hemisphere winters. Snow Sports NZ (SSNZ) are hoping they can reach some arrangement with Sam Lee regarding the training and competition needs of southern hemisphere snow sports competitors. At this stage, the future of the events traditionally held at Snow park is unsure. Only time will tell if Snow Park will gather enough capital and man power to bring these high-profile events to life.

So, events may still run; but what about the huge numbers of park riders? Terrain park lovers are tipped to head to Cardrona, one of Wanaka’s local resorts. Cardrona Alpine Resort sales and marketing manager Nadia Ellis says Cardrona will be able to handle the crowds. While she can’t predict the introduction of new or more features due to uncertainty around snow conditions, she is confident Cardrona’s lift system is well equipped for higher numbers of park riders.

But do Cardrona’s parks have the variety and level of difficulty to satiate the appetites of Snow Park fans? “Yes” says Nadia. “[Cardrona has a] 22ft Olympic Superpipe (home to the world cup) the Heavy Metal Terrain Park including the XL jump line, and the longest slopestyle course in the southern hemisphere etc.” So there you have it! Cardrona’s parks will be amped and ready for high volumes of terrain park riders this season. Nadia Ellis continues to add “The whole team at Cardrona is extremely disappointed that SnowParkNZ won’t be open to the public this year. We look forward to SnowParkNZ making a huge comeback in 2014.”

Snow Park fans don’t despair. Remember Sam Lee’s mentioned of opening on an ‘ad hoc basis?’ The extent of this basis is still unclear, so there may be hope of a few Snow Park riding days yet. Fingers crossed!

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