The luge opened on Saturday, its latest ever, and there was finally enough ice on the rink for skating and curling, rink manager Bill McIntyre said.
''It's very late for all of us.''
The weather had been a ''huge problem''.
Central Otago had received more rain than he could remember in a long time.
''And then we had a huge dump of snow sitting on the rink ... the weather gods have been against us.''
But now, ''it's all go for the festival'', to be held on Saturday.
A day of skating, luging, food and more would be followed by a costume ice dance, he said.
''It should be a good day out ... and the costume dance in the evening is not a bad little night out.''
It was also ''all go'' for the first week of the school holidays, with a luge camp and curling competition between the Naseby and Ida curling councils on the outdoor rink.
New Zealand Olympic Luge Association president Geoff Balme said it was a frustrating start to the season.
''We got the big dump [of snow] and were all ready to go but, because everybody was stuck and the locals were digging sheep out and then we got the nor'westers, the snow melted.''
A couple of good frosts in recent days meant the track was ready for the school holiday luge camp, though. Participants will be coached by Polish champion luger Adam Jedrzejko (25).
Guntis Rekis, who has been luge coach for the past three seasons, is not back this year as his wife is about to have a baby.
However, Manorburn icemaster Bert Kemp was yesterday losing hope of calling a bonspiel. There was 75mm of ice on the Manorburn but 100mm was needed for curling.
If the frosts of the past few days continued, a small bonspiel might be held but the weather forecast suggested otherwise, he said.
It was a similar situation at the Idaburn Dam.
