'Constant flow' as bike park season resumes

The second half of Skyline's gondola-assisted mountain biking season at the Queenstown Bike Park launched on Monday morning, drawing a "constant flow" of out-of-town enthusiasts.

A handful of riders were queued and waiting for the 10am opening, ready to add to the whopping 45,256 rides completed before the gondola closed to mountain bikes for the peak festive season.

Skyline mountain biking co-ordinator Brad Rowe said the majority of the 335 season pass holders were most likely at the first round of 2012 New Zealand Mountain Bike Cup, which is taking place on a track starting from the Remarkables ski area access road.

However, with about 1000 runs completed by 4pm, it had been a success, Mr Rowe said.

"There's been lots of day and half-day passes sold with the tourists coming through, which was great - people mostly from Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin, Wanaka, Invercargill and even Australia."

September 17 marked the start of the first full season of the park, after last summer's successful four-month trial offering the only gondola-assisted mountain biking in the southern hemisphere.

Part of the Ben Lomond recreational reserve, the Queenstown Bike Park is built on steep pine-covered hill, with a climb of 500m to the top of the gondola.

One of those lining up at 10am was Tim Johns, of Christchurch, who had detoured from a Wanaka holiday with friends for their first go at the Queenstown Bike Park.

The gondola access to the bike park had been the lure and he was looking forward to his first run, Mr Johns said.

"It's something different and I'm not sure what it's going to be like ... but we've got the opportunity so we're definitely going to take it."

Season pass holder Cory Clark was happy to be back on the track after the festive season closure.

Gondola access meant he had sold his all-terrain mountain bike after six years on the trails of Queenstown - and sometimes the gruelling climb up Ben Lomond - and had invested in a downhill bike, Mr Johns said.

"You would be crazy not to do it. It's half the price of a ski pass and you get to use it for double the time," he said.

"They [Skyline] are doing the right thing. And the downhill - this is just way more fun."

Mr Rowe said he hoped the "really good interest" shown so far in the season would continue, and a total of 100,000 runs down the mountain by the end of the season was well within reach.

During last year's trial season at Skyline, 5000 people completed more than 58,000 runs down the mountain over the four-month summer period.