Festival fever snowballing

Shepherds encourage their dogs to the finish during last year's Speight's Dog Derby at Coronet...
Shepherds encourage their dogs to the finish during last year's Speight's Dog Derby at Coronet Peak. Photo by Barry Harcourt.
Excitement is snowballing at Coronet Peak as the ski area gears up towards the 36th Queenstown Winter Festival, which starts on Friday.

Ski area manager Hamish McCrostie said the staff were really looking forward to the festival and its "unique celebration of winter".

"The festival is a great way to celebrate the start of winter for us and a time when we welcome both skiers and non-skiers to the mountain to enjoy the wacky events that we all know and love," he said.

The on-mountain celebrations begin on June 29, with the Tararua Skin to the Summit. Skiers must take off from Coronet Peak's base building and skin up a new and improved course, ski down, then skin up again to the finish line.

"Skinning up the mountain is the perfect way to start the day. You get to enjoy a beautiful sunrise, get some good exercise in, and hopefully have time to enjoy breakfast at the cafe afterwards," Mr McCrostie said.

The festival's longest-running event is the Speight's Dog Derby, which will be held on July 1.

Dogs and their owners have to go up the mountain on the chairlift before hurtling down on foot to the base building. The first pair to make it down together wins.

The Grabaseat Mountain Mayhem on July 3 includes the Suitcase Race, where competitors career down the mountain on suitcases, and Dash for Cash, where racers ski down the mountain then run up and over an obstacle course.

Mountain Bikes on Snow was an event for adrenaline seekers, Mr McCrostie said.

He was expecting a big crowd up the mountain for the festival's grand finale, the free Jim Beam Closing Concert, which starts at 4pm on July 4.

New Zealand reggae/ska/dub band dDub will perform and night skiing will also begin for the season.

 

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