A queue snaked alongside the Queenstown Events Centre, almost reaching the netball courts at the Queenstown Airport end of the facility early yesterday afternoon, as eager skiers and snowboarders prepared to stock up for this season at the Whakatipu Ski Club Sale.
Those in the front of the queue were there about an hour before doors opened at 1.30pm to ensure they were among the first to get their hands on pre-loved skis, poles, boards, and a wide range of clothing.
Sale manager Peter Devine said he had been organising the event for the past 22 years, but it had been going for many years before that.
"It started as a swap shop many years ago, and it’s become more sophisticated over time," he said.
"It’s now a one-day, once-a-year sale where we put on 3000-plus items, get 1500, 2000 Queenstowners come through and we can deck the whole family out for ... really good prices."
"Because it’s gear that’s been used ... literally, you can get a board, set of skis, boots, etc, for the kids, for what it costs to buy one set of skis at a lot of the shops in town."
About 120 volunteers were all hands on deck yesterday as the gates opened and the buyers flooded in, with streams of people arriving almost as fast as the early bargain-hunters were leaving.
The Queenstown-Lakes is on the countdown to the 2022 season — Cardrona Alpine Resort is scheduled to open next Saturday, followed by Coronet Peak on June 17, The Remarkables on June 18 and Treble Cone on June 25.
