NZSkier.com - Magazine, Video, Web

24th June 2009

Excitement is snowballing at Coronet Peak as the ski area gears up for the 35th Queenstown Winter Festival which opens this Friday, June 26.

As the festivals mountain home, Coronet Peak will host a range of events with mountain bikes and dogs joining the skiers and riders on the snow.

Ski Area Manager Hamish McCrostie said mountain staff were looking forward to winter festivals opening party.

Weve had such a great start to the season so far and were really looking forward to hosting a fantastic line up of festival events, he said. Skiers and riders are enjoying superb conditions and were in great shape to welcome the community and our visitors for fun, social and sporting events.

Coronet Peaks festival celebrations get underway with the Browns Mountain Bikes on Snow event on Saturday, followed by a breakfast like no other on Monday. The Media Suite Bruce Grant Youth Trust Charity Breakfast provides an early social and humorous start to the day in the name of a good cause. After breakfast, skiers can head for the snow to take part in the Ski Through the Decades event.

Fitness conscious early birds will love the Skin to the Summit starting at 6.30am on Saturday (July 4) while those into fully mad cap fun should check out the Speights Dog Derby on Thursday (July 2) and the Grabaseat Mountain Mayhem on Saturday (July 4) with ever popular events such as Suitcase Race and Dash for Cash.

Night Skiing for the 09 winter season kicks off on Friday July 3 as part of the mountain party that is the Grabaseat Mountain Mayhem and skiing and riding under lights willalso be on offer on Saturday July 4.

The epic Queenstown Winter Festival Rail Jam (July 5) will see Queenstowns hottest snowboarders and skiers performing top tricks under the watchful eyes of a buzzing crowd and stoked up by top DJs. The party doesnt stop there because the rail jam turns into the Festival Closing Party, where an adrenalin-pumping aerobatics andparapenting display will close the festival in style.

The festival is a long running celebration of the start of winter for us and a time when we welcome skiers and non skiers alike to the mountain to enjoy the lighter side of winter, said Mr McCrostie.

For details of mountain services at Coronet Peak, please visit www.nzski.com.