Blue skies, dry, chalky snow and not a breath of wind created the ideal conditions for hundreds of snow sports enthusiasts for Treble Cone in New Zealand’s opening weekend.

Queues for the first lifts of the season started well before 7am on Friday, and with fresh snow falling throughout last week, the groomed trails were in great condition with pockets of chalky, windblown snow off-trail. The Home Basin opened on Friday with the Saddle opening on Saturday morning.

“There were a lot of happy people at Treble Cone on Saturday,” said sales and marketing coordinator Julia Atkinson. “Everywhere you looked there were smiling faces as everyone enjoyed a fantastic opening weekend and good conditions as we head in to the school holidays. The carvers also put on a great show with the Treble Cone view creating an amazing backdrop for the art work.”
The current snow base is 40cm in the Home Basin and 50cm in the Saddle Basin.

Opening weekend also saw an ice carving contest and the ice carvers started sawing and chiselling the blocks of ice on Saturday morning completing their winter masterpieces by Sunday afternoon.

Wanaka’s Chris Riley took out the winning ZUMWOHL on Ice trophy and $800 cash with his cheeky Kea carving.

Lucy Waters (Wanaka) created an interactive “Single Cone” ZUMWOHL schnapps cooler and dispenser, and was awarded second place. Jeff Mitchell’s (Dunedin) ode to Janet Frame with his “Ice Angel at my Table” came third.

www.treblecone.com

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