Cardrona What's On: Matariki Weekend
This Friday is Matariki, a day to celebrate the beginning of the Māori year. Here's what's happening up the maunga.
Welcome to this week's What's On blog. We're celebrating the start of the Māori year tomorrow, and we hope you all have a wonderful day spent with loved ones. If you're visiting from overseas or are unfamiliar with Matariki, the word describes the cluster of stars you might start to see from mid-June. When these stars appear before sunrise, they indicate the beginning of the Māori year, a day to celebrate!
Tomorrow also marks the end of the 'blackout' period, you can start using your Saver season passes and Earlybird multi-day passes from Saturday, July 15.
We’re 'sold out' of day and multi-day passes for the next week, but depending on how many season pass holders decide to ski or ride up the mountain, we may have more available capacity than anticipated. If this happens and we have capacity, half day passes will become available at 11am to purchase for the same day. Check the snow report or our social media stories to stay in the loop.
Après in Wānaka is now open for lunch, so if you're wondering where to enjoy après-ski this long weekend, head to this off-mountain hub. With a new Euro Après menu it's a great space to debrief after the day, or morning on the slopes. Check out the menu.
On-mountain, you'll find our in-house DJ playing a set in the Cardrona base area courtyard, Saturday, 1-3pm. Keep your eyes peeled for something exciting coming to the courtyard next week... watch this space!
Weather Forecast
We've had a few sprinkles of snow over the last couple of days which have kept groomed runs looking fresh, and there should be more dustings of snow overnight. Please be aware off-trail is still thin snow-wise.
The weekend's looking mixed and mild, with some cloud, temps around 1/2 degrees, and some wind chill. Open the Snow Report from 6.30 am daily to see what conditions are like every day.
Treble Cone
Treble Cone is still ticking along and waiting for more snow to open fully, but the Nice 'n' Easy platter is now open for beginners.
If you are planning to come up this long weekend, think about taking the free shuttle from Wānaka. It departs from the Rugby Show Grounds bus stop at 7:45am and leaves TC at 4:15pm. There are limited seats and it's on a first-in, first-served basis with no booking required.
Alternatively, drive over to the bottom of the mountain road and catch the frequent and free shuttle up the road. There are heaps of ways for you to reduce our carbon footprint this winter! Check out the bus timetables.
Events
This Saturday, July 15 we're hosting an in-house competition for the High Performance Centre athletes in two arenas. There'll be a rail jam in McPark and a jump jam in Antlers Alley. These arenas will still be open to the public to hit too.
The snow holding out on us has forced us to postpone and potentially cancel a few events on the maunga:
- Pīki Maunga Rangatahi will not happen this weekend due to dangerous conditions for U16s. The decision to postpone or cancel is still to be decided.
- Kids' Cup is planned for July 22
- Bikes On Snow is planned for July 23
- Park Attack is now on July 29
Keep reading the weekly What's On to stay in the loop, or check our events page.
Terrain Parks
The big news is that the cat crew worked their magic this week, and have opened two jumps in Antlers Alley! You can still head up to the hike park at the top of Whitestar which has 5 features.
Beginners can also expect to find the box line in the Beginner's Area rebuilt as well. This week, the crew are focussing on rebuilding McPark at the bottom of McDougall's.
