Cardrona What's On: Welcome to Summer
Summer's back! And it's not messing around. Welcome to the start of a new summer monthly What's On, helping you navigate what's hot up the mountain.
We don't know about you, but are we glad to be back enjoying mountain life! Cardrona's been back open for over a month, and it's been great seeing everyone get rowdy and have a blast out on the bike and cart trails. Here's a brief reminder of our opening hours and dates:
Opening Hours
- Regular (10 – 24 December & 23 January – 2 April): 10am – 4pm
- Extended-play (26 Dec – 22 January): 10am – 6pm
- TGIF: 10am – 8pm (every Friday of the Summer)
Opening Days
- Off-Peak (10 – 24 December & 23 January – 2 April): Thursday – Monday (closed Tuesday/Wednesday)
- Peak (26 December – 22 January): Monday – Sunday (7 days a week)
- Closing day: April 2, 2023
This is our final week of 'Peak' summer opening days, meaning this week we'll be open all seven days. Next week will be back to off-peak, and we'll be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Dirt Report
Overall the trails are dry but running well. The dirt was topped up with a little moisture on some drizzly days last week, and with a mix of sunshine and light rain this week, it should keep the dirt nice and settled.
Fire up the Dirt Report to see what conditions are doing daily.
Events
Last weekend, we cooled off in the hot temps with a Rail Jam, and we hosted the Mountain Bike NZ Downhill Series Round 1, and it went off! The level of riding was out of this world, and we can't wait to see what the rest of the season has to bring.
Fast Fridays kick off this week. If you're not familiar, this is social riding at its best and everyone is welcome. Kids racing kicks off at 4pm and adult social racing starts at 6.30pm. To make things even more exciting, Trek Bikes are giving away a Trek Slash 9.8 valued at $9,400! Enter on the day, and every Fast Friday you ride in over the series will count as an entry into the draw to win. It's easy as.
Later in the month, on Jan 27, we have the Cardrona Super-D, part of the Queenstown Bike Festival. This is a lift-accessed “max vert” race where the winner completes the most laps of Ridge-Rider as possible in 3 hours. Still social racing and for intermediate to advanced riders only. Find out more here.
Into February, on the 11th, we're hosting the Red Bull Foxhunt, a mass-start enduro downhill race with a difference. Try not to be caught by the pro athletes starting at the back of the field, and you'll have bragging rights to last the rest of the year. Take a look here.
Your Monthly Bucket List Experience
Fancy exploring Cardrona beyond the bike? Every month, we're exploring what's up, up the mountain this summer.
On clear sunny days, the views up Cardrona are unmissable. And the best way to see them is on the Cardrona X icebreaker swing. Have you found it yet? You're getting warm if you take a trip up McDougall's Chondola...
