Words by: Cat Nicol
As you already may or may not know Snow Park NZ has confirmed to be closed for this current season held in Wanaka New Zealand. The popular freestyle resort has now announced that it has been sold to ‘The Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds’. This is a vehicle testing company, which is still operated by the Lee family in the area. Proving Grounds will be proceeding with making new developments to the resort for its future. The Lee family has been running Snow Park since 2002 and now after an eleven-year reign, as the host of a world class freestyle resort, they have committed to other plans.
“We are happy with the deal we have worked out and believe they will be successful”, said Sam Lee, General Manager.
Snow Park NZ, known as the mecca of terrain park resorts, now has had to cancel major international competitions including the New Zealand Burton Open, which usually takes place in August attracting over 1,000 athletes from 40 different countries.
With the lead up to next year’s Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia, Snow Park could still be opened to ‘special private events’ and training purposes for athletes. With the resort remaining closed to the general public since it would be too expensive to run with the small market.
With this amazing playground being closed from the public this winter, it’s heart-breaking for those who love to come and shred all day every hour on the hour and not waste a second of it. My attempt was to go along this year and see it all for myself, but now with this new development, I can no longer have the experience that I was hoping to get from visiting this season. All the joy and happiness of Snow Park NZ will be missed by the people who made it an inspirational place: the riders.
Rest In Peace