First Hanmer Springs Alpine Winter Festival prepares for cold launch

Hanmer Springs is hoping for cold weather to stick around for the first Alpine Winter Festival. Photo / BareKiwi

With a powdering of perfectly timed snow, Hanmer Springs is preparing to launch their first ever Alpine Winter Festival.

The Arctic temperatures and wind that battered the South Island have helped set the scene and freeze ice rinks in the Hurunui resort town.

"It's been a long time since there's been ice skating in Hanmer Springs," says General Manager, Graeme Abbott. "Commercially it has never happened."

With a month-long programme of events, the inaugural festival hopes to bring a new crowd to the town which tends to see its peak season in Summer.

Apart from ice skating there are a whole range of activities - from a masquerade ball, 10k run, through to a mountain film festival.

The first skaters test the Hanmer Springs ice rink. Photo / Supplied

The festival is part of a move to reinvent the Spa Town after a strong domestic-only season, providing "something that will motivate people to come and visit us and also to give our regular Christchurch visitors something different."

While the recent disruption to the Tasman Bubble and Australian school holidays may affect some of the predicted seasonal lift, Hanmer has seen an increasing number of visitors from other parts of the country. Last year Hanmer Springs saw a 140 per cent increase in visits from the North Island.

Ahead of the start of the Fete this weekend, the resort had "really good indicators from accommodation providers saying that they were booked quite a long time ago."

Thanks to everyone getting excited about this weather! Committee members just got up there and unfortunately not quite...

Posted by Hanmer Springs Ski Area on Sunday, June 20, 2021

Sadly the winter sports crowd will not be around to boost numbers. After early snow conditions allowed the local Amuri ski field to be one of the first in the country to open, the ski conditions have deteriorated in icy winds and snow melt.

"Hopefully they'll be back up and running soon."

The Alpine Winter Festival runs from 1 to 31 July, with ticketing details on visithurunui.co.nz/events