MTB

Skyline Queenstown releases Early Bird passes for Queenstown Bike Park

By Skyline Queenstown


Queenstown rider Tim Ceci takes on one of the most scenic MTB corners
in the world ­on Queenstown Bike Park¹s Thundergoat trail. Credit: Callum Wood


Early bird season passes to the world-renowned Queenstown Bike Park at Skyline Queenstown go on sale today, with a payment instalment option being offered for the first time.

Till July 31 2015, mountain bike season pass prices are $699 for the upcoming season, before rising to $799 from August 1. One of the longest lift-accessed mountain bike seasons in the world, the eight-month-long season is scheduled to begin on September 4 this year and will close on May 8, 2016.

And to make payments easier for riders, Skyline Queenstown has introduced a four-payment option for people signing up before June 30. Mountain bikers pay a $20 administration fee and four payments of $179.75 before the season commences.

After the closing of a successful 2014-15 season on May 10, Skyline Queenstown is focusing on making the upcoming 2015-16 season even better, with continuous improvements being made to the trails on Ben Lomond Reserve.

“Our motivated and committed trail team has already started the winter work upgrade programme and we look forward to bringing new and exciting upgrades into the mix for 2015/16,” Skyline Queenstown mountain biking operations manager Justin Matthews says.

“In addition to this, we are also working very closely with the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club and Queenstown Lakes District Council with regard to new additions to the Queenstown Bike Park. We hope to have some very exciting news for riders in the near future.”

For the 2014-15 season, Skyline Queenstown installed a third hook to its gondola cabins – resulting in shorter queue times and a 50 per cent increase in capacity to get riders to the top of Queenstown Bike Park.

World-class riders like Loic Bruni, Loris Vergier, Finn Iles, Bernard Kerr, Eliot Jackson, George Brannigan, Casey Brown, Katy Curd, Brandon Semenuk, Cam McCaul, Ryan ‘R-Dog’ Howard, Kelly McGarry, Conor Macfarlane, Mick Hannah and Andrew Neethling again used Queenstown Bike Park as a training ground over summer and loved the facilities, Matthews adds.

“The reason they come to Skyline Queenstown is because of the challenging and varied terrain, the trails are fantastic, the runs are long and the weather is usually pretty good. Our facilities are world-class and meet their training requirements, not to mention all the other fantastic riding we have in Queenstown. We look forward to seeing the pros, as well as riders of all ages and abilities, up at Skyline Queenstown for the 2015-16 season,” Matthews says.



Brendan Fairclough in the Whoops section of the Queenstown Bike Park
Original trail. Credit: Callum Wood



The Skyline Queenstown crew get stuck in to a new step-up feature on
the Original trail.