Christchurch Adventure Park update
On Sunday 25th September the Christchurch Adventure Park opened it's gate to some of Canterbury's cycle industry staff, and I was lucky to be one.
Pricing, the big question on everyone's lips. All going well, these will be released in the first week of October. That did not quench our hunger to know exact details, and hints were dropped that day passes should be a nice surprise compared to other operations doing similar things in the country. Season passes will be broken down into two, date driven around daylight savings time.
Are they on track for opening day? Best answer of the day and that was - Yes! Walking around the base facilities, as you can see in the photos they are well on the way to completion, there was a great feeling of being ready to roll almost any day now.
The key ingredient, the chairlift. Doppelmayr and Christchurch Adventure Park are very proud, and rightly so, to bring the first mountain bike specific chairlift into action right here in NZ. After pouring 60m³ of concrete 10m deep into the ground with a tolerance allowance of only 5mm, which they killed it at 1.7mm, the base unit is installed. Towers are going in next and then the cable. At 1.8km in length, this will also be the longest chair in NZ. Add to this around 450m of sweet free vertical elevation, what’s not to like!
Onya bike now. Trails are progressing well too. On opening, there will be a full range of trails to suit all abilities. Nobody should be feeling overwhelmed or for that matter underwhelmed. Preparation for the pump track looks great too. The bonus is you will be able to sit on the deck at the cafe with your beer and watch.
Fly by wire. Longest zip line in NZ, check. It will be quite an experience sitting on the chain on the way to your next gravity run with people on dual zip lines zooming overhead whilst you’re also crossing over one of the downhill tracks.
All that attended the industry event definitely came away impressed with the focus of the team to get it right from day one. Remembering that opening day is just the start. There is going to be bike schools to teach all levels of riders, corporate team building, accommodation, the list goes on.
There is no doubt that Christchurch Adventure Park is going have a very good impact on Christchurch, Canterbury and NZ adventure tourism in general.
To summarise…. Can’t wait!
