Urgent fundraising for Snow Farm base building
Veteran Queenstown cross country and telemark ski instructor Jef Desbecker says it’s “super important and absolutely crucial” for the region that the necessary funds are raised to build a base building at Snow Farm.
“If we’re trying to attract visitors then a building is crucial, even just for locals – a place to rent and store gear, gather and have a cup of tea and food, somewhere for instructors,” he says.
“It’s part of that whole atmosphere in the snow.” “We’ve got some 40kms of world class cross country ski trails up there.”
The internationally-renowned, not-for-profit cross-country ski area – NZ’s only one, was required to hand back its previous headquarters to the building owner and neighbouring business, Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground in October last year.
Snow Farm is operated under the Pisa Alpine Charitable Trust (PACT). The trust has raised over $400,000 towards stage one of the building, but the entire project will cost some $2.1 million.
General manager Sam Lee says they’ve come up with a temporary solution using shipping containers to get through the 2023 season. “But we need to focus on starting construction at the end of the winter to have the new building for the 2024 season. It’s crucial,” he says.
Jef, a fully-certified cross country instructor in North America and NZ since the early 1980s, says the temporary buildings will be “like perfume on a pig”. “It’s just Band Aids. It’s so critical that that funding is achieved so that we have a functional building,” says Jef, who introduced telemark and cross country skiing locally.
“It doesn’t need to be a flash building, just functional, but we need a base.”
The Lee family founded the ski area in 1989. Sam’s father John and family had farmed the land under a pastoral lease since 1924. It was handed over to PACT to run in 2012 and PACT now needs an additional $1.5 million to complete the 264sqm reception, ticketing, rentals area, classroom, and day lodge, says Sam.
Fundraising began about a year ago but really kicked into gear in July last year. “We’ve got a consented plan for the two-staged development and we’re almost through the building consent phase,” says Sam. The first stage will be the minimum operational facility, with a day lodge, classroom and food and beverage area planned in stage two.
More than $400,000 has already come in from the Otago Community Trust, Central Lakes Trust and private donors. “But we need to raise more than double what we’ve raised to date to complete stage one,” says Sam. “We’ve had great support from local businesses and the district council to help us get this far, especially from Breens Construction who’ll be building the facility.”
“We’ve been actively reaching out to the community to fundraise and people have been generous.”
Sam says that without a base building the ski area will be left in “operational limbo”. “It will be detrimental to our long-term survival if we don’t have a base building complete by next year.”
Just last week 20-year-old Wanaka Winter Olympian Campbell Wright, who trains at Snow Farm, became NZ’s first-ever biathlon world champion.
“We’re fostering the next generation here,” says Sam.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 people ski and enjoy Snow Farm each year.
“Last year we had about 12,500 visitors. Many of these people are young local families, not ready for downhill skiing and snowboarding, because they just want to play in the snow and experience it,” says Sam.
More than 33 schools are heading to the Snow Farm for overnight stays and ski adventures this season in the Snow Farm’s range of backcountry huts, mostly from Otago and Southland, a few from Canterbury, and even one Australian school. Shotover School is also planning a one-week programme there.
“We provide the facilities for overnight backcountry education experiences that cover everything from alpine ecology and snow caving to outdoor survival and cross-country skiing,” says Sam.
US Winter Olympic gold medallist Jessie Diggins has trained at Snow Farm, as have world champion biathlete’s from around the world.
“It’s a great thing for our youth to see these athletes performing, but 60 percent of our visitors are local,” says Sam. “Our main aim is to provide facilities for locals to access and experience the Snow Farm and access the backcountry, whether they’re cross-country skiing, hiking, snowshoeing or ski touring. We even have dog passes.”
Events like the Wanaka Sled Dog Festival, Merino Muster and regular weekend biathlon and cross-country competition events also mean a proper base building is paramount, he says.
To help or donate see: www.snowfarm.nz
