Snow fun! Punters brave conditions at skifield

Click to view video footage from the Rainbow skifield family fun day

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The weather might not have been ideal over the weekend but the snow was enough to lure dozens of families to Rainbow Skifield on Saturday.

Skifield spokesman Hamish Neill said he was happy with the snow conditions even though low cloud came in early. He said most of last week there were winds of up to 160kmh but that did not seem to have affected the base of about 100 centimetres.

"It's a pretty good day, other people may object but we can't control that." he said. "The season so far has been good. We would like it to continue and if we keep the snow like this we would be very happy."

Carl Fagan was down from Auckland and staying in St Arnaud for a friend's 40th birthday. He took his two young children up to Rainbow to get a taste of what it is like.

"One is skiing for the first time. My wife hasn't done it in 20 years but she is giving it a go."

Nelsonian Dave McLeod also took his children Greer, 4, and one-year-old Hunter up the mountain to go tobogganing.

"It's the first time in the snow, they are very excited about tobogganing, so we will see how it goes."

Welsh-born snowboard instructor Dom Smith, who is spending his first ski season in New Zealand, said the day had been fantastic despite the weather and families seemed to be getting into the spirit of the winter sport.

"We have seen a big trend in three and four generations of families coming up and riding together mum and dad skiing, granddad and grandmother skiing and then the kids getting into snowboarding or freestyle skiing."

Mandy Bowen took her son Reuben, 5, up the mountain for a

taster.

"We are not a skiing family yet, but just being up here and getting them into it is what it's about, and Rainbow is a great place to start."

Reuben said even though it was "a bit snowy" he still enjoyed it because it meant he "could do more skiing".

For video footage of the weekend at Rainbow visit nelsonmail.co.nz.