While the weather put a dampener on the 2012 Remarkables Parklife Invitational rail jam in downtown Queenstown on Saturday night, snow was falling on the Remarkables skifield.
The event was to have included a freestyle motocross demonstration by New Zealander Nick Franklin and Australians Matty Lewis and Brenton Dragor, but it was cancelled for safety reasons because of the wet conditions.
About 2000 spectators, in an assortment of raincoats and ponchos, assembled at the Queenstown Rec Ground and put up a roof of umbrellas as they watched an international line-up of freestyle snowboarders and skiers demonstrate their skills.
Saturday's rail jam was the tenth anniversary of the freestyle snow sports event, which had been moved to the Queenstown Rec Ground to allow for a bigger stair set structure with two handrails for competitors to perform tricks on and off.
Snow was trucked down from the Remarkables skifield and the 40 competitors used what the rain did not wash away to their advantage.
The Remarkables Ski Area manager Ross Lawrence said the event was a success despite the wet conditions and he was thrilled to bring the mountain atmosphere to downtown Queenstown.
'Even though the weather wasn't in our favour, the night was still a great success," Mr Lawrence said.
"It just goes to show the passion everyone has for skiing and snowboarding that the crowd was there until the very end.
"We can't wait to bring it all together again next year."
Californian snowboarder Eric Beauchemin won first place in the male snowboard category, taking away $1800, and Colorado skier Gus Kenworthy received $1500 for defending the male ski title which he won last year.
Irish snowboarder Orla Doolin won $600 for first place in the female snowboard category and skier Isabelle Hanssen from the Netherlands won $400.
The skiers and boarders were competing for a pool of $5000 and other competitors received smaller amounts for landing a range of tricks.
An earlier competition set up by the Remarkables park crew for unknown freestyle skiers and snowboarders resulted in three competitors, Briggs Brown, Sam Matchett and Brett Donnelly, performing in front of the crowd alongside professional riders and skiers.
The Remarkables skifield received 5cm of fresh snow on Saturday night and yesterday morning. Manager Ross Lawrence said visitor numbers were greater than expected yesterday.
"It's amazing what 5cm of fresh snow can do."
