Cardrona

Cardrona Alpine Resort skiers will have to pay an extra $15 this year for an "early bird" adult season pass, and other ski resort patrons face prices hikes of $70 and $90.

Skiers and snowboarders can return to Cardrona Alpine Resort today, after a four-day closure of the skifield's facilities.

Cardrona Alpine Resort will remain closed today as levels at a wastewater pond on the mountain remain too high for the skifield to resume normal operations.

"Significant" financial impacts at Cardrona Alpine Resort have been accepted as an inevitable outcome, as the skifield presses on to reopen as soon as possible after wastewater backups shut the operation down yesterday.

Cardrona Alpine Resort will close for an indefinite period while contractors drain a near-overflowing oxidation pond at the skifield.

International ski teams have returned to Wanaka skifields for their annual off-season training and their presence is giving some of New Zealand's top alpine racers an opportunity to learn from the best.

Two 19-year-old Finns stole the show at the final event of the world junior snowboard and freestyle championships in Wanaka yesterday.

Hopes of a second New Zealand medal at the Junior World Snowboard and Freestyle Championships crashed yesterday when Byron Wells was denied a second halfpipe run when patchy weather cut the competition short.

New Zealand won its first medal at the world junior snowboarding and freestyle championships yesterday, when Rebecca Sinclair claimed silver in the snowboarding halfpipe at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

New Zealand's Rebecca Sinclair (18) and Ben Stewart (20) were the only New Zealanders to qualify yesterday for the semifinals in the snowboard halfpipe competition at the world junior snowboard and freestyle championships in Wanaka.