Matthew Haggart

"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.

A geotechnical consultant will assess the site of a rock fall at the Glendhu Bluffs near Wanaka as part of ongoing work this week by the Queenstown Lakes District Council to stabilise the area.

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

A rock fall beside Lake Wanaka yesterday may have been caused by the shockwave from the Christchurch earthquake.

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.

More than 40 retro-attired skiers carved up the slopes of Treble Cone last weekend as part of a celebration to mark 20 years since the founding of the New Zealand Freestyle Skiing Association.

An award-winning LandSAR dog team swapped the familiar bush-clad terrain of the high country for the snow-covered mountains around Wanaka at the weekend as they sought to join an exclusive club of avalanche rescue accredited specialists.

A council request for Wanaka parents to reconsider travel plans for school children coincides with a move to install new speed limit signs around Mount Aspiring College to slow traffic during peak times.

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.

Wanaka's water network is leaking at a rate of nearly twice the national average and running up a yearly bill estimated at more than $60,000 for the Queenstown Lakes District Council.

Property developers Willowridge want a non-notified determination from council authority Lakes Environmental to carry out major earthworks at the Three Parks site on Ballantyne Rd on the outskirts of Wanaka.

European riders came to the fore in testing conditions at the first day of alpine snowboard racing at the Junior World Championships yesterday.

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.