Firefighters prove hose the best for charity

Queenstown firefighters (from left) Gabby Ernst, Ben Jackson, Richard Preston and Simon Robinson were among the firefighters who found a cool and exhilarating way to raise money for the Bruce Grant Youth Trust at Coronet Peak skifield yesterday.

Organiser Tony Scott, an Auckland airport firefighter who also organises the annual Auckland Sky Tower Challenge, said more than $10,000 was raised in the two-hour ''Firefighter Chillfactor Challenge'', in which skiers and boarders, rather than traversing a halfpipe, made their way down the slopes carrying a 30m-long hose.

For the record, Queenstown retained the trophy.

- David Williams