Queenstown Winter Festival to open before ski season

Skiers are reaady, but unseasonably warmer weather is preventing New Zealand's skifields from opening. File photo / Sarah Ivey

For the first time in years, the Queenstown Winter Festival will open before the local ski season.

The Remarkables and Coronet Peak ski fields were due to open earlier this month, but there's no snow.

Festival Director Simon Green says events scheduled to take place on the mountains will have to be cancelled.

He says this will be the 37th year of the festival.

"We've had days in the past where the mountain's been closed due to wind or weather or lack of snow or too much snow but this is the first time in my recollection that we're opening the Winter Festival and the mountain hasn't yet opened," he says.

Simon Green says the lack of snow is concerning for the festival and the community, as the event usually injects up to $55 million into the local economy.

The festival opens on Friday.

- Newstalk ZB