Monster freeze makes cool fun

Just what it takes to make some folk happy: a big chill, with snow, ice and what South Island ski and mountain resorts are starting to call the best winter sports season in more than a decade.

The chill is now waning somewhat, but mountain guide Gottlieb Braun-Elwert, of Tekapo, says its effects are continuing: the terminal lake of the Tasman Glacier has become a 3km-long skating rink, with ice about 15cm thick, for the first time in recent memory.

Mr Braun-Elwert took his family and friends along for what might have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience - skating before a backdrop of ice cliffs, the glacier and Aoraki/Mt Cook.

"I think it's the first time the lake has been skated on," he said.

Meanwhile, in Queenstown about 10,000 people were gathering for fireworks and a 40-float parade which announced the start of the Air New Zealand Queenstown Winter Festival.

On Sunday, families congregated at the Coronet Peak ski area for events like snow sculpting, snowman building, the Suitcase Race and the Mountain Scene Peak to Park. Later there was ice hockey at the Queenstown Fun Centre, jazz and a concert.

The icy conditions are a result of an exceptional series of high-pressure systems over a fortnight, producing the best winter mountaineering conditions Mr Braun-Elwert has seen in more than 10 years.

A week ago he climbed Mt Tasman, New Zealand's second-highest peak, with his 16-year-old daughter, Carla. Before that he had tackled another of the country's highest summits, Mt Elie de Beaumont, with Carla and her older sister, Elke.

Other mountaineers have also taken advantage of the perfect weather and excellent climbing conditions to attempt some of New Zealand's toughest mountain routes.

At the start of the good weather, Auckland mountaineer Glenn Pennycook climbed the Caroline Face of Mt Cook on his own in 23 hours over two days.

Not content with a solo winter ascent of one of New Zealand's longest and most arduous routes, he had aimed to continue on and climb Mt Cook's South Face, Hooker Face, and East Face on the same trip, but had to abandon his plan at the top of the Caroline Face because of frostbitten fingers.

But whatever the weather, someone always comes unstuck.

Off-road driving took on a new dimension when a four-wheel-drive vehicle crashed through the icy surface of Lake Lyndon near Porters Pass in Canterbury.

Ice on the lake is about 7cm thick - thick enough to support many recreational skaters, but not thick enough for a vehicle.

The four-wheel-drive made it a few metres out on to the lake and was heading back to shore when it broke through the ice and sank into shallow water about 3 pm yesterday.

- STAFF REPORTER, NZPA