On the piste in Surfers
‘Snow park’ opens for business
GET ready to hit the slopes and ski just meters from the Gold Coast’s most famous beach without a snowball to be seen.
After a year of planning the Gold Coast Snow Park has opened its doors in central Surfers Paradise, giving anyone from veteran skiers to novices the experience of carving up the slopes while wearing board shorts.
The mini park, which features five downhill runs, is hoped to be just a taste of the future, with owners hoping it will be so successful a larger snow park will be built in the Gold Coast Hinterland.
Snow Park Australia general manager Matt McCulloch said it offered a different experience to other Coast tourism infrastructure.
“Australia is the land of the sun and beaches yet we love the snow,” he said.
“I wanted to give people the opportunity to enjoy skiing without the time and expense needed to go overseas.
“There is nowhere better than the Gold Coast to do it, it was the best place.
“The best part is you can go for a ski while in 25-40 degree temperatures and then go for a surf straight after.”
The park has transformed an empty block on Ferny Ave and also features a cafe and gokart track. The ski jumps and track are made of Nevaplast, a synthetic plastic which replicates the feel and movement of snow.
Mr McCulloch said he hoped to expand the park if its Glitter Strip home proved popular.
“This theme park is a precursor to the other big one we are hoping to do,” he said. THERE is a moment when you’re soaring in mid air and feel the pull of gravity pull you back to Earth.
That moment came for me a split second after flying off the big ski-jump at Gold Coast Snow Park as I felt my eyes go wide and the drop toward a giant inflated cushion begin.
It’s said that when you’re learning to fly that coming down is the hardest thing and in the moment I saw the cushion hurling toward me, I realised how true that was.
Sitting on the lip of the jump in an inflatable doughnut with the moment of truth imminent, all you can do is take the fall and scream.
The noise was snow joke.
“Building that straight away would have been hard and it is the sort of thing which needs a lot of support from the community.
“What we are doing here in Surfers gives you an idea of what we are doing and get the numbers through the door.”