02-08-2025
Resort gears up for festival
Snow Sports New Zealand is hosting the Adaptive Festival for the 15th year, continuing to offer an inclusive space for people with disabilities.
More than 200 people from all over the country are set to attend this year's festival over the weekend including participants with disabilities, friends, family and volunteers.
The event has been held at Remarkables for about eight years and has now made its way back to Cardrona.
"The festival is pretty much designed for people with disabilities to come together ... to help build friendships, build relationships and experience snowsports together as a group," festival organiser Scott Palmer said.
Festival participants have always come with a diverse range of snow experience with some having spent very little time in the snow.
The event gave the community an opportunity not only to enjoy snowsports more freely but also to interact with others that might have a shared experience.
"Often when people come to the snow with a disability, they might be the only person on the hill for that day and they don't really get to interact with other people with disabilities," Mr Palmer said.
The adaptive festival acted as a common ground, designed to create a sense of togetherness.
The event originally started out as a two-day festival but has been held over three days as it increased in popularity.
Most of the event will be held at Cardrona Alpine Resort with evening activities at the Paetara centre in partnership with Aspiring Gymnastics and RAD Skate School who will also be hosting adaptive gymnastics and skateboarding activities.
The final day was always marked with a race which Mr Palmer said had been used as a feeding programme to some of Snow Sport's paralympic athletes.
"Quite a few of our development athletes started off at the festival," he said.
"Then they fell in love with it and decided to stay in the industry."
One of the most notable athletes that got their start at the festival was Bailley Unahi who joined the national development programme in 2020 and has since been pursuing a career in competitive ski racing.
Cardrona adaptive supervisor Katharina Mueller said they were ready to host the festival with all the equipment, volunteers and a qualified team of adaptive instructors.
The team was ready to accommodate guests with physical, cognitive or sensory disabilities, making the event as inclusive as possible.
"Just showing that Wānaka is a great spot for accessible tourism, and we do have a lot to offer.
"It's really cool as well, just as a community social event because if you have a disability, it can be really isolating," she said.
Although the event was mainly organised by Snow Sports NZ, they partnered with community organisations such as the Mint Charitable Trust and the Halberg Foundation, which both worked to empower people with disabilities all over the country.
The festival will start August 1 and run for three days across weekend.
