Teams of firefighters will make an unusual sight on the slopes of Coronet Peak today, skiing or snowboarding down the slopes clutching a 30m-long 20kg fire hose,.
Fortunately there’s no fire, instead the six teams of four from Auckland, Queenstown, Wanaka and Frankton are taking their firepower to the snow to raise money for the Bruce Grant Youth Trust.
The Trust provides funding for young people looking to further themselves in the arts, sports or cultural fields, in memory of Queenstown mountaineer Bruce Grant who died on K2 in 1995.
The Firefighter Chillfactor Challenge is organised by Auckland Airport firefighter Tony Scott, who together with co-ordinator Bobby Lamont is the man behind the annual firefighter Sky Tower Challenge.
Over a two-hour period from 8am to 10am, teams of firemen and women travel up the Coronet Express chairlift as often as they can, skiing or boarding down together all holding onto the hose.
“That’s trickier than you might think!” said Mr Scott. “We have to have a few practice runs the afternoon before because if you don’t get the timing right, the person on the end of the hose gets flung off like it’s a slingshot.”
The team that completes the most number of runs wins the challenge, something that generates huge amounts of friendly rivalry.
“Queenstown’s the defending champion and Wanaka wants to win it really, really badly, while our Auckland Airport team is always out to beat the team from Queenstown Airport,” said Mr Scott.
In the three years since the event started it’s raised about $22,000 for the trust, and organisers hope to raise a further $10,000 this year. A ‘Hose Haul’ will also be held this year on the Coronet Peak deck involving members of the public who will be invited to take part in a fun activity to raise even more funds.