There’s some more tough news out of Christchurch today as it seems the damage to Christchurch Adventure Park is a lot worse than originally thought – and could take months to fix.

Park officials were finally allowed into the area last weekend to assess the damage after a wildfire ripped through the area in February. The park cost $20 million to build and was only opened just before Christmas last year. The fire ripped through two thirds of the park but brave efforts of the fire service halted it 50 metres away from the park village

The damage will need to be properly assessed and insurance companies consulted before any repair work can begin. There’s likely to be a big logging operation to clear debris and repairs need to be carried out on the chairlift. It has been estimated that the park could be out of action for months and even a hesitant date has not been set.

Anne Newman, the communications manager said: “There’s significant damage in the park, and in fact it’s actually a lot worse than we originally thought. This fire has been one of our worst nightmares and it’s not going to be a quick fix. We’re not going to take shortcuts just to get the park open.”

Here at Dirt we wish the CAP all the best in getting the park open and hopefully it won’t be too long before mountain bikers can enjoy some of the Southern Hemisphere’s finest trails again.