A group of people perform a haka in the snow while two guitarists play, as an audience in colorful jackets watches. Snow falls gently around them, creating a serene winter scene.

A young child dressed in black smiles while playing with traditional poi in the snow, as others participate in the background, with snow gently falling around them.

Giving NZ kids the mountain experience

Ride Tamariki

What is Ride Tamariki?

We want every child in New Zealand to have access to the mountains, regardless of circumstance. Ride Tamariki is part of the Cardrona Foundation, helping Kiwi kids ski and snowboard who may not have otherwise had the opportunity through support to take part in local school programmes, single-day experiences, and overnight mountain adventures.

What we're doing now

Working with local school programmes to identify children and families who need assistance to get skiing or snowboarding and bring them up the maunga.
Running day experiences on the mountain with local community groups, including Kahu Youth, Whakatipu Youth Trust, Cromwell Youth Trust and Whakaruruhau Trust.
Running overnight experiences to cater to youth outside of our local area. This life-changing experience in the mountains includes skiing/snowboarding lessons, sledging, groomer rides, cooking in Base kitchen, personal development and more.

What we’ll be doing in the future

We want to establish an individual scholarship programme for local Ride Tamariki participants who connect with the mountains in a deeper, season-long programme and further their on-snow education and experience.
In the next five years, we aim to have supported 1,000 children to ski or snowboard through Ride Tamariki at Cardrona or Treble Cone.

The Ride Tamariki project is proudly supported by The North Face, Dragon Alliance and GoPro.