A BIDDER from Liverpool has agreed to pay £60 for snow offered on an auction website by a Wrexham business.
The un-named buyer was the successful highest bidder for tons of the white stuff put up for grabs by Ian Owen and Jim Gaffney who run the One Planet mountain biking centre high on Llandegla Moor.
The centre has been snowbound and unable to open since December 20, and in one of their many idle moments waiting for the big thaw the pair decided, for a joke, to offer the snow for sale on ebay.
Their one stipulation was that the buyer had to collect it themselves.
The snow auction lasted seven days and attracted 15 bidders.
Jim said: “The highest bid by the time it closed came from a man in Liverpool.
“We’ve made it clear that the auction was a bit of a joke and that the money raised will be going to our favourite charity, the Alzheimer’s Society.
“We’ll also throw in a free car park pass for him.”
On a more serious note, Owen and Jim say the centre is still closed and they estimate the loss of trade has so far cost them about £100,000 in lost revenue.
Jim said: “While things thawed out some time ago at lower level, we still have more than five feet of snow in some places, such as at the top of the forest where the bike tracks are, and three feet elsewhere.
“Many of the trees will also have to be cut down after being left unsafe by the weight of snow.
“We have managed to clear the car park, which means we are re-opening the cafe to bring in some trade.
“Although we have made provision for being hit by snow in our business plan, we never expected to see this much.”
He added: “We have now laid out a fair amount on a snow-blower, but there’s only so much it can shift.”