Alpine Village Envisaged For Mount Cook Area

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28262, 27 April 1957, Page 8

Alpine Village Envisaged For Mount Cook Area

i Plans for an alpine village close to the Hermitage, centred on a square, round which are grouped a bus depot, post office, shops, school, equipment room, alpine garden and museum, and rangerguide houses, are envisaged by the Mount Cook National Park Board. When the board met the National Parks Authority and representatives of the Tourist Hotel Corporation at the Hermitage recently, agreement was reached t .at, as soon as the board’s finances permitted, all the high - altitude huts, and with them the guiding services and all outside activities, would be taken over by the board from the Tourist Hotel Corporation. Tenders for House Tenders will be called shortly for the board’s first house on a site close to the Hermitage, and applications will be invited for the position of a chief raqger-guide who will occupy the house. The chief ranger-guide will ultimately have several assistants and will be responsible for construction, maintenance and improvement of amenities, protection of flora and fauna, langing duties, and provision of information to visitors.

The board plans to cater not only for the climber and skier but to provide amenities and attractive trips for the average New Zealand family. A motor camp will be one of the first necessities and a site has been selected south of the Hermitage. Provision will be made for the erection of cabin accommodation.

Financial Prospects The limiting factor to plans is finance. Since the board was constituted in 1955, its income has been derived partly from rents but in great measure from Government grants made for work approved by the National Parks Authority.

At the recent meeting the chairman of the authority (Mr D M Greig) explained to board members tie subsidy scheme recently announced by the Minister of Lands. All donations to the funds

of the board will qualify for a £2 for £1 Government subsidy, up to a maximum subsidy of £2OOO per annum, for development projects within the park. Several donations have already been received and promised, including one of £25 from the Mackenzie County Council, within whose county the park is situated. Board members are considering various means of raising money and one of the board’s first steps will be to approach local authorities, automobile associations and other bodies in Canterbury and Otago. Although Mount Cook is remote from the main centres in the South Island, the board is convinced that, when properly developed, it will attract residents from those centres in large numbers.

Ski-fitted planes owned by a private company w iU enable all visitors to the park to land at high altitudes. When ski tows are installed, the ski enthusiast will have access by these planes to rr y iT }S r Plenty of snow right through the summer. Since the board was constituted, mountain clubs have stepped up their activities in the park. North O 1 £ oli ! ge HiU ’ about one mile north of the Hermitage, the Canterbury Mountaineering Club and tße s . outh .Canterbury Deer Stalkers Association have erected basehuts sleeping 27 persons, and the New Zealand Alpine Club has been allotted a site. The board has formed and metalled a track for a mile across the flats to give vehicle access to these base-huts.