100 year forecast pooh-poohed

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 301, 25 August 1989, Page 6

100 year forecast pooh-poohed

Recent comments by a D.S.I.R. scientist that the future of New Zealand's skifields are in doubt are being challenged fforn within the industry.

New Zealand Ski Fields managing director Tony Wright has dismissed the theories of DSIR scientist James Barringer as blatant sensationalism. Mr Wright, whose company runs Turoa Skifields, was reported as saying nobody could predict weather 100 years away. He said his company is aware of the

trend and that they are developing plans to adjust to what he said was going to be a "creeping effect". ' Snowlines may recede over the next 100 years but the New Zealand Ski Industry are confident of a long and successful future, says Scott Lee, Marketing Manager for Whakapapa Ski Area. "Snow Management

techniques will take over whenever Mother Nature lets us down" he said. "Already we are experimenting with snow management that is allowing us to offer an excellent skiing experience even in light snowfall years." Among these snow management techniques are snow fencing, which is catching snow as it falls for stockpiling and later use; snow-groom-ing, moving snow from where it is not needed

to high traffic areas; snow making, making snow with a variety of compressed air/water and fat jet systems; and summer rock grooming, moving rocks and leveling terrain so the skifields can open with less snow. "We get these sensationalised claims from time to time from scientists but we take them with some bemusement. We can't get accurate weather reports two days in advance let

alone 50 years. Right now we are experiencing one of the coldest

winters for some time. "Weather is cyclic and even allowing for a

gradual warming, we will be skiing for many decades to come."