Power to the skiers on Ruapehu

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 309, 17 October 1989, Page 3

Power to the skiers on Ruapehu

The King Country Electric Power Board may be changing tack on the question of supplying power to Ruapehu' s skifields.

The board's general manager states in his latest report that data compilation continues on the viability of upgrading the diesel driven lifts at Whakapapa, namely the National Downhill area lifts, to electric drive systems and the possibility of installing snow making machinery. Mr Till told the Bulletin the board was looking at supplying more electricity to Whakapapa arid at supplying Turoa skifields. In the past Turoa has had to look at reticulating the field at its own expense but Mr Till said that it will now be a combined effort between the board and the skifield operators, "if there is a dollar to be made for the board". He said both operators would like to see the reticulation work

start this summer and that the board would like to help. He said the extension at Whakapapa was a major job, though it doesn't involve nearly the distances of the Turoa work, where a cable will have to be laid from near Ohakune. The Turoa cable would most likely be a heavily armoured onground type rather than on poles which the Department of Conservation would not approve of, or the buried cable type which Turoa would not want to pay for. He said the cable would broadly follow the Ohakune Mountain Road. He said the shortest route would actually be direct from Whakapapa but that this option was unlikely to find favour with the Department of Conservation.