Summer sports from mountain shop

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 318, 19 December 1989, Page 2 (Supplement)

Summer sports from mountain shop

by

JOHN

woods

Growth in walking, tramping and mountain biking has led to the launch of a new guiding service and retail store at Ohakune.

The town got its first specialist summer outdoor store with the opening of the Powderhorn Ski and Recreation Centre's new operation on 1 November. It is also the North Island's first commercial on-mountain guiding and activities centre.

Owner-operator Paul Scarf says a busy spring with many people visiting Ohakune for recreational activities other than skiing, plus increasing numbers of visitors to the Tongariro and Whanganui National Parks each summer have prompted the launch of his new summer business.

"The demand is here so we're simply changing what has been a traditional winter-only ski shop into an all-year-round outdoors operation," he says. The main thrust of it will be guided mountain bike tours and walks together with retailing and hiring of equipment. Experienced local mountain guide Noel Shepherd, one of just two concession holders allowed to operate in the Tongariro National Park, has joined the Powderhorn team for the programme. Shepherd has spent 20 years in the region and has had a guiding concession for the last four. In the past he has guided numerous tour groups from Venture - treks and the Auckland Climbing School. He says it is exciting to be associated with a local operation which has a "shop front" and a long-term commitment

to something other than skiing. Among the walks available are one-day bush walks, a two-day hike on the Blyth Track, three-day walks from Turoa to Whakapapa or Whakapapa to the Ketetahi Springs and five-day walks around Mt Ruapehu or from Turoa to Ketetahi. The main attraction on the walking programme is a five-day camera safari into the Kaimanawa Range east of the mountains to stalk and photograph the legendary wild horses. Well-stocked tent camps have already been established for the summer safaris. The fowderhorn has also purchased 12 mountain bikes for casual hiring or for a range of guided tours from one to four hours or a full day. Ski mechanic and instructor Nick Ridings is staying on the Powderhorn team through

summer to be the guide. Although off-road cycling is not permitted in the national park, the Powderhorn is helping the local office of the Department of Conservation produce a mountain biking map

and leaflet describing the various tracks and areas available nearby and in railway and forestry areas around the mountain. Two of the guided tours already tested are four-hour rides which start with a taxi ride and transportation of the bikes to the start point at Horopito, between National Park and Ohakune, and to the top of the 18km Ohakune Mountain Road. The easy downhill ride back to the Ohakune Junction is already popular with Powderhorn customers. Paul Scarf says he is also phinning a twohour tour which includes a bungy jump in the nearby picturesque. valley where the New Sensations Bungy Crew operates.

To support the guided tours the Powderhorn is shifting skis and rental equipment out to make room for tennis and hockey gear, balls, frisbees, skateboards, fishing gear, tents, packs, tramping boots

and climbing equipment. Much of the new equipment will also be. available for hire. "We've ordered two parapentes which will be available for hire next summer and we'll have a qualified parapenting guide to take customers up into the sky," says Paul Scarf. The 40-year-old ski shop owner and promoter is keen to see the Ruapehu region take advantage of the growth in outdoor recreation and action sports. He believes it holds the answer to shorter ski seasons and the commercial downturn in skiing. He has already developed Ohakune's most substantial and modern apres ski subdivision at Miro Park, he provides offices each year for the

seasonal Ski FM radio station and he is planning next winter to open a bistro and bar with an indoor swimming pool on his corner site in the historic Carter Homestead which he has shifted from Rangataua and is now

renovating. This winter he was thc prime mover in a public petition to allow hcli-skiing on Mt Ruapehu and he is among a group behind the public information centre in Ohakune. Over the next few weeks the Ohakune group will launch a "Lost Paradise" promotion to attract visitors and holidaymakers to Ohakune this summer. Among the other adventure activities and sports they're promoting are canoeing and jet boating on the Wanganui River, skeet shooting, flying fox riding, guided river fishing tours, whitewater rafting, bungy jumping and horse trekking. The group is also promoting the hire of mountain radios for independent trampers and will support the Department of Conservation's summer programme of walks and lectures.

Reprinted courtesy of Adventure Magazine.