Turoa is tougest in world, says ski lift builder

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 404, 17 September 1991, Page 6

Turoa is tougest in world, says ski lift builder

Turoa is the harshest and most difficult site in the world in which to run a ski field according to Artur Dopplmayer. That information was passed on to a group of 25-30 local ski industry people at a meeting with the ski field' s top five management personnel last Thursday. The meeting followed an open letter from Ski Shed proprietor Ian Heappey expressing concerns at what was happening with Turoa. Turoa's management

team took the opportunity to explain some of the difficulties they suffer in operating the field and some of their policies. Business people present took the chance to express their concems and put forward suggestions on operations. "Mr Dopplmayer (principal of the Austrian ski lift building company) said he had a lot of sympathy but not many answers to our problems," said general manager Angus Grimwade. The ski lift manufacturer visited

Turoa earlier in the season. Less lift breakdowns Assistant mountain manager Rob Finlayson said the statistics on ski lift breakdowns was improving. He said in 1985 lifts were stopped by breakdowns 0.16 per cent of the time, while the figure this year was 0.05 per cent. This represented a 300 per cent improvement in performance, despite the fact the lifts were ageing all the time. Electrification of the .

lifts would continue to improve the situation, despite the operators suffering some teething problems with lifts, especially the Movenpick. Turoa's groomers were worked up to twice as many hours a season as those at other fields, despite one being the oldest operating of its type in the country, said mountain manager Grant McMasters. Ski report accuracy First up for discussion at the meeting was Turoa's ski report.

Turoa's marketing manager Nancy van der Laan said the reports would be updated more regularly and faxed to ski shops and businesses whenever they were updated. Many people were concemed at the regularly-used "expected to operate" phrase, and the status of the field, whether "open", "on hold" or "closed". Mountain manager Grant McMasters explained the procedure for preparing the weather report and making the decision on what would operate. He said he starts

assessing the situation at 5.15am, but that invariably the weather starts to change at daybreak. The weather situation is assessed at various levels on the mountain and that information is sent to the meteorological office, who analyse it and forecast the day's weather. "There's a lot of time for conditions to change between a 6.15am assessment and opening at 8.30am," said Mr McMasters. "I don't mind getting out of bed early but there is little point in starting to assess the day's weather too early." Ruapehu Outback Adventures proprietor Don Allomes asked why Turoa could not make a decision to either open , or close and forget the "on hold" status. He said it would then be easier for visitors to make decisions on their day. Mr McMasters said when they started the day . on-hold, then opened, they still got a reasonable number of people skiing at Turoa. He said they only went on hold if there was a chance of opening, and that they had to make the final decision by about 9.30am so that staff for the day could be organised. Whakapapa could stay on hold until much later because many of their customers stayed . in ski club huts, so were "on the spot". Fickle forecasts Asked about accuracy of forecasts Mr McMasters said "People ask why aren't you telling people what the weather is going to do tomorrow - I can't tell them because I don't know and nor does the weather office." "Take this week, the forecast on Monday was for a very windy Wednesday and rain' on Thursday - it was a great day yesterday (Wednesday) and today is windy, no rain." Asked about information on the field, about lift status for example, Miss van der Laan said Turoa was to set up a system whereby the snow hostesses and hosts would be advised of a lengthy breakdown, who would advise the public. Breakdowns of more than 10 minutes would be logged with the information office with an estimated time of restarting. They would also try to notify departments including the ticket office, the shop, ski hire and cafeterias. Cafeteria options General Manager Angus Grimwade outlined the options being looked at for the mountain cafeterias next year, with the present operator's licence coming to

an end. He said the five options presently being studied were: lease all three cafeterias to one concessionaire (the status quo); lease them to three separate concessionaires; Turoa to operate them all; Turoa to operate them in joint venture with another operator; joint venture operations with three separate operators. Anyone with proposals on operating the cafeterias was welcome to approach Turoa to discuss them, said Mr Grimwade. Mr McMasters said the facilities such as cafeterias were designed to cater for 1500 people and not the 3500 now visiting Turoa On some days. He said the next stage of development would have to be to increase the capacity of such facilities. "There is no point in building more lifts, which would bring more people, if we can't look after the people in the cafeterias," said Mr McMasters. Asked about picnickers sitting in the cafeterias, Mr McMasters said Turoa must allow access to all, not just cafeteria customers, because of the rules of the National Park. On-location representatives of Spotless Catering, who operate the cafeterias at present, could not answer queries on prices, opening hours and quality. A spokesperson said they were managed 'from Auckland and had little say in how things were run. No compromise on chains Mr McMasters said he would not compromise on the chains issue, because it was one of public safety. He said Turoa has been delegated the right to control the road in the winter and that they can stop people driving up the road unless they show they have chains, when the 'chains must be carried' status is placed on the road. Ski shop operators said they field many complaints from people about the carrying of chains and changes of status of the road. He said he could not recall saying 'chains should be carried' but that he would ensure the status in future was described as either 'no chains required', 'chains must be fitted' or 'chains must be carried'. "In Australia it is mandatory that all vehicles carry chains, at all times on alpine roads," said Mr McMasters. "It caused a lot of problems initially but is now accepted." "I will not comproTurnpage 7

Turoa Meeting

From page 6 misc on the chains issue - we assess the situation every day and we don't take the dccision lightly whcn people's safety is at stake." To illustrate the difficulties expcrienced this year on the Ohakune Mountain Road, Mr McM astcrs said $27,000 was spent last year on road clearing and this year the figure was already $40,000. It was suggested the Department of Conservation and Transit New Zealand be approached to consider realigning the road at the hairpin below Massey Flat, which is where many problems occurred early in the scason. Concern was expressed by ski shops about the chain hire service operated on the mountain road. The service, operated from a caravan, was licensed by the Ruapehu District Council who did not consult with Turoa, Mr Grimwade said. Turoa's season will close on 28 October, said Mr Grimwade. He said it was uneconomic to run the field after that date with the numbers of people that visited the field. At the conclusion of the meeting it was agreed that further such meetings should be held, two or three times a year.