'Quiet summer' for RAL skifield staff

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 48, 22 May 1984, Page 4

'Quiet summer' for RAL skifield staff

"A welcome break," is how the full time staff at Whakapapa see their summer of painting and general maintenance. It is the first summer for many years that there has not been a major . installation on the skifield which is now, by far, New Zealand's largest. New lifts which were unused last year due to the disappointing snow season are ready to go and increase skier capacity by over 3000 per hour on the field. These new lifts include the National Chairlift which has been upgraded to a double chair, the National (No. 2) high capacity T-Bar and a twin Platter Lift situated where the Pinnacle Rope Towusedtobe. A new temporary rope tow has been added above the National No. 2 T-Bar.

Although only a small addition this lift will have a major impact when operating. Skiers will now be able to gain adequate altitude to ski around Delta corner to join the Knoll Ridge and Waterfall T-Bars. This will answer a long felt need to .generate a 'traffic flow' to join both ski areas with ipinimum effort and enable R.A.L. to determine what permanent facilities are needed in the area. With Parks Board approval considerable blasting has been carried out to improve ski trails resulting in better access into the Valley and from the Cinder Track to the waterfall. An enlarged queuing area has also been added to the botton of the Rockgarden Double Chairlift to enable more orderly queuing and ticket checking.