Sales career follows mountain enjoyment

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 241, 3 May 1988, Page 21 (Supplement)

Sales career follows mountain enjoyment

By Teres a O'Connor Eight years ago, Nancy van der Laan walked into the Turoa office freezing cold and desperate for a job. Now she works as a national saies representative "selling Turoa" around New Zealand. Blonde, trim and trendy, the 28-year-old is a wellknown figure around Ohakune and the mountain country. Nancy was born in Whakatane and raised in the Waikato with what she describes as a "farming background". She is the third eldest child and has three brothers and a sister. She grimaces in horror, but obliges, when asked to recount what she's done since leaving school. "I went to Te Awamutu College when I first left, I went through heaps of jobs." "I did a stint in horticulture for quite a while, but left that to travel around New Zealand." In 1980 someone suggested applying for work at

Whakapapa skifield, so she became a cafeteria assistant there for the Tourist Hotel Corporation. "I'd skied only once in my life when I took that job, and I had absolutely no knowledge of mountains." She hated working inside and didn't enjoy the cafeteria environment, but that was where her love for the slopes began. "I spent most of my time looking out at the mountain envying the skiers and admiring the snow." When the season finished, she went to Hamilton where she worked as a salesperson in a menswear store. She sums that up as "too confined." It was in 1981, at the beginning of a cold winter season, that she walked into the Turoa office and asked for an interview. They employed her as a hostess on the mountain where she greeted visiting skiers and gave out information. "So I was finally on the mountain, even if it was checking tickets, but to me the combination of working with people and working outside was perfect."

Nancy continued working as a hostess until 1984, when she was promoted to hostess supervisor. Two years later, she joined the firm's ski service department, which provides services like hostessing, cleaning and car parking to skiers. Then last summer, a big break came her way. She landed her full-time job as saies representative for Turoa. She works in alliance with one other representative, who is based in Auckland. "I want to establish a higher profile with the public by visiting ski shops throughout the North Island and attending snow shows and related promotions, she says. Nancy works with a lot of film crews who use the Turoa slopes for films and landscapes, taking them up and showing them around the mountain. Recently she has also been involved with the promotion of Beechers Lodge - a new accommodation centre. Last year, she helped promote the opening of the Movenpick Quad chairlift, during which Tip Top Movenpick ice-cream was given away to skiers. "That," she recalls, "was a great day. We had a sausage sizzle and a giant slalom and loads of ice-cream." Another Movenpick day is planned for this winter. The Steinlager Winter Festival is another event she thinks will pull the crowds again, because many races are planned and a band has been organised to play on the mountain. "The McDonald's Cup and the Homestyle Cup ski contests are also on again this winter, so there's plenty to keep me busy," she adds with a grin. She says her job has encouraged her brothers and sisters to use the slopes. "They all love skiing now - but they only started because I'm here." One thing she does admit is the great improvement in her own skiing ability since working at Turoa. Although she is an experienced skier, she stresses that she skis "just for fun." "I don't have to prove anything to anyone - I just enjoy being up on the mountain."