Just ask Luigi!

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 241, 3 May 1988, Page 40 (Supplement)

Just ask Luigi!

B y Teresa O'Connor Want to know anything about ski services at Turoa? Just ask Luigi! An assignment to interview the manager of Turoa's ski services, John Hotter, appeared an easy task. Telephone call - interview - story. Except John Hotter was nowhere to be found.

Blank faces greeted me when I mentioned his name. "John Hotter? Nah, never heard of the man," was a popular reply. Until finally one bright soul exclaimed: "Ski services? Ah, you mean Luigi," Pretty weary with my hunt for this elusive man, I got a welcome surprise

when Luigi turned up on my doorstep to solve the mystery. "I'm Luigi Hotter, but my real name's John - no-one in Ohakune calls me that." He went on to explain that the nickname followed him to Ohakune from his home town, New Plymouth. "Everyone thought I looked and acted like an

Italian, so the name stuck." Of slight build with dark curly hair and a brown moustache, he bears an Italian resemblance, and his suave manner and dry wit cement the image. Now 31-years-old, Luigi trained as an architectural draughtsman. He worked for a time with a company in Wanganui, until it went bankrupt. He decided to approach Turoa Skifields for work, and was given a job on the volunteer ski patrol. "To put it mildly, I wasn't a wonderful skier when I started - to get a job now you have to be pretty hot." In 1979 he became the first part-time paid patroller. Although he moved to Ohakune, he commuted to Wanganui for Fire Service work. "I was talked into giving up that illustrious career and came to Turoa to work full-time as a patroller. In 1982 he was made senior patroller at Turoa, and in the off-season he did similar work in Colorado (USA). "I was on the ski-fields all year round." In due course, he thought it time to settle down and join the "real world," so he went back to New Ply-

mouth and worked as a saies representative. But his feet started to itch for the slopes, so he returned to Ohakune and worked as a septic-tank driver, finding this much more rewarding than selling concrete. Finally, on his "hands and knees," he went back to Turoa for a full-time job and was employed as assistant patrol leader. He was promoted from there up to his current position of skier services manager.

In winter, he is responsible for the skiers' welfare. He organises the hostesses, car parking, cleaning and handles all suggestions. Over the summer, his job is to improve services on the ski-field. Although he says summer is beautiful here, Luigi is looking forward to the start of the winter season. So if you are on the mountain with a problem, remember to look for Luigi.