Turoa celebrates its tenth birthday

Waimarino Bulletin, Issue 4, 12 August 1988, Page 14

Turoa celebrates its tenth birthday

It's been 10 years since the official opening of Turoa Skifields.

Overseeing anniversary activities, which include the BP-Europa FIS Series, i s managing director Tony Wright whose involvement in the skifield goes back to before Turoa was opened to the public. In the early 1970s it was he who first recognised the potential of Mt Ruapehu's southwestern ski slopes iand looked round for a commercial backer. "I could see the opportunity for a completely different terrain to the Whakapapa skifield on Mt Ruapehu," he recalls. "The vast wide open slopes offered incredible variety for all skiers from the beginner through to the most advanced." Alex Harvey Industries Ltd (AHI) took his proposals seriously and commissioned him to undertake a feasibility study for the development of a new skifield. The study bore out his belief and commercial development o f Turoa began when the company was granted a licence for the Turoa Skifields area by the Tongariro National Park Board in 1977. This licence runs for 45

years until the year 2022. From its inception, the Turoa management aimed to develop a skifield of international standard and provide a tourist resort catering for a wide range of activities. Turoa is the first New Zealand skifield with a history of full-time, on-site professional management. In 1986 Carter Holt Harvey Ltd (which took over AHI) and the skifield management decided the company should go public in order to further skifield expansion and to pursue opportunities for the development o f tourism and recreational activities. A new company, New Zealand Ski Fields Ltd, was successfully floated on the stock exchange with skifield staff taking up a significant shareholding. The new company acquired the existing Turoa business and related activities. Turoa now has some of New Zealand's most modern lift facilities, catering for more than 10,000 skiers each hour and servicing 365ha (900 acres) of skiing terrain.

The Turoa Alpine . Village, developed by Turoa Skifields as a ski village, led the transformation of nearby Ohakune into a ski town. It contains a variety of accommodation, a golf course and tennis courts. New Zealand Ski Fields has its own ski lodge in the village - Beechers Lodge - which

is probably the town's most exclusive ski lodge. A number o f motels, nightclubs and restaurants have opened in Ohakune during the past 10 years to cater for skiers' needs and private accommodation has increased dramatically. Turoa has expanded to keep up with the growth in the number

of New Zealanders and tourists now using its slopes. Since its opening, skier days have doubled in New Zealand, much of this increase being directly attributed to Turoa's development. "It has been a challenging and exciting 10 years. I guess you could say I have watched a dream unfold

as Turoa has been built up over the years," Tony Wright says. "It has been rewarding watching the growth of Ohakune as well as that of the skifield. There were some who, when we started, said Turoa would never become a top resort but we have proved them wrong. I am very proud to see what has been

created in a relatively short time. "Skiing is a thrilling but unpredictable sport. Every season is different and the snowfall varies by the week. It's still a challenge and there is nothing more exhilarating than being at Turoa on a perfect day - it certainly beats sitting in a glass tower in a crowded city."