Rock grooming could mean earlier Whakapapa skiing

Waimarino Bulletin, Issue 5, 19 August 1988, Page 5

Rock grooming could mean earlier Whakapapa skiing

More flexibility for rock grooming could be on the way for Tongariro National Park ski fields.

That is the hope of Ruapehu Alpine lifts general manager Dave Mazey. More rock grooming would make artificial snow making more viable and would allow earlier ski season starts in lean snow years. Mr Mazey has said snow making is obviously a major option for any ski field. He says the review of the Tongariro National Park management plan, which is due to be released soon, may allow RAL to do more grooming of key areas of the Whakapapa ski slopes. "We understand the relevant clause in the plan will give us more flexibility in rock and slope grooming," said Mr Mazey. He said RAL had made submissions to the Tongariro National Park Board stating their case in the matter. "We don't promote wholesale bulldozing of

the mountain, rather, just key areas," said Mr Mazey. He said there were some South Island fields, such as Cardrona which had carried out massive earthworks. The result was ground which needed much less snow to be skiable. But he said RAL would never look at that type of work. "The work we would possibly look a t wouldn't amount to fivd per cent, even two per cent of the area of the Whakapapa ski field," he said. The areas the company would look at if they. were allowed more flexibility would be learner's areas and congested areas, such as the "Nosedive" through the waterfalls. He said whole sale grooming similar to Cardrona's was impossible on Ruapehu. "We couldn't do it - it's solid rock," he said.

Mr Mazey said RAL had an excellent relationship with the Department of Conservation on the matter of ski field alterations. He said the department had treated all the company's applications for rock grooming to date in a positive manner. Exactly what the company would do in the area of slope alteration in the future would have to wait for the management plan, said Mr Mazey. He said development proposals would b e looked at in the light of the new policies in the plan. RAL is developing new techniques in rock and trail grooming that are more sensitive to the nature of the Tongariro National Park. He said it was in RAL's interests to consider the look of such earthworks, both i n summer and winter, and that people preferred to see more natural looking works than a scarred landscape. Much of the rock grooming work is visible in winter even with

a full cover of snow, he said. Techniques now employed by RAL include: • Picking up rocks with helicopters rather than driving heavy

machmery over ground. • Using explosives to fracture large boulders into smaller chunks rather than full blasts which spread debris over a wide area.

• Using excavators rather than bulldozers to move boulders. • Using grapples instead of the scoop of an excavator, to lift boulders ^

• Building dry stone walls to prevent erosion on paths and trails. Mr Mazey said Turoa. Skifields use many of the same methods.