Poor ski season shows flaws in Turoa, Ohakune

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 257, 4 October 1988, Page 6

Poor ski season shows flaws in Turoa, Ohakune

mere is notmng lxKe a poor season for showing up the flaws in the structure of a ski town like Ohakune. A lot of skiers have gone away vowing never to return. No one

person is to blame for this situation, but collectively, the old Ohakune Bo rough Council and the management of Turoa Skifield have brought about a situation where

Whakapapa, once the lame duck of the ski industry, now stands out as better in every way. Better lifts, better management, better staff, better learner's lifts and better prices. There is not much left. Then there is the town of Ohakune. A town of 1400 people in summer, it is divided against itself. Junction against Town Centre, locals against skiers and a town p 1 a n against anyone who

wants to actually do anything. We have the town planner quoted in your last edition as saying that the plan should be as flexible as possible. I wish someone had taught him that eight years ago when he started supporting the then Council's efforts to keep all ski related activities out of the town centre. Now on a closed day we have a town that has less attractions to the tourist than Waiouru.

Maybe there is a place for him in Tibet too. Let us hope that the united heads of the District Council can do something about restoring sanity in less than a further eight years. Then we have Turoa. I know they have no control over the weather, but did they have to act as if it does not exist? Why place the chairlifts up the top of the h i g h e s t ridges so that they catch every last extra knot of wind. Seven more days of operation of chairlifts sheltered in the valleys represents a 10 per cent longer season. Then there is the problem of the learners facilities. If they were

put in where they open seven days earlier and close seven days later, that adds 20 per cent to the leamer's season, all at a cost of maybe two staff wages. Think what c o u 1 d have been done if the cost of the Moro T-bar had been applied to a learner's area. What about the T-bars that run up ridges which are the last to collect snow. Did it never occur to any of the planners that there are advantages in putting surface lifts where the snow lays naturally, rather than spending effort all winter pushing snow onto rocky tracks? Ohakune is in financial trouble as a business centre with sev-

eral shops unlikely to be here next year. Turoa is in trouble. If it is not still there next year, we can stop worrying about where to site the town clock and start looking for the nearest dole office.

"Disillusioned"