Survey For Road To Temple Basin Begun

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30794, 5 July 1965, Page 11

Survey For Road To Temple Basin Begun

A major survey for full road access to Temple Basin is now under way. The Arthur's Pass National Park Board is keen to see improved access to Temple Basin —but is not prepared to spend public money on a road which does not provide safe and permanent access all the year round, especially in the winter when access is most in demand. This reply has been given

by Mr N. S. Coad, chairman of the board, in answer to a correspondent, “Skier,” who wrote to “The Press” as follows: “Which generation is going to see a road towards Temple Basin? The Ministry of Works reported for the park board seven years ago and a survey was promised a year ago. The present jeep track is an absurd waste, and with the increasing numbers of skiers looking for places to ski, it is a detriment to the national park if they seek grounds elsewhere with easier access.” Mr Coad says engineering investigations have shown that construction and maintenance of a road on the line of the present access track will be very difficult, and “financially prohibitive.” “Serious safety problems would be met, and the prospects of being able to keep the road in use during winter would not be good,” he says. The park board has now asked the Ministry of Works to investigate any safe and practical route on any line at all which would give access to Temple Basin, says Mr Coad.

“A major survey—including observation of snow and ice conditions—is now under way,” he says.