Mount Cook Alpine Village

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31773, 2 September 1968, Page 12

Mount Cook Alpine Village

The Government has made the right decision in approving the Birch Hill Stream site for the Mount Cook alpine village. It is a pity the decision was not made years ago, before the restricted Hermitage site became cluttered with huts and other buildings which detract from the natural beauty of the area. However, the mushroom growth on this site should now cease as new building is concentrated at the village. Conservationists and casual visitors to the Hermitage will be grateful that their view of the mountains is not to be spoilt by the sight of a settlement a mile away, on the Hooker Flat. The extra distance to the Birch Hill area is, as Mr Maclntyre says, a “small price to pay for a superior site”—which, incidentally, commands an even finer view of Mount Cook than does the Hermitage.

It is disappointing that the Minister regards the village as an overflow from the Hermitage site rather than an essential part of the development of the area. “ . . . a place had to be found elsewhere for “other staff housing, for plant depots, ancillary “ commercial use, club huts, and community “ facilities with provision for supplementary visitor “ accommodation ”, he said. But his announcement failed to indicate the true character of the new village and the function it should fill. The proposed aerial cableway to the Annette Plateau is both dependent upon increased tourist accommodation in the area and likely to create a demand for this increased accommodation. Similarly, the establishment of a hotel in the village will • encourage the building of huts by clubs and private owners, and the increasing population of huts will provide patronage for the hotel.

A hotel or motel should, therefore, be the hub of the new village. Providing full accommodation for overseas tourists and New Zealand holiday-makers, it would also become a social centre for the skiers, climbers, and trampers staying in the huts in the village. The new hotel would compete for custom with the Glencoe Motor Inn, on the Hermitage site, though not with the Hermitage itself. Ideally, the Hermitage site, which has limited scope for further building, should be developed to cater for the five-star tourist, while the Birch Hill site caters for all other visitors to the area, specially youth groups. At all events, now that the village site has been selected and announced, planning by the Tourist Hotel Corporation, the aerial cableway company, the Mount Cook National Park Board, the Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Company, and other bodies involved in the development of the area can proceed with more certainty than hitherto. The uncertainty which has hindered planning has undoubtedly retarded the development of New Zealand’s most spectacular alpine region.