Going downhill?

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33675, 26 October 1974, Page 16

Going downhill?

The people who went ski-ing could once be counted among the hardy of the race. That time is apparently past. The Temple Basin ski field, above Arthur’s Pass, may soon have to close because it can only be reached by a two-mile foot track. A climb of an hour and a half is apparently more than modern skiers are willing to tackle, for they are flocking to fields where there is only a short step from car-park to ski-lift, unless a detour is made through the bar. If trampers and mountaineers go the same way as the skiers. Temple Basin may soon be abandoned to the rock vrens and the keas. But in future years someone may rediscover the joys of walking up mountains rather than driving over or just sliding down them. Perhaps this latter-day enthusiast for physical exertion may reach the heights of Temple Basin and stumble across a rusting ski-tow standard or a corroded pulley wheel. If he is of an artistic turn of mind he may merely imitate Macaulay’s New Zealander on the ruins of London Bridge. But if his ritind is more scientific he may reach the conclusion that the relics were planted by the more heroic forebears of the decadent hordes he has left far behind on a Craigieburn Range where the asphalt is often more conspicuous than the snow.