Amuri puts in a platter

Press, 27 May 1981, Page 25

Amuri puts in a platter

Amuri is in the process of becoming the second club ski-field in the South Island to replace a rope tow with a modern lift system. Mount Cheeseman led the w r ay three years ago with the installation of a $115,000 Doppelmayr T-bar. Now Amuri (150 km from Christchurch) is • following suit, having bought a secondhand platter lift from Ruapehu and enlisted plentiful labour from club members. The club president. Mr lan Richardson, estimates that by mid-May members had

put about 500 man-days into the project. ("That's a lot of time.”) Eleven foundation holes had been dug for the steel towers and a helicopter was needed to put them in place. About 130 tonnes of concrete had been poured. And in the process the tow shed had to be moved out of the road. "It was a far bigger job than anyone envisaged,” says Mr Richardson. In recent weeks four men have been up at the field on Mount St Patrick virtually all the time and the job is

expected to be near completion by the end of this month. The total cost of the new lift may exceed $45,000. The purchase price was about $15,500 and the installation price will be somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000. About $22,000 has been raised through debentures and the sale of a rope tow “and other junk" left a shortfall of about one-third of the total cost. “If we have a good season we should be all right,” said Mr Richardson. The platter lift is going up exactly the same line as the

old Bordeaux Basin rope tow (erected in 1977) which had caused some problems because it was so long.

It will be an “on demand” platter powered by a Ford diesel motor, as opposed to Ruapehu where a petrol motor had been used.

Non-members wanting a day on this lift during this 1981 winter will pay $7.50 for the privilege —that's $1 less than Cheeseman and $2.50 cheaper than most of the big commercial fields.