World congress of tutors in N.Z.

Press, 26 July 1984, Page 25

World congress of tutors in N.Z.

Four years of lobbying by the New Zealand Ski Instructors Alliance have been rewarded. The alliance will host the International Ski Instructors Alliance congress in 1985.

The 1.5.1. A. meets annually said the executive director of the N.Z.5.1.A., Mr Scott Callaway. It has 28 member nations and the congress is shared among them, but because the alliance is European dominated it seldom meets away from Europe. Four years ago the United States hosted the congress. At that meeting in Colorado the New Zealand delegates, Mr Callaway and Mr John Armstrong, first proposed that the 1.5.1. A. congress be held in New Zealand. “From the beginning many of the important personalities from the 1.5.1.A.’s executive have been in favour of the meeting being held here, but concerns have been expressed about the tremendous distances involved in travelling to New Zealand, and whether the journey would be worth while,” said Mr Callaway. “The continued growth and associated respect for our organisation, and New Zealand as a tourist destination, with improving ski-ing facilities, has helped us to secure the congress,” said Mr Callaway. About 50 delegates and a number of observers will attend the meeting, and they will represent every ski-ing nation- in the world. Many of the delegates are deeply involved with tourism in their own countries and are extremely influential industry leaders said Mr Callaway. “The amount of exposure for New Zealand as a tourist and ski-ing destination cannot be overemphasised.”

Venues for the meeting have not been finalised but a preliminary schedule released by the N.Z. alliance

includes visits to Christchurch and Mount Hutt with several days of seminars and meetings in Queenstown in early August, 1985. Mr Peter Yeoman, the chairman of the Mount Hutt company said he was delighted with the news that the congress would be held in New Zealand. The Mount Cook group which operates the Coronet Peak ski area also supports the project. Mr Mike Corner of the Mount Cook group said he was pleased at the opportunity offered to further develop New Zealand’s reputation overseas. Instructors’ course A training clinic for aspiring ski instructors will be held at Coronet Peak again this winter. Final dates for the course, which has proved popular in the past, have not been set. The 10 two-hour sessions are designed to provide an instruction to ski teaching techniques and improve the ski-ing of the participants, said the director of the ski school, Bruce Bowlin. Examinations are not held at the end of the course, but the New Zealand Ski Instructors Alliance holds certification examinations at Coronet Peak and Mount Hutt in September. Winter festival Queenstown’s annual winter festival will start on Saturday, and this year the theme for the week is “alpine.” Mardi Gras Day in July 31, a day on which the organisers attempt to involve the entire population of the town in the festival. Other traditional events are on the calendar again. Among them are the Peak-to-Park relay; the sheep dog derby on the slopes of Coronet Peak; and a mid-winter swim in Lake Wakatipu.

New attractions are a fashion parade' in the Queenstown Mall on July 31, night ski-racing on August 3 and a “ski-golf” hole-in-one competition at the “Ele-

phant Pit” on the skifield, which will run for the duration of the festival. Peak coaches Charlie Adams, a former American professional racer, will again head the Coronet Peak race department this year. Dianne Culver, a former Canadian World Cup racer, will be the chief race coach 'with special responsibility for the Southern Districts Ski Association teams. This will be Dianne’s third season as the S.D.S.A. coach. She will be assisted with her coaching duties by Dave Gregory, Christopher Schacherer and Lindsay Wilson, all of whom have coached at Coronet Peak previously. New groomers The slopes at Porter Heights this season will be tended by a new snow groomer. The 200 h.p. Kassbohrer will be used largely at night to compact new snow and level bumps and fill ruts. An important attachment is a snow tiller which breaks icy patches in- . to powder snow. The replacement of the last rope tow with a third T-bar earlier this year was a major step, said the managing director of Porter Heights Development Company, Mr David Wilkie. “But the new groomer will provide a tremendous boost by making the field more enjoyable and accessible for a great many more skiers.” The Mount Cook Company has a new Kassbohrer groomer working on its slopes. The machine is the largest built by the Austrian company and joins three other groomers at Coronet Peak. A fifth vehicle, which was crushed by snow on the Tasman Glacier last winter, has been completely rebuilt by the Mount Cook Company and will be in use this season. The fleet will double the mountain’s grooming capacity according to the skifield manager, Mr Sugar Robinson.