Skiers face rise in ticket charges

Press, 10 April 1987, Page 8

Skiers face rise in ticket charges

By

TIM DUNBAR

South Island skiers will face lift ticket charges of $3O or more at most of the main commercial skifields this winter. In the 1986 winter the highest charge for an adult lift pass was $24. This year’s prices reflect a rise of more than 30 per cent in most cases. At Mount Hutt an adult lift pass will cost $32 ($24 last year) but the company’s general manager, Mr Mike Adamson, said that this was “the maximum amount for a single day’s ski-ing." Among the

other prices was a sevenday discount pass which worked out at $27 a day. The road charge was originally set at $8 a car but the company might lower that, he said. Both the Mount Cook Group’s Queenstown skifields, Coronet Peak and The Remarkables, also have an adult lift ticket charge of $32. There is no road charge at Coronet Peak, but the charge will be $6 a vehicle at The Remarkables. At the two Wanaka skifields, Cardrona and Treble Cone, a lift pass will cost $34 and $3O

respectively, up from $24. The road charge at Cardrona will be $7.

At Porter Heights, the closest ski-field to Christchurch, an adult lift pass will cost only $25, though this still represents a 31 per cent increase on last year’s $l9 charge. Porter Heights has three T-bars, while the other five fields have one or more chairlifts. At most of the ski-fields half-day passes offer a significant reduction in charge and ski-ing is generally much cheaper for learners and schoolchildren.