Ohau revitalised for 1989

Press, 1 June 1989, Page 35

Ohau revitalised for 1989

After the 1986 avalanche devastation and the snow drought of 1987 the Ohau ski-field returned from the “dead” last year, according to its chairman, Michael Neilson.

This was despite the relatively mild winter that New Zealand experienced last year and Ohau’s unusually high proportion of closed days.

“We broke even on a cash flow basis and we’re content with that in the difficult circumstances,” Mr Neilson said.

There was an improvement in the number of skier days, though a slight reduction in open days. While the season lasted 60 days the field was open on only 41 of them. This was brought about by unseasonal nor-westers and the major rain storm which caused the floods at Greymouth and meant an early end to the season. The good thing about the nor-westers was that though they closed Ohau down, more snow arrived in the process to top up the base. Mr Neilson said that Ohau (40min drive from

both Twizel and Omarama) had very nice snow last year and was at one stage level pegging with The Remarkables, Queenstown, with a snow base of one metre.

A fortunate aspect noted by the ski-field manager, Alex Hunter (about to start his third season), was that the storms generally came Monday to Thursday. Aside from one closed Sunday week-end, days were inviolate. At one stage Ohau went nine days without a stop because of bad weather.

In the past, Ohau’s Tbar (the longest in New Zealand) has had some running problems, but these seem to have been largely removed. Mr Hunter says that the reliability of the lift operation has gone up 300 per cent since it was refurbished. “I think people are going away a lot happier than they used to.” Further adjustments and fine turning have been made this year to the T-bar line and drive station to improve reliability and safety. According to Mr

Hunter, the earthwork at the bottom of the T-bar lift which flattened out the loading area won a lot of praise from skiers last season. The newish day lodge built in Oregon wood also goes down well with the improved facilities it offers.

One difficulty encountered last season was that the high winds associated with the snowfalls tended to blow the new snow from the top basin. “We realise we’ve got a problem at the top,” Mr Hunter said.

To that end Ohau will be using more snow fencing this season to improve the snow-holding ability at the top of the field.

Snowboarding was popular at Ohau in 1988 and another couple of boards might be added to the three available for hire there last year.

Alex Hunter does not see any real problem about snowboarders riding the lift, joking that they usually fall off between towers one and two if they have any trouble. They were slower moving

in the queue than skiers, he said. At the tollgate last season, Ohau staff carried out a survey of where its customers came from and it was found that a gratifyingly large number were from the North Island. It was the second biggest catchment area after Canterbury. Numbers were also swelled when the Alpine Guides from Mount Cook were not flying and brought over groups of overseas skiers, including Japanese, to Ohau. For 1989 the price of an adult lift pass has been raised slightly from $3O to $32. No date as such as been set for opening day (it was delayed till the end of July last year). Mr Neilson says it will be fine if Ohau gets away in the third week of July, but recent snowfalls might make a start possible in early July.

® Ohau ski area, 320 km south of Christchurch, 45km from Twizel and Omarama, T-bar, platter and fixed-grip lifts. Vertical drop: 385 m. Adult lift charge: $32. Road toll: $5.