Rainbow preps for season
Snow bunnies will be crossing their fingers for some snow as Rainbow Ski Area hopes to open on July 24, weather permitting.
There will be contact tracing and passes should be purchased before skiers even get on the mountain in the top of the South Island.
Rainbow Sports board chairman Mark Unwin said skiers would need to social distance when in hospitality areas and buildings, as well as in queues.
‘‘Obviously we have to keep customers safe, so our hospitality and high-traffic areas have to be maintained.
‘‘There has to be increased cleaning and then contact tracing is the big thing for us. We need to know who is on the mountain,’’ Unwin said.
Once skiers were outside on the mountain it would be easier to maintain a safe distance from others.
‘‘Once people are outside, they’re pretty well wrapped up, and they’ll have gloves and it’s generally easier to maintain distance outside,’’ Unwin said.
He said previously, there could be people on the mountain who were tobogganing and did not have a ski pass.
‘‘If we are asked, we need to provide the details of who is up on the mountain at any given day. Previously we’ve just opened the gates and anyone can come up,’’ Unwin said.
‘‘Now we need to know who is up on the mountain, so we need their details before they come up on the hill.
‘‘So we are just moving to an online ticketing system, and then we check them in at the gate before they come up.’’
Unwin said it was ‘‘exciting’’ to be able to go ahead with the season.
‘‘It’s been a difficult journey in terms of decision making and what we can and can’t do. So to see the great results, we’re really looking forward to the season,’’ he said.
Unwin said while most of their market was usually domestic, 35 per cent of staff were usually from overseas.
‘‘This year we are going to have an all-local crew, which is pretty exciting for us. We’ve had a good response to our job ads, and we are just in the process of finalising our offers and getting our ski sale for season passes under way, which should be starting this Friday,’’ Unwin said.
‘‘Generally we have a domestic market, so from that perspective, apart from the obvious economic difficulties at the moment, we shouldn’t see any changes to our domestic market.’’
The ski field would look to only be open five days a week, shutting every Tuesday and then another day affected by weather.
‘‘We’ll keep people updated as things change, we’re trying to be flexible in our approach,’’ Unwin said.
Rainbow Ski field hoped to have season passes for sale from yesterday.