Skifields working on rules for safe operation
QUEENSTOWN and Wanaka skifields are busy getting ready for the 2020 season, the finer details of which they are expecting to have confirmed today.
Cardrona Alpine Resort general manager Bridget Legnavsky said it was working closely with WorkSafe and MBIE, along with NZSki and Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, to produce a set of governmentaccepted standards for the whole industry.
‘‘We are doing everything that the Government needs us to right now, which is work with them to a point that they say ‘Yep, we feel comfortable that ski resorts can be safe’.”
Parts of the Cardrona and Treble Cone would function in a way similar to that of an airport, shopping mall or small town, including systems around contact tracing, physical distancing and cleaning and hygiene, she said.
‘‘When it comes to things that are unique to us, like lifts and managing people on slopes, we’ll ensure we have our own set of standards for that that haven’t been developed yet.”
Both the Cardrona and Treble Cone were planning to open for a domestic market, the former on June 26, the latter on June 27.
There was no doubt it was going to be ‘‘relatively cumbersome” operating two skifields at level 2, Mrs Legnavsky said.
‘‘But nothing that we can’t handle and I think all of us are up for the challenge if we know this is what we need to do, just like what we had to do in Level 4 and what we had to do in Level 3.”
NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson said Coronet and the Remarkables would begin their season with the opening of Coronet Peak towards the end of June.
The field would function seven days a week and include night skiing.
The Remarkables would be open in time for the school holidays and run seven days a week.
Its operation would probably be scaled back later in the season.
NZSki was doing everything it could to ensure it could operate safely under Alert Level 2, Mr Anderson said.
‘‘We are desperate to open as much skiing as we possibly can, and we need to do that in a sensible way.
‘‘We are working with MBIE, Ministry of Health and WorkSafe around getting some useful guidance from them on the kinds of things they expect to see.”
The company was planning to ensure and implement physical distancing, contact tracing along with rigid cleaning and hygiene.
Food and beverage services would also operate up the mountains under strict guidelines.
Mr Anderson said NZSki was in a ‘‘really good space” for recruitment and a large number of staff had been hired.
‘‘It has been intense trying to change your operations to make sure you can operate safely but that’s what we do, we deal with different situations all the time,” he said.
A new ski lift at the Remarkables was meant to be ready in time, but NZSki was seeking an exemption from the Government to bring in a specialist rope splicer from Switzerland to complete the project.