Snow joke: Anger at plans to charge for sleds and fun
FREE sledding and snow play on Mt Ruapehu skifields is soon to be consigned to history, with hefty new charges imminent.
Locals are furious that the company which runs the Whakapapa and Turoa skifields is proposing to charge $59 for adults and $35 for children to access the Happy Valley and Alpine Meadow areas which were previously free.
Those areas have traditionally been used by North Island families giving children their first taste of snow.
Families could take their own home-made sled and walk, or pay a small fee to hire a sled and use the carpet lift.
Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL), a not-for-profit corporate, has been accused of a money grab, but the company says it has spent millions developing the areas and the charges are fair.
RAL has fenced off the snow play area at Happy Valley on Whakapapa and plans to do the same at Turoa’s Alpine Meadow, forcing people to purchase tickets and pass through turnstiles.
The charges include compulsory add-ons such as sled hire, a sight-seeing chair ride and shuttle bus. A family package costs $139 for two adults and three children.
Other skifields such as Coronet Peak and the Remarkables in Queenstown allow free access to their beginner areas, while Mt Hutt has a small sledding area allowing bring-your-own toboggans.
RAL’s new chief executive, Ross Copland, said there were still lots of areas on Ruapehu where families could play or sled for free, but locals say those places are not necessarily safe, accessible or known about.
‘‘I think it’s ridiculous,’’ said Lucy Conway, Raetihi resident and former Waimarino-Waiouru Community Board member.
‘‘People get their first touch of snow normally by just playing around and sliding on rubbish bags, and there’s going to be a whole lot of people who don’t do that anymore.’’
Copland said RAL had invested $4m in the Happy Valley area, including covered lifts and state of the art snowmaking machinery and it was unfair that skiers and snowboarders carried all the cost.
He said the company was not allowed to restrict public access to its skifields. But under its concession, the National Parks Act and the Tongariro National Park Management Plan, it was able to charge reasonable costs for use of its facilities.