African ski resort lures interest
Lesotho’s Afriski stars hopes to become cradle of future stars
Nestled high in the mountains of Lesotho, skiers and snowboarders from around the world rub shoulders at Africa’s leading ski resort, which is cultivating a loyal clientele despite its diminutive size and remote location.
Since 2002, Afriski in northeastern Lesotho has also become a hub for the country’s young winter sports enthusiasts to hone their skills and maybe one day compete for gold at the Winter Olympic Games.
“Afriski was always a unique option as a destination,” said resort snowmaker Martin Schultz, 35, who comes from South African surfing hub Jeffreys Bay but swapped his surfboard for a snowboard to take to the slopes.
“It’s been a nice progress – nice amounts of terrain we’ve been able to open up,” he added, wearing stylish wrap-around blue mirrored sunglasses and a lemon yellow crash helmet.
Schultz is responsible for maintaining the quality and consistency of the artificial snow on the slopes, used by the 12,000 visitors who travel to the resort in the Maluti Mountains every season.
“We use high-pressure air, highpressure water and a certain tempera- ture and humidity,” he said, of the resort’s state-of-the-art snowmaking equipment, used when snow is not falling naturally.
Schultz, who worked as a ski instructor at resorts across Europe before spending nine seasons at Afriski, hopes the resort will help the tiny kingdom one day win medals at the Winter Olympic Games.
“One of Afriski’s biggest priorities is to try and expand the skiing community in Lesotho and we have kids’ programs that generate a lot of interest from the local communities,” he said, of the resort which employs 240 staff, three-quarters of whom are locals.
“Some of our kids like Thabang Mabari, the son of one of the guys who works here, has been skiing for about five years and he’s brilliant. There’s a good future for kids like that,” he said.
“Hopefully in the future we can aim to get those kids to an Olympian standard so they can actually fly the Lesotho flag at the Olympic Games.”
Outside, slender-framed Thabang glides down the slope with ease dressed in yellow boots, a black puffer jacket and red snow trousers.
Despite some promising young- sters, southern Africa has yet to make a mark at the Winter Olympic Games.
South African alpine skier Sive Speelman qualified for the Sochi Games in 2014 – but was blocked from attending by his own Games Committee who said he was too slow.
His dream to be his country’s first black contender in his discipline was also thwarted at this year’s tournament in South Korea and he was instead a technical assistant to South Africa’s solitary winter games participant, Connor Wilson.
Lesotho has never put a Winter Olympian forward.
Afriski is Lesotho’s sole ski resort – the only other one in sub-Saharan Africa is Tiffindell in South Africa which has two runs and relies on artificial snow.
Despite its small size and relatively limited facilities, Afriski still sees itself as a destination firmly on the global winter sports circuit.
It even pays homage to its European competitors, naming its chalets after renowned ski centres like France’s “Meribel” and “Courchevel.”
French ski and snowboard instruc- tor Thomas Frontoni, 23, said that he would recommend skiing in southern Africa to Europeans despite the relatively short piste.
“Try it – it’s always beautiful, perfect views, friendly people. Southern Africa is cheap for European guys,” said Frontoni, originally from Nice. A full-day “snowpass,” which gives access to all the pistes and lifts, costs $34.
“It’s a small resort... but I think if a French or European skier came here they’d have a good time.
“I have seen lots of South African pupils, Argentine pupils, Canadian pupils. They don’t come here because it’s one kilometer of skiing, they don’t come here because it’s massive mountains,” added Schultz. “They come here to ski in Africa, because it’s on their bucket list.”