The Chateau Tongariro in its glory days. It remains to be seen whether the tourist icon will require earthquake strengthening and also if sufficient snow will return to the mountain to sustain skiing in years to come.
Uncertainty over the future of the Ruapehu ski fields has led some workers responsible for operating equipment and services there to leave the area to find other work.
Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton said he had been informed of this by a group formed by holders of lifetime ski passes issued by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL).
Blaming poor snow seasons and lockdowns, RAL went into voluntary administration in October with debts of more than $40 million.
Now administrators Pricewater-houseCoopers (PwC) must report to creditors on or near June 13, disclosing who will take over RAL’s assets to run Whakapapa and Turoa ski fields.
The largest group of creditors are lifetime ski pass holders, said to have put more than $45 million into growing and maintaining the ski fields since RAL was formed in 1953. Others include the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, owed $15m at the time the administrators were appointed, and ANZ, owed $6m.
PwC has kept deliberations secret, but it has been widely reported that of four candidates with proposals to take over the fields, the front runners are Pure Turoa with its eye on the Turoa Ski field, and a company linked to businessmen Dave Mazey and Tom Elworthy wanting to manage Whakapapa.
Meanwhile, the future of the other iconic tourist attraction on Mt Ruapehu, Chateau Tongariro, also seems to hang in the balance.
Long-term leaseholder Kah New Zealand withdrew from the Chateau in February, and the building returned to the stewardship of the Department of Conservation.
Last month, DOC told RNZ it was maintaining the building and would do a seismic assessment to determine whether it met current earthquake standards.
The King Country News has been informed that a business is interested in purchasing the Chateau, but DOC spokesperson Steve Brightwell denies this.
“None of these rumours are true,” said Steve, who is DOC’s principal advisor on operations issues, based in Whanganui.
“We continue to work through end-of-lease matters with the former lessee, gather information about the buildings’ seismic risks and consider what the future use of the buildings may be.”
Meanwhile, Weston said the lack of information forthcoming on the future of Mt Ruapehu’s strategic tourism assets was regrettable.
“What I am hearing is that lifetime ski pass holders, who are among the creditors, are going crook over the delays and what they see as a lack of information from both PwC and the MBIE,” Weston said.
He said his sources had told him that, feeling left in the dark, some former RAL employees were moving away.
“This will make it just so much harder to get something to work on going forward.”
Weston has received snippets of information from groups such as the lifetime pass holders but the council had received nothing official so far from PwC.
“I think it [the future of the ski fields] is now in the hands of MBIE and that Cabinet will make a decision on it. I am optimistic and reasonably positive about them agreeing for two of the four bidders to go ahead. But it’s a matter of whether they can put it all together in such a short space of time.
“Obviously as time goes on, they [the ski fields] will be suffering and bleeding a little bit, because they are not getting any revenue coming forward into the new season.”
