KEY POINTS:
Mount Dobson, New Zealand's largest privately-owned ski field, is on the market with an asking price of more than $2 million.
Peter and the late Shirley Foote developed the field at Fairlie in South Canterbury in the 70s and 80s.
Yesterday, Mr Foote said as he was approaching retirement age it was time to sell the field.
"I think it's time to step aside, while I've got my health, and let someone have a go," he told the Timaru Herald.
Mr Foote, a mechanic and skier, started applying for permission to establish a ski field in the 1970s. After four years he started building the road which was completed in 1979.
Mr Foote spent 7000 hours on bulldozers and graders. He surveyed and built the 15km road, often living in a caravan on the mountain.
"I was a motor mechanic by trade and I wanted to put my skills to use and I was involved with a ski club and loved the outdoors. So combining those three things actually inspired me at the time."
The field covers 400ha and has a Department of Conservation perpetual lease and concession for the ski field until 2053. The field has three ski lifts.
Link tourism business broker Stephen McElrea said asking for expressions of interest over $2 million was a realistic starting point price-wise.
- NZPA
