JOHN BALL has spent the past two years creating a documentary on the history of skiing at Mt Ruapehu, and Stratford man, Jim John, has had his involvement immortalised in the new film.
Ruapehu a Tribute to our Skiing Pioneers, tells the story of the achievements, trials and tribulations of the mountains skiing pioneers over the past 90 years, including Jim's story and the integral part he played in the construction of early skilifts on the national downhill.
Jim has always had a love of mountains, and was a keen skier - a sport that was introduced to him by teacher Darkie White at Stratford Technical High School in 1935.
"I have been interested in mountains my entire life. In the early days I made my own ski's. I bought special timber and submerged them in a 44 gallon drum filled with boiling water so I could press them into shape," he said.
His long standing interest in skiing, coupled with his trade as an engineer, was to be the foundation for Jim's role at Mt Ruapehu.
In 1960, Jim was approached by Roy Turner of the Manawatu Tramping Club about the prospect of opening a new area for skiing on Mt Ruapehu.
"He suggested skiing the national downhill area. I thought to myself, that's not a bad idea, but the area had no lifts. The only lifts on the mountain ran from Bruce Road through the Whakapapa area and were operated by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts Ltd (RAL).
"Roy came to me because he'd found that I had an interest in skiing and climbing, had an engineering business and because I had done some work on the ski tows and flying fox on Mt Egmont/Taranaki," said Jim.
After much consideration, Jim decided he was interested in the venture, but the road to success was to be a long one.
"We approached the Tongariro National Park Board with what we thought was a good proposition to get permits. RAL objected to our application and stated they had pre-emptive rights to the mountain. We challenged them in court, pointing out that the mountain was gifted for the enjoyment of everyone. Luckily we won!"
Jim and Roy were given permission to erect a rope tow, but they had to stick to very strict conditions.
"We got everything settled in March 1960, but the condition was that we had to have the area operating by June that year. We needed toilet, telephone and canteen facilities. To everyone else, it seemed impossible, but we knew we could do it."
Jim pre-fabricated all the necessary parts at his engineering business in Stratford and they were transported to Mt Ruapehu.
Preliminary work, such as cementing and track work was done before a flying fox was constructed to transport equipment across the mountain to the new lift site.
"It was a huge job. We were working at an altitude of 6000 feet and the tow was 3000 feet long. Thankfully we were finished in time and the site became very popular."
Jim was operating the lift under the name Ski Enterprises, and Roy became the businesses full-time employee.
Because of the area's popularity, more tows had to be put in, and in 1973, a T-Bar was installed.
Ski Enterprises was advancing beyond what Jim could ever have imagined, but it wasn't all to be smooth sailing.
RAL obtained a licence to erect an access chair-lift and a Pomagalski drag-lift on the western area of the national downhill, and they asked Jim's company to complete the engineering work.
"RAL employed G L John Ltd to complete the work on the new lift because we had the experience. I agreed, and decided it was not a conflict of interest because the company, not me personally was completing the work. I agreed to it as long as there was an intermediate station right by our facilities so that patrons of the new lift could access Ski Enterprises," said Jim.
Roy Turner was not convinced.
"He was not very happy about it, and things got a bit sour. Roy was of the opinion that RAL were the competition. It got quite bad after awhile. Spouting on our buildings was damaged, water tanks were punctured and generator wiring was tampered with. In the end it got a bit dangerous and we had to go to the police."
In a sad turn of events, Roy was banned from the mountain, and Jim felt it necessary to change the name of the business to Ski Services.
Jim held control of Ski Services until 1974, when he decided it would be more lucrative to sell.
"I offered the business to Bryan Todd of RAL. Our relationship over time grew to be very strong and it seemed like the best option. We really pioneered that part of the mountain and I am proud of the work we did there. All my children grew up on that mountain, and two of them went on to compete in skiing at the 1970 Commonwealth Games.
"Nowadays, The entire family has life passes to the mountain so we can always go and have a look at what we started."
Ruapehu
- a Tribute to our Skiing Pioneers
The film runs for approximately 75 minutes. Its creator, John Ball, hopes the film will become a valuable historic documentation of the many changes that have taken place in Tongariro National Park since the gifting of the three volcanic peaks by the Ngati Tuwharetoa paramount chief Tukino Te Heu Heu IV in 1887.
John Ball has lived at the foot of Mt Ruapehu for the past 35 years. He came to New Zealand from Canada in 1970 as a ski instructor to teach for the Chateau Ski School and thus began a string of 70 consecutive winters teaching and directing ski schools in New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America. He has experienced first hand some of the incredible challenges of Ruapehu and has many fond memories of skiing experiences in this unique environment. How skiing developed on Ruapehu and his own experience teaching skiing had a profound influence on him and inspired him to research and tell this story. The film is screening in New Plymouth at the Skycity Cinema tonight, June 11, at 8:30pm.
Jim Johns achievement on film
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