They've got high hopes for Ruapehu

Snowboarders will be hoping for decent snowfalls - like last year - this winter on Mt Ruapehu.

Hopes are as high as Mt Ruapehu that skiing and snow boarding in the North Island this year will be as good as last year's lengthy season.

After a slow start, Turoa stayed open until mid-November, while Whakapapa even reopened for 10 days over the Christmas holidays.

Last season was the best in a decade for Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL), operator of the Whakapapa and Turoa ski fields. There were 405,000 skiers compared with 355,000 in 2003. That figure, however, remains 50,000 below the level of the early 1990s and RAL is still working to win back customers.

Volcanic eruptions in 1995 and 1996 followed by three lean snow years put a hole in the market. At the same time, winter travel to Australia and the Pacific became more accessible, and many North Islanders chose to go to the South Island, lured by more reliable weather and cheaper ski travel packages. The move to a four-term school year didn't help either, and an increasing array of alternative winter activities also ate into the market.

"We went through a five-year period between volcanic activity and [bad] weather when we lost a chunk of the market," says RAL general manager Dave Mazey.

The tough times resulted in Turoa's owner going into receivership, and RAL, on the third attempt, being allowed by the Commerce Commission to establish a virtual monopoly in North Island skiing by buying Turoa.

The commission allowed the monopoly because it was argued public benefits outweighed the costs. The jury is still out on that.

RAL's main weapon in re-establishing the popularity of skiing/snowboarding at Mt Ruapehu is the cheap early-purchase season passes covering both fields. The aim of the cheap deals, says Mazey, is "to get people back skiing, and getting them to ski more often and be committed to Mt Ruapehu".

If bought before the end of April, these cost the equivalent of 4 1/2 days' skiing. Buying the pass is a bet you will get more skiing than that, with the added advantage of not having to queue for a ticket in the morning.

Last year, 24,000 early season passes were sold - around half of those who use the mountain - against 21,000 in 2003.

RAL, for its part, gets around $7 million in the bank before the snow arrives, daily ticketing costs are cut and it has a guaranteed number of customers committed to the mountain.

However, RAL may not be helping itself in the battle to win skiers over with constant price rises. This year's adult pass will cost $319 against $299 last year - a 6.7 per cent increase. The youth pass costs 12 per cent more than last year, at $189.

If you don't get in by April 30, season passes cost $649 for adults and $359 for youths. The adult day pass has gone up 6 per cent to $72, from $68, and the youth pass 8 per cent, to $40 from $37.

That doesn't rental of skis, boots and poles - at $35, or a snowboard and boots at $48, a family of two adult skiers and two child snowboarders will be set back nearly $400 for a day's action. That's not counting the cost of getting there, accommodation and food. Deals for longer-term ski/board rentals are cheaper than the daily rate and RAL offers small discounts on multiple day passes that can be used on any days.

RAL's price hikes have rubbed some people up the wrong way.

Nigel Gerbic and Stephen McCready this month made a formal complaint to the Commerce Commission. They had submitted in support of RAL in 1999, claiming potential benefits outweighed the detriment, but have now changed their minds.

RAL had argued the two sides of the mountain would be connected, costs would be contained by sharing resources and staff and facilities would be expanded. But has it been so?

Not really, as far as Gerbic is concerned. "The efficiencies of the amalgamation have not stopped the price of a daily lift ticket increasing. In 2002 it was $62, then $68 and this season $72."

The pair complained about the removal of Turoa's Moro T-bar lift and four other platter lifts last year, saying RAL was one of the few ski resorts anywhere removing lifts. "The removal of the Moro T-bar has significantly reduced the skiable area for a small saving of operating costs."

While they acknowledge a big benefit from having one pass serving both fields, they say the removal of the Moro T-bar shows RAL never intends to carry out its promise to link the two fields by trails.

They also complain there has been very little capital investment on the Turoa side of the mountain, with fewer snow-making facilities there than before the acquisition.

This, they argue, has been bad for the ski industry generally. "As the level of service and facilities from RAL have declined, North Island skiers chose to spend their money on resorts overseas where the benefits of skiing outweigh the small additional cost of skiing in the South Island," Gerbic says.

Around a quarter of customers at South Island commercial fields come from the North Island.

Gerbic and McCready called on the commission to fine RAL unless it made good on its commitments before the 2006 season began. "The expected benefits of creating a local monopoly have not been delivered."

But the commission said it had no information to suggest that the benefits it took account of had not occurred. "Moreover," it noted, "once a business acquisition has been authorised under section 67, the commission has no further powers under the Commerce Act to revoke or amend the authorisation or to otherwise enforce the implementation of benefits."

Defending the prices rises, Mazey says RAL costs are up 6-12 per cent, mainly because of line and power prices, ACC levies, fuel charges, and wages. RAL, a public, unlisted company set up in the 1950s with a mandate from shareholders to plough all returns back into the ski field, turns over $20 million a year. It spends $7-$8 million on wages annually and the same on supplies and services.

This year it is spending $6 million in capital works, including $2.5 million at Turoa. That will mainly go on improving the carparks - increasing capacity by 500 to 1700 - and the base rental, service and workshop facilities.

Mazey promises major improvements to Turoa's lifts, but not until 2007, when six- and eight-person chairlifts will replace the current ones at a cost of $4-$6 million each. They will be longer and faster.

"We can't put any more people on the mountain on a peak day without ensuring that we have covered some of the downstream infrastructure stuff first. That's what we are going to secure this year," he says. A new $500,000 snow groomer has already been added to Turoa's fleet.

Mazey says the Moro T-bar opened on average only 15 days a season. "We thought it offered marginal additional terrain. The costs of leaving it there were far greater than the benefits that we believed the customers got."

At Whakapapa, RAL is spending $1.5 million on further snow-making machinery to add to $3.5 million spent three years ago.

The new machines will go on the Staircase and Waterfall to try to overcome the snow loss on those busy bottlenecks, allowing more use of the upper mountain. Snowmakers have already increased use of the Rock Garden chairlifts on the lower slopes, easing pressure on the Happy Valley beginner slopes.

* Further information

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts is on the web at www.mtruapehu.com or phone 07 892 3738, fax 07 892 3732.

Information about the Ruapehu region is at www.ruapehunz.com