Ruapehu life pass holders are willing to pay to keep ski fields open, but ask for more details on Government’s plans

Life pass holders at Turoa and Whakapapa ski fields have been asked to register their interest in financially supporting the fields' future. Photo / Supplied

There is a willingness from life pass holders at Mt Ruapehu ski fields to help pay to keep operations alive, but a spokesman for them is asking for more detail of the Government’s plan.

In October, Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) the company that ran the ski fields, went into voluntary administration, owing more than $45 million.

In a letter sent to life pass holders, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment announced a plan to transfer RAL’s assets to a new company, effectively writing off $28 million of RAL’s debt, on the condition that life pass holders were willing to pay to keep the ski fields operational.

The letter asked if pass holders would be willing to pay a one-off fee of $2500, which would go toward allowing the ski field to operate next year while letting them use their life pass with the new company.

Ruapehu Shareholders and Life Pass Holders Group spokesman Sam Clarkson said there was a willingness from Life Pass Holders to pay, but more detail in MBIE’s plan was needed before asking people to come up with the money.

“What [MBIE] has been saying is we don’t have a company, we don’t know if it’s for profit or not-for-profit, we don’t know who owns it, we don’t know who the directors are, we don’t know who the shareholders are, we don’t know the constitution, but please give us 3000 bucks.

“We’ll support something, we just don’t know what yet and what we need to do is talk,” he said.

He said MBIE should have talked to pass-holders first before floating the idea.

“Had they talked to us, those questions wouldn’t be worded the way they are now, we would have chimed in and said, that’s not quite right.”

As of yet, he said MBIE had not spoken to the group.

However, members were encouraged to indicate their interest in the proposal through the survey attached to the letter so they can come up with the details of the plan in future negotiations.

“It’s absolutely essential to get this detail in because there is no way anyone is going to agree to what’s on the table now because it contains no detail at all,” he said.

Showing MBIE there was that interest from pass-holders was equally essential, as Clarkson said if the plan didn’t go ahead and RAL went into liquidation, then the bill would be shifted from pass-holders to the taxpayer.

Owner and managing director of TCB Ski Board & Bike in Ohakune, Ben Wiggins, said whether the plan went ahead or not, pass-holders were in a tough situation.

“If the ski field, which is RAL technically, ceases to exist then everyone loses their life passes which is what’s got everyone very concerned because no one wants to lose their life pass, so at the end of the day it’s a tough call for them to make.”

Wiggins owns a life pass himself and said $2500 was a lot of money to ask from people. But, he was in support of the plan.

“This is an option for them to give people the option to fund it to keep it going and retain their life passes, so everyone kind of wins in a way but it’s going to cost the life pass holders at the moment, but that will float the mountain, get it up and going and keep it going,” he said.

Fellow life pass owner James Foubister was in favour of the proposal and viewed it as an investment in the future of the ski fields and Ohakune.

He has held his life pass since 2000 and his wife has had one since 2016.

Since then, he said they had had plenty of use out of their passes, but were having discussions about whether they would be willing to pay the $2500.

“We see it like if nothing’s done, you’ve got this pass ... and worst case scenario is the ski field gets mothballed, then your pass is kind of worthless anyway, so you’re kind of damned if you do and damned if you don’t,”

Foubister lives in Ohakune and said the ski fields closing would make a significant impact on the state of the town.

“You lose a bit of population because all those guys that work up the hill will be gone ... also it takes some of the vibrancy out of the town.”

However, he said people’s willingness to spend another $2500 to keep the field operational would come down to the value they felt they had received from the pass, which may be less likely for people who didn’t live locally or had bought their passes recently.

“There are people north of here, with lockdown and what have you, that just haven’t had the value out of them and they’re being asked to, in what are tricky economic times, shell out again.”

People have until the end of business hours on Thursday to respond to the survey.

Voluntary administrator John Fisk said if there is sufficient interest from life pass holders, the next step would be determining the new entity, its shareholders, who would govern it, and how it would operate.

If not, Fisk said it would be difficult to come to a resolution that didn’t involve liquidation.

“It will crystalise substantial liability to remove infrastructure from the mountain and obviously have some pretty major knock-on economic impacts to the community.”

The findings of the survey will be presented at a watershed meeting in December, where creditors will decide whether to go forward with the proposal, or instead move into liquidation.