Mount Robert Ski Field
A walk-in club ski field above Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park, run by the Nelson Ski Club from 1944 until the snow ran out in 2003; its huts survive, the rope tows went to Rainbow.
- Region
- Tasman
- Country
- New Zealand
- Status
- closed
- Year opened
- 1933
- Year closed
- 2003
- Reason for closure
- Too low an altitude for reliable snow, worsening through the 1990s and early 2000s, compounded by walk-in-only access and changes to the New Zealand school year that cut into the club season. The club threw its weight behind saving the higher Rainbow Ski Area instead.
History
Pourangahau / Mount Robert rises to 1,421 m on the Travers Range above St Arnaud and Lake Rotoiti, in Nelson Lakes National Park at the top of New Zealand's South Island. Eric Chittenden first skied the ridge in 1929, the ski area was established in 1933, and the Nelson Ski Club formed on 24 August 1944 with 75 founding members, building the Mt Robert Hut and adding tows and accommodation over the following decade. It was a classic New Zealand club field - no road to the snow, a steep zig-zag walking track up from the lake, volunteer-run rope tows and communal huts - and it peaked in 1977 with 700 members and five tows, three in the main basin and two in lower basins alongside. Its problem was altitude: the snow became unreliable, and after the winter of 2003, the last time the field was fully operational, the club stopped running it. The tows came out and went over to the Rainbow Ski Area, which the Nelson and Mt Robert clubs helped buy through the Beyond Rainbow Mountain Sports committee in April 2003 and reopened in 2004. The buildings stayed: the Mt Robert Foundation now holds the Robert and Christie huts, a large generator shed and a workshop and fuel store under a 15-year lease taken out in 2009, keeping them in use year-round for trampers and skiers, with the possibility of a beginner slope again one day. Walkers on the Mt Robert Circuit still pass the old ski-club buildings and rows of skis left behind from the 1980s and 1990s. Named runs were never formally recorded.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Rope Tow | Five rope tows at the field's 1977 peak - three in the main basin and two in adjacent lower basins. Individual names, installation dates and manufacturers are not recorded. The tows were removed after 2003 and shifted to the Rainbow Ski Area |
Sources and further reading
More in New Zealand
Location
-41.8324, 172.8111