The first stage of a crowdfunding campaign to keep Mt Ruapehu’s slopes in public hands has been launched by a group of the mountain’s life pass holders and supporters.

Inspired by the successful public purchase of a South Island beach in 2016, the Ruapehu Skifields Stakeholders Association (RSSA) is calling on all fellow life pass holders, community, Iwi, businesses, holiday home owners, skiers, boarders, season & day pass holders, hikers, clubbies, tourists & the public who have a connection to the Maunga to initially join the RSSA to ensure a unified voice to help keep the Whakapapa and Tūroa skifields in community ownership.

“The meeting to decide the fate of the skifields is now only weeks away.” said Jason Platt, Chairman of the RSSA. “We are calling on the 14,000 life pass holders and other mountain stakeholders to join the RSSA to ensure we have a unified and powerful voice to help keep Tūroa and Whakapapa facilities in community ownership for the benefit of future generations.”

The independent not-for-profit organisation Ruapehu Alpine Lifts Limited (RAL) ran the operations on the Maunga for 70 years before debt, exacerbated by Covid and weather-related closures, led it into voluntary administration under Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) in October 2022. Life pass holders, who make up the largest group of creditors of RAL are being asked to mobilise to save our treasured Mt Ruapehu skifields keeping them in community ownership. Over the years over $40 Million has been raised selling life passes to committed Ruapehu skiers and boarders.

The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has provided additional funding to PwC to allow the skifields to continue to trade until the start of the 2023 winter season and to provide time for a long-term plan to be formulated. All creditors, which includes Life Pass Holders, will vote on a plan on at a watershed meeting planned for early May.

Several competing plans for the future of the Maunga have so far been proposed, which would see the mountain’s facilities move into private ownership. The RSSA favours a community ownership model where profits are re-invested into maintaining and developing the public areas, not paid out in dividends. They also want to see a revised constitution and structure put in place and new directors appointed to the board to better represent the key stakeholders including Ruapehu District Council, local businesses, Iwi, clubs, Department Of Conservation and mountain users. This will help ensure transparency and good governance.

“Surveys tell us the community has a strong preference to retain both skifields as community owned operations. The vision for the RSSA is to have the operations owned by the community and mana whenua. Ruapehu is part of Tongariro National Park; together we can ensure its facilities stay in public hands just as Kiwis did with Awaroa Inlet in the Abel Tasman National Park.”

The first stage of the efforts to save the Maunga is the formation of RSSA to represent the interests of all mountain users. This will be followed by the launch of a nationwide crowdfunding campaign.

Interested stakeholders can join the RSSA and help save the Maunga: https://www.savemtruapehu.org.nz/join

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