They had no snow, no infrastructure and no staff capable of running an international event. Nothing.
McCrostie was asked to take a look, offered a bit of advice and soon found himself appointed general manager of mountain operations for the Genting Ski Resort.
“It was a bit of a swansong for me, to be able to finish my career on a high note,” McCrostie said.
A skier from the age of 3, McCrostie loved the mountains and wanted to make his life there.
“I started ski-patrolling in the late 1970s and there was nothing really, in terms of qualifications or the ability to progress or make it into a career, if you like,” he said.
“That was one of my goals - to create a career pathway for, not just me, but for others to follow.”
That started with establishing the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care programme that still exists today and the New Zealand Professional Ski Patrol Association.
McCrostie then went to Canada, to study its avalanche warning systems and oversaw the development of New Zealand’s own model.
He convened the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council, worked in Search and Rescue, ran The Remarkables and Coronet Peak ski fields, sat on boards and advised and mentored countless others keen to follow the career path he helped create.
Mountain safety pioneer Hamish McCrostie has been recognised for his services with a New Year Honour. Photo / Supplied
It hasn’t escaped McCrostie’s attention that Havelock North is a world away from the mountainous environs he knows best.
But he regularly gets away to ski and tries hard to simply see the slopes and not obsess about adherence to the health and safety protocols he and his fellow pioneers set in place.
“I used to have a very critical eye, but now I put it to the side and think ‘I have to enjoy myself’,” McCrostie said, with a chuckle.
“It’s someone else’s problem and if we’ve done our job right to begin with, then the people running the ski field will be professional enough to have a good programme and that was the aim all along.
