KEY POINTS:
Skiers at Whakapapa this winter will be in for a less salubrious apres-ski experience with a temporary shelter planned to cater for the 250,000 visitors expected on its slopes this year.
Fire, police staff and insurance assessors were yesterday sifting through the remains of the three-storey Knoll Ridge
Chalet and an equipment shed 200m away, both of which burned to the ground early on Saturday in two suspicious fires.
The damage is estimated to be well over $5 million. The cost of three replacement grooming machines will be at least $1.5 million, on top of building costs which are higher for work at altitude.
Ruapehu Alpine Lifts general manager Dave Mazey said it was unlikely that the chalet, which housed a 400-seat cafe, shops, toilets and other services for skiers, would be replaced in time for the ski season.
But he said a temporary shelter might be erected to cater for the up to 250,000 skiers who use Whakapapa each season, although that is still to be decided after talks with insurers and builders.
"Whakapapa will still trade," said Mr Mazey.
"The only thing that will be noticed by customers for the 2009 winter will be a slightly less salubrious cafe experience."
Mr Mazey said staff were devastated by the fires and some customers had called to offer their condolences.
"But in the wider context of what's been going on in the news recently, we were the lucky ones," he said in reference to the bushfires in Victoria, which have killed at least 181 people.
Police spokeswoman Kim Perks said the circumstances were "obviously suspicious" but police and fire investigators had still not found the cause of the blaze.
"It certainly seems suspicious but at this stage we can't rule out a possible electrical fault," she said. "The earliest we are likely to have anything concrete in terms of the cause of the fire is likely to be Monday afternoon."
Police would begin interviewing staff and locals in the National Park area and are asking for witnesses to come forward.
"If it was arson it was someone who was on the mountain late into the night," she said. "Certainly the location is one that you would be going up in a chairlift or else it would have been a very long hike."
At 2020m above sea level, the buildings are accessible only by chairlift or a 90-minute walk.
Peggy Shelbourne, a National Park resident, said she and her partner heard the local fire station's alarms sounding about 12.30am on Saturday.
"Usually it's for a car accident but we could see an unusual glow on the mountain," she said.
They followed firefighting crews to the Top O' The Bruce road where they watched as the buildings burned.
"We are appalled that someone's life is so sad that the biggest thrill they can get is to go and burn down something like that and to go through so much trouble to do it," she said.
"Maybe someone saw something ... whoever lit this would have needed a good torch to come back down the mountain over the rocks ... it would have been pretty hard going."
