Snowlines: Getting a flying start

By COLIN MOORE

Beginners' slopes rope tows are the curse of learning to ski or snowboard. It would be amusing to watch if it wasn't so painful or embarrassing for those first-timers struggling to make their way to the tow, only to be wrenched off their feet as they grab for the moving rope.

And just when they get going okay, someone ahead slowly leans out and falls and the result is like a giant motorway pile-up, a tangle of arms, legs, skis and boards.

When you get the hang of it, some little kid will grab the rope ahead of you and pull it down around your knees; or a big kid will pull it over your head. It gets to the stage where the least of your worries is that the rope is wrecking your new gloves.

In fact, those rope tows are a major incentive to get off the bunny slopes and progress higher up the mountain. You could almost imagine rope-tow pain is some kind of learning aid were it not for the advent of magic carpets.

And magic they are: whisking beginners old and young, big and small, skier or boarder, to the top of the beginners' slopes. Riding them is as easy as stepping on an escalator or the moving footpaths found in airports and shopping malls.

The Cardrona Alpine Resort at Wanaka installed a magic carpet lift three years ago and now has three of them on its beginners' area. The carpets have enabled Cardrona to get beginner skiers or boarders flying to the top of the mountain on their first or second day on the snow.

"Magic carpets allow novice skiers or boarders to achieve more in a shorter period of time," says Cardrona's Nigel Kerr.

"Beginners can focus their energy on learning to ski or board. As quickly as day one, adults can get to the top of the mountain and take in the views and receive a big confidence boost as they leave the nursery slopes and hit the rest of the mountain."

During the school holidays, Cardona dedicates one of its magic carpets exclusively to children. The children's lift is next to the resort's mini terrain park that is designed to help youngsters develop their balance and gain confidence on the snow.

Cardona has doubled its pool of specialist children's instructors this season to ensure that course sizes stay small.

As well, the field has set up its own training programme for children's instructors.

"When we employ instructors to work with children we look for those that have a fun, open personality with tons of energy," says Bridget Rayward, director of Cardrona's Alpine Development Centre (that's what they call ski schools nowadays).

"Our emphasis is on fun and safety," says Rayward. "We want to give children the best possible introduction to snow so that skiing or boarding can become a way of life for them."

Mt Ruapehu has plans to install moving carpet lifts in the Happy Valley beginners' area at Whakapapa.

Mt Ruapehu is open for beginners at the Whakapapa and Turoa fields but needs a further heavy dump of snow on the upper slopes, although at Turoa, where the snow base is deeper than Whakapapa, the High-flyer chairlift and the Giant chairlift from midstation are open.

You can check the conditions for yourself without leaving your home or office on the fields' skicams on the website Mt Ruapehu

One camera is located at Whakapapa's Knoll Ridge Cafe, capturing the Valley T-Bar, and the second camera is located at Turoa's Giant Cafe, taking in the upper mountain.

This season, the field has installed cameras that promise to give bigger and better quality images.