Saturday, May 24, 2014

Mt Dobson ski area - dreamjob in godforgotten land

My wish and goal for the coming winter in NZ was to find a job in the ski resort in order to get to ski a bit finally (as I missed the winter season in Europe I'm really excited to go skiing again). So while Working in Christchurch I've sent applications to practically all ski resorts in NZ (might sound crazy, but in fact there is only around 12 of them :)). The first (and it tourned out that the only - my CV fakeing skills are probably still not good enough ;)) who replied was Peter from Mt Dobson ski area. After an interview he offered me a job as a lift operator for the winter season and also work on pre-seasonal preparations which I accepted as well. So currently I'm here with approx half of the work done and I must say that I really enjoy it and I found my own piece of peaceful paradise here. Most of the time I work only with Peter (now 71 year old man who once had a dream to run his own skifield and now does it for over 30 years already) on all kind of jobs around the skifield. The work is quite physical and hard, but being surrounded by such a beautiful nature just make me forget about everything.. 

This is the place. Look from the carpark (btw. highest carpark in southern hemisphere) on the slopes. The skifield is small in comparison to the european standards - There are only 3 lifts here - 1 chairlift, tbar lift and platter lift. Neveretheless the mountain looks really nice and I can't wait to make my first lines in the fresh powder here :)

View from the carpark down to the base of the chairlift. These pictures are maybe 2 weeks old, now the snow is pretty much all melted so it doesnt look that nice anymore, but at least it is more convenient for the work..

The way up to the skifield is incredible. It is 15 km ride on gravel road through the hills full of sheep cows and horses running away in front of your car. Btw. Before Peter and co. could start his skifield dream, he must had started from the bottom - by building the road. It took them 3 years (1976-1979) to get the road done.

As I wrote above, I get to do all kind of jobs around the skifield. Here hanging the t-bar hangers...

Fixing the receivers and transmitters on the top of the mountain to protect them from getting blown away...

Fixing the groomer and getting it up to the mountain..

Fixing the barriers... Peter has tons (I tried to count it and I got to number 25, but there are probably some more that I'm not aware of) of vehicles and machines (from quads, vans, trucks to graders, buldozers and groomers) on the skifield. So sometimes I have a little fun in the work to ride some of them.

On the days when the weather is too rough on the mountain I work in Peter's workshop on e.g. building snowgates out of old skis (it didnt feel right cutting the skis with a saw :/)

So, that's pretty much it from my current life. Apart from work it is really quiet as the town where I stay (Fairlie) is a town full of farmers, no backpackers or travellers whatsoever.. But I must say that I really enjoy the peaceful and quiet life here. 

Oh yes, and I work evenings 2 hours in a holidaypark in the office in exchange for free accommodation. So no more cold nights in the car :)

2 comments:

  1. tak teraz ti aj budu chybat lyze

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    Replies
    1. Lyze som si uz zaobstaral tu ine.. Asi by nebolo zrovna najlacnejsie ich sem tahat z sk..

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