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Notice
All photographs and text below is copyright.
Reproduction is permitted for private, non commercial purposes - provided the author, Bruce Mason, the Rock & Pillar Hut Trust and individual photographers are acknowledged.
Rock & Pillar Skiing
The
Rock and
Pillar Range had the first ski field in Otago.
It is also the
home-ground for the Otago and Otago University
Ski Clubs.
From
1932 until 1953 there was heavy patronage before activities
shifted to
Coronet Peak.
A new ski area at Castle Rock was instigated in 1958 -
this being
abandoned by 1966.
A legacy of huts and history
remains.
North from the summit. 1934. Photo: C R Nicolson
Top Hut
The first ski hut to be built on the Rock and Pillars, and the first stone ski hut in New Zealand, was a rock and mud 'pug' mortar structure built against a rock tor. This is a few metres east of the present Big Hut. Construction started in December 1936. All timber and roofing iron had to be carried uphill from the Bottom Hut on ski club members' backs. The new hut was opened in June 1938. Having shelter and overnight accommodation for 28 greatly bolstered skiing on the range - the hut was heavily used and quickly proved inadequate for a growing number of ski enthusiasts.
Top
hut was a well-used refuge
between 1938 and 1945, then it became
a store room for the new Big Hut.
Photo: M Burke
Big
Hut
Plans
were commenced during 1944 for a new and much larger Top Hut.
Originally
a stone hut for 140 skiers was envisaged however this
was dropped as
being too ambitious. Half that capacity was settled
upon. The main
construction was over Christmas 1945 - January
1946. The hut was largely
completed by Easter 1946.
Otago
Ski
Club members building Big Hut. Top Hut rear. January 1946.
Photo:
Stuart Boyd Collection
Ski Tows
The innovation of ski tows greatly advanced the sport at Rock and Pillar. With more time for skiing, rather than laboriously climbing the slopes, ski skills advanced rapidly - eventually to the demise of the range's gentle slopes as a skiing venue.
The first tow was erected in 1948 by the Otago University Ski Club in Big Gully west of the summit, only a year after Coronet Peak obtained its first tow. This was a sledge-based drive unit that enabled ease of relocation - to and from 'The Home Run' and the east face.
The
final
resting place of the portable tow at the bottom of the
Home Run.
In 1958 it was relocated to become the tow for the new Castle
Rock Ski
Field.
Photo: David Paulin
Castle Rock Ski Field
In 1958 the last ski development on the Rock and Pillars commenced. A steep gully under Castle Rock, two kilometres north of Big Hut, was selected for development. This required the shifting of an abandoned hut and ski tow to the new site. A major undertaking was the construction of a car road up the leading ridge from Lug Creek.
The new field was well
patronised for the first two years. Thereafter
the tow was buried by
drift snow and the slope avalanched. By
1966 the field was abandoned. The
limited terrain and facilities
of Castle Rock were no match to the
attractions of Otago's rapidly
developing commercial ski
fields.
1959 ski season at Leaning Lodge: Photo: David Paulin
A full history of ski field development on the Rock and Pillars is displayed at Big Hut.
Rock and Pillar Hut Trust Inc., R D 1 Omakau 9376, Central Otago, New Zealand