Dave Mazey: Whakapapa Holdings Chief Executive on the DoC granting Whakapapa skifield a 10 year concession

The future has been secured for Whakapapa skifield after DoC today granted a 10-year concession.

Whakapapa Holdings has signed up to run the Whakapapa skifield on the iconic North Island mountain for the next decade.

It's taken multiple Government bail-outs and years of talks to reach this point - since Ruapehu Alpine Lifts folded in 2022. 

Whakapapa Holdings Chief Executive Dave Mazey says an environment with less time pressure will help with developing a long-term future for the skifield. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Meghan Markle, otherwise known as HRH, Duchess of Sussex. Now, whoops.
We all thought that we weren't going to refer to
her as the HRH, Duchess of Sussex, but apparently she's
referring to herself as that. And now the reason that
we know this is because she sent a gift basket
to somebody that she knows, I think with somebody she's
doing a podcast with or whatever. And in the gift
basket was two tubs of ice cream and some homemade

(00:22):
strawberry jam and a card that said, with the compliments
of HRH the Duchess of Sussex. Now old mate who
she sent it to put that on social media and
everybody's sort and people with eagle eyes work. Hang on, Meghan, didn't,
didn't didn't Elizabeth say you can't use the HRH anymore

(00:42):
because you and Harry decided to abandon the Royals and
naf off to California. Yeah, you're not supposed to be
using it. But then, of course the two of them,
because they're unbelievable, said no, no, no, it's totally fine
if we use it, because we're just not allowed to
use the HRH in public like commercially, we're allowed to
use it privately and this was whatever that is absolute
bes because there was someone else who lost the HRH

(01:05):
as well, that was Prince Andrew. And Prince Andrew doesn't
use it in public or privately or at all. And
it is a rough day. I will tell you when
Andrew is doing a better job of following the rules
than you. So anyway, Gavin Gray is going to talk
us through that shortly. And by the way, that is
not the end of the Megan Michael news that I
have for you, because she is incorrigible at the moment.
Stand by for the next but twenty three away from seven.

(01:27):
Now the future is secured for Fucker Puppa Skifield. Doc
has granted Fucker Puppa Holdings a ten year concession to
operate the skifield. And this comes after the government spent
fifty million dollars to keep the skifield going after Rupe
who Alpine Lifts went bust. Dave Maisie is Fucker Puppa
Holding's chief executive and with us, Hey, Dave, congratulations, thank
you very much.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Is it an honor to follow an article on Megan?

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Oh jeez, I don't know, do you know what? Just
console yourself with the fact that whatever you do, you're
not going to annoy people as much as she does.
So you're already on the winner. I want to talk
to you about this ten year concession. Now, normally the
concessions are a lot longer. What's happened here? Why have
you It's like thirty to forty years in most cases,
So why have you got ten?

Speaker 2 (02:12):
We were quite comfortable with the ten that was on
the table and developed that of discussions with EWI and
DOC And it's really to provide at least five years
of ability in a less pressured environment to have the
discussions with EWI to see what are the long term

(02:34):
acceptable outcomes for that place in the context of fokobabisci area.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
And is the answer that that is all that EWE
would have allowed you to have.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, possibly, but we actually agreed with the philosophy that
it is pointless trying to resolve a twenty or thirty
or forty year future in the context of what has
been going on since RAL went into liquidation in their receivership,
and so to take the opportunity to keep it running
and ticking and providing value on benefits for communities and

(03:07):
North Islanders primarily and communities in the central North Island,
and have the opportunity with the eight various EWI entities
that we need to engage with to do that in
a less pressured time pressured environment is the only way
we're going to understand and develop a long term future.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
How did you feel about putting I mean, you obviously
have to put a fair amount of investment into this business,
and knowing that you're doing that, knowing you've only got
ten years rather than thirty or forty, comfortable with that?

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, I mean our investments in the next few years
will be focused on changes that we can make that
will have a relatively fast payback. So your snowmaking is
the classic snowmaking and groomyo classics. And then past that,
we're taking on thirty a half million dollars worth of

(04:02):
debt that is due for repayment in three or four
years time, and we need to work through that with
those bondholders and those providers of that debt, and then
hopefully within five to ten years we have an answer
on what's an acceptable long term operation and development, and

(04:23):
then we will apply for a longer term license.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yesterday, the EWE told newsroom dot co dot and said
that they want the government's retreat from the mountain. Does
that include you two?

Speaker 2 (04:36):
I think that my reading of that newsroom article, it's
from EWE of ninety two for itire and it's more
they want the government removed from the governance of themonger
and it steered because they believe that the original Tukou

(04:59):
which put place the peaks of the three mountains in
a co governance relationship rather than a gift. The crown
has an honored the side of that co governance. And
it's complex, and you and I aren't going to solve
complex issues like that.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
You worried about climate change and the fact that you're
going to have less and less snow up there, all right.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
And that's part of what we need to start doing
over the next five to ten years is transition the
business and that the entity into something that can be
sustainable throughout the variability of weather that we're going to
have in our lifetime. And we're like, you know, if
you're farming in the Far North and then fifty years

(05:46):
time it's going to be two degrees warmer, you'll start
to think about what crops would I be planting in
fifty years time, but you won't necessarily move to them tomorrow,
and it will be in that game. And yes, definitely
there'll be shorter seasons, there'll be less snow, and we'll
use snowmaking opportunities and snow management opportunities to mitigate some
of that. The Skywalker is a classic investment that was

(06:09):
targeted at providing a stronger year round business or commercial activity,
and so there's a transition process that's to go there.
We know what the current scientific evidence is saying about
what the climate would look like in New Zealand and
fifty years time, but it'll be a slow process and

(06:31):
we will transition to match that. I've got no doubts
about that.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, Dave, feast of luck with it, and I hope
you have a wonderful time running this business. Dave Maysie,
the chief executive of Fucker Pupper Holdings.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
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