Arrowtown’s Erik Bradshaw’s proposing the club seek permission to install two or three Turks in the mountain range’s backcountry as a companion project to the possible fast-tracked extension of The Remarkables ski area into the Doolans Basin.
Bradshaw says the huts would help compensate for the loss of some easily-accessible terrain, and become "community assets of year-round value for backcountry skiing, walking, climbing, exploring, astronomy, ice climbing and education".
He’s suggesting the club build and install a 12- to 20-bunk hut — a cluster of three or four Turks under a shared roof — in either the Doolans or Wye Creek areas, along with a single Turk by Lake Hope and another in between.
Skiing or walking to Lake Hope would be a "unique adventure in both summer and winter", he says.
They would sit on Department of Conservation (DoC) stewardship-classified land in the Remarkables Conservation Area, and be managed by a booking system.
He’s already had positive discussions with NZSki CEO Paul Anderson and key Federated Mountain Clubs members.
Bradshaw says the next step’s to canvas the idea with Ngai Tahu and DoC, while he also plans to hold a public meeting in a few weeks to gauge support.
The mountaineer, ski tourer and software business owner came up with the Turk design as a solution to a widespread demand for low-cost, temporary shelters that can be dropped into a remote site by helicopter.
In 2018, he installed three at Cape Adare for the Antarctic Heritage Trust, to house a team conserving the continent's first building.
Two years later, the club built and installed five of the insulated, double-glazed, four-bunk huts, which use plastic water tanks as a shell, along the Mahu Whenua Traverse, a 50km route across the Harris Mountains between Coronet Peak and Treble Cone. Another Turk sits on Mt Sale, near Arrowtown.
Bradshaw says the club, which has 500 members, has developed a successful model for building and installing the huts and "motivating people".
With a Turk costing about $25,000 to build with volunteer labour, it could fund the new huts’ construction and ongoing maintenance through membership fees and community sponsorship, he says.
