Mountain Turk Club founder Erik Bradshaw called the meeting to gauge public support for his idea to put three of the huts, which use plastic water tanks as a shell, on public conservation land in the upper Wye Creek and at the head of the left branch of Doolans Creek.
Mr Bradshaw proposed the huts last month as a companion project to NZSki’s fast-track application to extend The Remarkables skifield into the Doolans Basin.
He told the 50-strong audience, and more watching online, the skifield’s expansion provided a "one-off opportunity" to put huts in the area to compensate for the loss of easily accessible terrain.
NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson outlined the company’s application, and said a gondola over the ridge into the Doolans Basin would give back-country skiers and other outdoor enthusiasts "new opportunities for accessing the area to the south".
Queenstown botanist and ecologist Neill Simpson told the audience Wye Creek was a "very special" valley and he did not want a Turk there, a view supported by many in the audience as a microphone was passed around.
However, a show of hands at the end of the meeting indicated strong support for installing two Turks in the area between Lake Hope and the Doolans Basin.
Mr Bradshaw said after the meeting it was "definitely a bit harder" than he had expected.
He was surprised by a "generational gap" in the audience, some older people expressing opposition to both the skifield’s expansion and any Turks in the area.
However, there had been a low turnout of Mountain Turk Club members, as well as younger members of the local climbing community, both groups he thought would generally support having the huts.
He said his next step would be an online survey about a modified version of the proposal, based on feedback from the meeting, which he hoped would get a response from a wider cross-section of the Wakatipu’s outdoor community.
If it indicated enough support, he would approach the Department of Conservation and Ngāi Tahu, he said.
Mr Bradshaw developed the Turk design about a decade ago as a low-cost, temporary shelter that can be dropped into a remote site by helicopter.
Since the club was founded in 2020, its members have built and installed five Turks in the Harris Mountains between Coronet Peak and Treble Cone, while another sits on Mt Sale, near Arrowtown.
