Jane died as the result of a fall at home. She touched the lives and hearts of many. We can be proud that a complete stranger is living a better life after her kidneys were donated. It was disappointing that on that day, a recipient could not be found in Australia or New Zealand for her heart of gold that was beating to the end.
A tribute to Jane can be viewed here: http://vimeo.com/15016280
Going on an organised ski trip is a great way to ski overseas with experienced guides and good company (often fellow Club members). Usually airfares and other charges are reduced due to the size of the group so you get more fun with less cost.
Upcoming trips
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Don Yallop
[Don & Dairne Yallop on their way to Rangatira’s 50th Anniversary Ball in 2009]
Don was born in Hamilton, but his family, unaware of the advantages of being closer to Ruapehu, moved to Auckland. As a pupil at King’s College, Don proved himself to be an outstanding swimmer and rugby player. He was first bitten by the ski bug during a trip to the mountain with old school friends in 1957. Neither the icicles hanging from the roof of the University Ski Hut, nor the outside loo with its mighty up draught put him off the sport. The following year he made three unsuccessful attempts to join existing ski clubs but there were no vacancies. He was bemoaning his lack of success to an old school mate Bruce Chambers, also a frustrated would-be ski club member, during a bus ride into town, and the rest, as they say, is history - 25 years of it!!
Committee Service
Apart from being 50% of the inspiration behind the founding of Rangatira, Don has clocked up 11 years on the committee. He began as Club Secretary in 1959 and 1960, whilst also assisting his mother, the first booking officer, for 3 years. He served as Vice President from 1964 - 1966 and was returned to office as Club President in 1976 - a position he filled for 4 years, with a further year on the committee in his capacity as Past President.
It was during Don’s Presidency that the Turoa skifield development started, and it was Don’s drive and determination that galvanised the committee into action. Their well-researched proposal to build a club lodge in the Turoa Alpine Village was accepted by members, and it has not taken long for the club to realise the advantages it gained due to this early and prompt investment in Turoa.
In 1980 Don was elected an honorary life member of Rangatira, in recognition of his services.
Ski Patrol
In 1962 Don was one of a number of Rangatira skiers who joined the Ruapehu Ski Patrol. He remained a member for 13 years. One of the more dramatic accidents he attended involved a tourist who had climbed the Knoll, with a group, in very icy conditions. Unaware of the risk, he went off to the side to answer a call of nature, slipped and ended up at the bottom of the bluff with seven fractures.
As many members may know, Don has suffered his own medical problem. In 1964 he contracted diabetes, and this continues to be a major irritant to someone who enjoys an active outdoor life.
Close to Home (as of 1984)
On leaving school, Don started his career in the Woolworth’s organisation and became an Assistant manager. He then worked for some years in the field of boats and outboards, and is currently with the firm of Bronson Jacobs, importers of chemicals.
Don lives at Rothesay Bay with his wife Dairne and two children, Robert and Sarah, both of whom are keen skiers. Robert has held a Club Scholarship.
Not only had Don pioneered club development on both sides of the mountain, but is gaining a reputation for himself as an expert in Chinese cookery - quite a feat with a full lodge.
When he is not skiing or tossing up some delicacy in a wok, Don may often be found in some of Taupo’s better known trout pools, demonstrating his skill with a rod and line.
Current
Don and Dairne have retired to Taupo where they enjoy the quiet life with views across the lake to Mt Ruapehu. The recent arrival of grand children (daughter Sarah and her husband Andrew have produced Max and Nina) keeps them busy on family visits.
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Bruce S. Chambers Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
[Bruce and Sally Chambers at Rangatira’s 50th Anniversary Ball in 2009]
Bruce, along with Don Yallop, conceived the idea of forming a new ski club in 1958. Bruce became the driving force of the club’s formation and was the first President of Rangatira in 1959.
Bruce’s interest in the more remote regions of New Zealand stem from his days at King’s College when he was involved in bird-watching expeditions to Little Barrier Island, Big Chicken and the Miranda coastline in the Firth of Thames. After leaving school, bird study trips were replaced by compulsory military training. At Auckland University he joined the Field Club and was involved in study trips to the Auckland West Coast, Coromandel and a three week research party on Poor Knights Islands.
In succeeding holidays he joined both club tramps and private tramping expeditions to the South Island, to the Holyford and Greenstone Valleys, the Routeburn Track, and made visits to the Milford and Tasman Glaciers, Mt Cook, the Nelson Lakes National Park and a major club trip from the Fox Glacier to Martin’s Bay and Queenstown down the South Island West Coast. In the North Island there were trips to the Tongariro and Urewera National Parks - it was during a trip to the latter that they re-discovered a fortified Maori pa with some palisading still in existence. Bruce’s photographs of this pa are now held in the official historical files. He was also responsible for a small party into the Ureweras in an endeavour to evaluate reports of possible sightings of the Huia.
As well as these outdoor activities, Bruce played indoor basketball for University, and it was at a joint University basketball and ski club coffee evening that he was introduced to the world of skiing. As membership at the University Ski Club was largely confined to students, Bruce sought permanent membership in another ski club, but with so few ski clubs in operation in the 1950s, membership was restricted. It was at that stage that he and a few other keen skiers decided to form their own club. He wrote to the Tongariro National Park Board to determine the method obtaining a site. There were two essentials - one cash, the other 100 members affiliated to the Federated Mountain Clubs association. To achieve the membership total Auckland University Ski Club members were canvassed and a Commerce degree class provided additional people - envelopes were addressed during lectures to potential club members! Advertisements were placed in newspapers, and Jaycee friends joined up.
Bruce always considers that the formative years of the club and its building programme were a team effort, and the club only achieved its goal because of the excellent support the members gave their leaders. Most members of the club were involved in organising, planning, building, transporting, and a host of other jobs, and it was a team effort that ensured that the lodge would be finished and opened in a six month period. As one of the founders of Rangatira, Bruce was elected the club’s first President and held the position for three years; he was then on the committee until 1967.
Whilst serving Rangatira, Bruce was concurrently secretary of the Auckland Associated Mountain Clubs, the Auckland Search and Rescue team and for eight or more years served on the Ruapehu Ski Patrol. was also secretary of the Ruapehu Mountain Clubs Association. This organisation protects the interests of clubs in the Tongariro National Park by negotiating their rights, bed levies and other important issues that affect the clubs and their members. He also edited the magazine for this association for some years.
Bruce was a partner in the accountancy practice of Chambers, Worth and Chambers which, after a series of mergers, became the Auckland office of the International Accountancy firm Grant Thornton. He married Sally McLaughlin who was also a member, and they have three daughters, Ann, Kristen and Gillian. All were club members and were part of the club junior coaching programme. School sports resulted in fewer weekends available for skiing.
In the summer Bruce spent time windsurfing and playing tennis. He also cycle raced in Auckland and served on the cycle club committee for a number of years. He used that knowledge when he competed in triathlon in the mid eighties and was elected to the national association as a delegate and also as treasurer. He continued triathlon racing until 1999, when other commitments gave little time for training and racing. He had been appointed to the new technical commission in 1988, the purpose of the commission is to monitor the rules and ensure fair racing. As some of the rules could not be monitored, he was part of a tem that reviewed the national Competition Rules and the new rules were later adopted. He was race director at a number of triathlon and duathlon events. He was appointed Technical Director of the Commission in 1994 and was then appointed an International Technical Official. In this role he was a referee at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, the South Pacific Games in Suva in 2003 where he was also the technical overseer of the event and the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
Retiring from accountancy in 2000, he found time to work as a mark layer for both Louis Vuitton Cup races as a prelude to the two Americas Cup races in Auckland. This involved plotting the co-ordinates for placing the marker buoys for the racing yachts to sail around. He also spent much time mountain bike racing in the forests, and since 2003 has been actively working with Corrections Department work crews on building a mountain bike and BMX park at Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula. He finds off-road riding safer than the roads these days.
In recognition of Bruce’s great contribution to many sporting bodies and activities, in particular triathlons, he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2010 New Year Honours List.
What time remains is spent with Sally and the grandchildren, some of who are already trying to ski.
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Mr R Strevens (Bob)
Yallop, Mr D. (Don)
Mr R Pye (Roger)
Mrs D Smith (Dot)
Mr P Farrell (Peter)
Mr & Mrs J MacPherson (Jim & Diana)
McGivern, Mr R.
]]>Walking down Queen Street one Friday night in 1959, Bernie happened to look in Tisdall’s window, where Bruce Chambers had placed a notice advertising the formation of a new ski club. Bernie rang Bruce at 9:10pm and the conversation went something like this:
Bruce: “What do you do?”
Bernie: “I’m a plumber.”
Bruce: “Can you come round straight away?”
At 9:40pm on the same Friday evening Bernie became a Rangatira member and took the responsibility for the plumbing and drainage of the planned lodge.
Bernie had been skiing at Ruapehu since 1938 and after the war [Bernie served in the army] organised the plumbing for the new Ruapehu Ski Club lodge. When the rope tows were set up on the Whakapapa side, Bernie helped workers from the prison farm set up the third rope tow on the Cinder Track.
Once work parties for the Rangatira lodge began Bernie virtually lived on the site, going down almost every weekend and taking time off work when required. He tells the story of returning from a work party one week before the lodge was to be opened. Bernie, together with Owen Haywood and John Bates, had worked until after dark and were driving back to Auckland over the Bombay Hills at 3:30am. They were stopped by a police road block – some prisoners had escaped and were thought to be armed. A policeman shone a torch through the window on to John asleep on the back seat and covered by blankets. Leaping back in alarm, the police moved to a safe distance and shouted at the ‘prisoners’ to get out quietly. After some explanation the weary work party were allowed to continue their drive home.
Bernie served on the committee for 12 years, from 1961 – 1972 [the Club’s official opening programme suggests he actually served from 1959 when the photo shown here was taken], during which time he strongly encouraged the growth of junior membership and was responsible, together with Noel Johnson, for setting up the framework of our present [1984] booking system. Bernie also looked after the social activities of the Club, especially the organisation of the Snow Balls. When the library extension was added Bernie was again on the building committee and heavily involved in work parties.
He took a special interest in club members who were learning to ski and ensured that no-one was left to find her own way back to the lodge at the end of the day. ‘Bernie’s harem’ could often be seen winding their way home from the National Downhill!
Bernie was made a Life Member of the Club in recognition of his contribution. Bernie’s children and grandchildren remain keen skiers and Club members.
Bernie passed away in 2007.
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