Porters Alpine Resort - New General Manager, Blair James Introduces Himself

Porters Alpine Resort's new General Manager, Blair James has penned a letter of introduction. He says:

"Dear Porters followers/family,

After 3 years on the Porters crew as Operations Manager I am stoked to take on the role of GM which coincides with a separation from the previous management structure of Select Contracts.

My background is in ski area operations over the last 25 years, mostly in snowmaking and grooming with around 35 winter seasons between New Zealand and the USA.

I am a keen telemark skier and make it a priority to experience the product most days as it’s the only way to really know how it's going out there and what our guests are experiencing… also I love to ski!
My goals at Porters continue to be for the skier experience and the snow surface we can provide – working with our team to make improvements to the trails in the off-season and putting a high priority on the quality of the snowmaking and grooming product during winter.

We love all the locals that continue to support us at Porters and I want to continue those relationships and also make it easier for anyone to come play in the snow with Porters being the closest on-snow experience to Christchurch.
I have an incredibly supportive family who love the snow, my wife Toni worked in the ski industry for more than a decade and my daughter Izzy skied over 40 days last season! I appreciate many of the good people I have worked with at Porters so far, we have an amazing and committed year round crew and will soon look forward to all the season staff arriving! To keep in touch with the Porters Legacy I have always enjoyed great support from Uli, Luke and other past managers who continue to ski at Porters!

Looking to the future at Porters I want to do everything I can to make the place more accessible for anyone to be in the snow! I see continued investment in snowmaking and our facilities key as mother nature continues to challenge us. I know I cannot do this alone though and I am stoked to work with such a great team as I embark on this journey."

Porters, is a commercial ski resort just over an hour's drive (98km) west from Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. Originally functioning as a club skifield, it has one beginner magic carpet, one platter tow, one chairlift and three t-bars. The difficulty of the slopes is distributed as 15% beginner, 35% intermediate and 50% advanced. Modern grooming equipment is used, and snowmaking facilities operate along the main pistes along the chairlift.

There is one club-run lodge with 42 beds, situated along on the mountain's access road, said by the company operating the field to be "the least intimidating in Canterbury".

In 2007 the name of the field changed from Porter Heights to simply Porters to reflect a change in ownership. By 2020 it was again rebranded as Porters Alpine Resort. This has brought various improvements to the field, including a new groomer, cafe and platter lift