Meet Noelani: Liftie and ambassador at Mt Hutt Ski Field

Noelani wasn’t always as comfortable and confident on the snow as she is now. When she first went up the mountain with her dad and brother, learning to ski was a difficult and lonely process because she couldn’t hear what people were saying well. (Noelani has a cochlear implant, but it gets muffled by heavy headgear.)  Over time, that feeling has waned as people – including Richie, Mt Hutt’s media coordinator – have shown her their support. “I feel more connection, confidence, and more belonging to this mountain,” she says.

Part of what’s made her feel so welcome is how the team at Mt Hutt have shown respect for and understanding of Deaf culture and Deaf ways of communication. Things like adding captions to video may seem basic or inessential, but for Deaf people, they make a huge difference to inclusion. Noelani asked Richie to add captions to Mt Hutt’s Facebook videos, which is still being done. “It’s worked so well… it just makes me happy.”

Noelani became an ambassador for Mt Hutt in 2021. “I help be a Facebook promotor, helping people be aware of Deaf culture, showing that I can work, I can do this. You know, it's real awesome. I’m still an ambassador, showing people around, teaching my crew stuff, reminding them about captions.”
Her second role is lift operator, or ‘liftie’ in the biz. “I love when I work on chairlift. I love watching people getting on the chair and going safely, seeing all the people and children with happy smiles. And I love digging snow. When it’s new snow, I dig as much as I can.”

One of the key reasons Noelani wanted to do her qualifications was being able to complete NCEA Level 3. She finished high school last year, but her experience was different to most. “I had to do limited classes because there aren’t enough teacher aides,” she explains, “so it’s hard to do full classes.” While hearing classes do full credits, “in Deaf class you don’t do a lot of credits, which is not fair on us, and I always wanted to pass my classes.” Combining work and training has been a great experience for Noelani. “That’s why I love coming here, because I feel freedom to do my own thing and it’s not stressful like in school. And I’ve got lots of good friends here.”

Because Noelani’s first language is New Zealand Sign Language, she can find English workbooks challenging. Faye Barrand, her regional learning advisor, along with her coworkers at the mountain, help break down what the questions mean so she can answer them. “It’s good to have that support.”

Next year, Noelani is considering doing a qualification in snow sports instruction for skiing, “so if Deaf people come, I can teach them… and maybe look at adaptive snowsports at a higher level.”

For now, she’s more than happy as a liftie. “I’d love to be able to stay on lifts, because I’m still building my skills around the lifts. And because one day, if I want to go to Canada, those skills might help me in Canada – or Japan!”