Tiffindell, South Africa – A planned auction of South Africa’s only ski area has been put on hold pending a legal challenge to the sale.

The May 12th auction, announced for the first time only last week, has been delayed by a thee-year-old legal battle over an agreement signed in 2007 whereby the Van Eck family was to sell the resort to Tiffski Property Investments, which promised to develop the resort and lease it back to the Van Ecks. The deal, however, was never consummated and the property was turned over to liquidators, who sought to reverse the sale before the High Court in Johannesburg ruled against them.

That decision is currently under appeal to the South African Supreme Court in Bloemfontein. The ski area has not operated since 2009.