What a Whakapapa season!
Whakapapa's ski season ended with a flourish on the weekend with excellent spring skiing conditions after a fresh fall of snow on Thursday. Three days of brilliant weather topped off the field's record-setting season and about 1500 people took to the slopes on Saturday and Sunday, making a total for the season of 275,000 skier-days. Champagne celebrations, lunchtime barbecues and "awesome" spring snow topped off the weekend. The field was to close on 10 November but the date was put back to Sunday because of the huge amounts of snow. There is still a three-me-tre snow base on the upper slopes and skiers could find their way to the carpark on Friday. The Far West T Bar did not operate on the weekend because it would have taken three days to dig it out after Thursday's snow storm. [ An avalanche warning had been issued after the snow storm. Trampers and back-country skiers were warned to take care near steep slopes with a Turnpage2
Skiing ends
From page 1 sunny aspect, above 1600 metres on Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. People were wamed to prepare for all weather conditions. Turoa closed on 28 October, after a record season for the southern Ruapehu field. 165,000 skier days was well over the previous 150,000 record for the field, and snow depths were also pushing the records. Even after the field closed the snow cover was better than at the height of some past ski seasons. Skiing was possible to the carpark even up to this weekend, and Turoa's summer crew have been working to de-ice lifts in past weeks, delaying their normal summer maintenance programme. Turoa decided to close at Labour Weekend despite the good snow cover because it was uneconomic to stay open. Most Turoa skiers were now taking part in summer activities arjd were not interested in a winter sport, said management. Whakapapa's summer operation starts on 14 December, with chairlifts operated for sightseers and trampers. If the snow base on the upper field remains at Christmas, Ruapehu Alpine Lifts plans to open for skiers.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/RUBUL19911119.2.6
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 413, 19 November 1991, Page 1
Word count
Tapeke kupu
347What a Whakapapa season! Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 413, 19 November 1991, Page 1
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Ruapehu Media Ltd is the copyright owner for the Ruapehu Bulletin. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Ruapehu Media Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in