Ash falls trash ski slope

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 508, 19 October 1993, Page 4 (Supplement)

Ash falls trash ski slope

SncwsporishaveaKvaysbeen atthemercyoftheelements, but 1 945 had to be Ruapehds worst! Thefollowrigaooountofthe 1945 ski season, taken from Ihe Tongariro Tramping Club records, makesalightsncw-falyearseem atrifle! Ruapehu emptedin 1945, the first one seen in living memory, though there had

been a flood down the Crater Lake outlet and the Whangaehu River in 1861 when blocksofice were carried to the sea. A seven-month eruption period started in March 1945, with huge eruptions of smoke and ash each day, depositing ash for several miles around the mountain, mostly on the Desert Road. From Ruapehu to the Kaimanawas was completely devoid of any sign of deer and not a bird was heard. Tramping through beech forests, one would be covered in ash and dust. Skiers suffered, with most of the slopes bare as each shower of ash fell and covered the slopes, even a fresh fall of snow could only last a few days before the previous ash fall would show through, preventing any skiing. Several years went by before the ash was completely washed away by melting snows. The 1945 winter was mild and many trips to the Crater Lake were made, from the Chateau side, to view the eruption. Air crash In 1948 club members, notably Tom Shout and messrs Sampson and Pope, were involved in the search for a Lockheed Electra from National Airways Corporation which crashed into Ruapehu at about 7000 feet up the Mangaturuturu Valley. All passengers in the craft were killed. One of the last large organised trips for the club was to visit the 1954 Ngauruhoe eruption lava flows. Club members were getting off the bus at the Mangatepopo Road junction when the volcano gave a mighty bang with an associated "A Bomb" cloud of smoke and ash. "The ladies and some of the men were back on the bus and it took a lot of fast talking by Neville Mosen and Shorty Pritchard to get them out and on the track across the tussock plains to the hot beds of lava." quotes the club's records. "Odds & Ends" from the records: Joe Blyth used to take red painted golf balls and club to Ruapehu's summit and tee them off; Gliding Gladys, a steep slope above Turoa, was used for a descent in a hurry and in early days the "Joe Blyth method" was used, whereby climbers would sit on a sugar bag in a frying pan with the handle between the legs. Some unlucky folk recei ved scorched posteriors after loosing the sugar bag, the friction on the snow generating a fair amount of heat; Deer numbers around the Mangaiti Hut used to be high and during Easter sleep became difficult with the noise of the roar. A main deer highway passed close to the hut.