Best Spring skiing ever for Ruapehu

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 557, 11 October 1994, Page 3 (Supplement)

Best Spring skiing ever for Ruapehu

The Spring Ski Season is shaping up to be the best ever at Whakapapa Ski Area. Officially the snow base is 402cm but according to Scott Lee, marketing manager for Whakapapa, even that doesn't truly reflect the amount of snow on the ski area. Long-time skiers say they can't remember such an abundance of snow and such good skiing conditions over the entire mountain.

"Because of the snow base and the obvious interest in Spring Skiing we have.decided to extend the season until 4 December when our Summer Alpine Magic operation starts," said Scott. "Even after that date we will still operate a TBar or two and we'll open up more ski facilities over the Christmas period for a festive ski season. We' 11 be skiing until the new year with this amount of snow," he added.

Four thousand skiers enjoyed excellent skiing conditions on Saturday with a further two-thou-sand visiting the ski area on Sunday. Turoa topped up (as if it needs it) Turoa' s snow base was topped up almost nightly last week, to take its base to about 4.3 metres. About 3000 skiers took to the slopes on Saturday and about 2500 on Sunday. Both days started

with variable visibility but turned out to be crackers. Very cold temperatures in the morning (minus 6°C at times) saw the snow stay in good condition until mid afternoon in most paris. Turoa is to remain open until 13 November, charging half-day prices (after Labour Weekend) for skiing from 9.30am to 3.00pm. The field will reopen on 26 December until 8 January, snow and weather conditions permitting.