Big weekend after July's storms

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 599, 15 August 1995, Page 3 (Supplement)

Big weekend after July's storms

The last weekend of July was the biggest weekend of the ski season to date. Large crowds of 5000 each day , enjoyed the best snow base (over 3m) Whakapapa has ever had at this time of year. Meanwhile at Turoa a total of 8000 skier days were clocked up on their four metre base over the two days . The all-time record snow depth at Whakapapa was recorded in October last year, but if the trend already indicated this year continues, 1995 will be the year of the Really Big Snow. Apart from some difficulties on the road due to the icy conditions, and some lengthy queues, everything else went smoothly for the big weekend after July's storms. Whakapapa have had all facilities operational except for the Far West T-Bar. "This will be going once the June/July storm cycles have passed. Until then we can't thread the T-Bar cable due to the ice loading that occurs during the heavier storms." said marketing assistant Nicole Bayes.

Looking at the season so far (as at Tuesday 1 August) Turoa had been open 1 7 days and closed 24 days, including one stretch of nine closed days in a row. The field opened on 22 June. Whakapapa opened its Happy Valley slopes at Queen's Birthday weekend and its upper field on 29 June, with its first fine day on 1 July in perfect time for the Montana Winterfest. The field was pounded by storms through July, but the up-side was building up the base to over three metres, providing excellent skiing over the whole mountain. "You can ski anywhere you want to — it's just awesome," said RAL marketing manager Scott Lee. He said it's revived his ski keenness and he's been out on his boards every day for the past week. They've had record crowds for this time of year, and despite the poor weather through July, they have almost made target for skier-days. The Far West T-Bar was expected to open the weekend of 5&6 August. Last year Whakapapa' s ski season was 147 days long, with 27 closed days. Turoa' s season was 142 days long and they were closed 36 days.