Mood positive for Ruapehu '96 season

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 643, 2 July 1996, Page 3 (Supplement)

Mood positive for Ruapehu '96 season

There's no disputing the'eruption of Mt Ruapehu is a pain in the ash, but the 1996 ski season is not dead yet. Ski field managers met with local industry people on Sunday to explain the situation, which of course was completely dependent on how much longer the eruption continues. They outlined the best and worst case scenarios. Both are confident that as long as the ash eruptions subside soon, there will be a ski season, albeit with a late start. As at yesterday Whakapapa needed 4- 10cm of snow before they would operate, which could fall overnight. Turoa needed 20-30cm of snow which should fall in 2-3 weeks. Ruapehu Alpine Lifts general manager Dave Mazey said that last week things were looking good, they'd made enough snow to open Happy Valley, they took on 90 staff, and prepared to open Saturday. Then Saturday morning at 7.45am a huge ash plume rose from the crater. 40-minute season "Scott came into the office and said a 40minute ski season was a little bit too short ! " However, this time round it was Whakapapa that stayed relatively white and Turoa copped the heavier dusting of ash. Mr Mazey said Happy Valley was a pale shade of grey on Sunday and, while the upper slopes in the V alley and Knoll Ridge were still unskiable from the 1 7 June eruption, they were basically clean of fresh ash although the gas had discoloured the snow a little. He said the company had retained their staff and were positive about opening, taking in the situation week-by-week. There was still easily three months of ski season possible. 'This has been 36 hours of constant venting (of the volcano), it's been active since last September — the longest its ever been active — it's got to stop." "The probability of it stopping tomorrow is as great as it stopping in a week." He said if the eruption was continuing in 5-6 weeks the company would have to

seriously look at the situation "but we are a long way from that". Turoa general manager Angus Grimwade said after the weekend ash emissions, "the boot was on the other foot" with Whakapapa' s slopes still "pristine white" and Turoa' s dark grey. "But hopefully we won't be far behind Whakapapa in opening." Ash skiing? The managers were asked why they did not allow people to "just go up and have a good time" skiing on the ash-covered snow. They said safety was an issue as was the damaging effect on groomers, and that they wanted to avoid skiers mixing the ash with any fresh snow, which would mean it would continue to come to the surface through the season. "We've got to be able to provide a good enough product for the customer to ski on," said Mr Grimwade. He said Turoa would wait until the end of August before they pulled the plug on the season, if it came to that. Asked about opening the T-Bars, Mr Grimwade said he was hopeful that once the alert level was lowered back to Level T wo and there had been a period of inacti vity, the exclusion zone would be reduced to allow the Turoa T-bars to operate. However, it would be up to government agencies including Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences and Department of Conservation staff. Tukino clean Both ski field managers said they would be looking at assisting Tukino Skifield, which was clear of ash this time, so as to support at least some skiing on Ruapehu. Many people at the meeting passed on anecdotes about positive comments from visitors. One retailer said he had asked 3040 people about their thoughts on the eruption and all said they would be back once the ski fields were open. An accommodation provider told of how many of their holiday guests were staying on for other activities. Another said in contrast to last year's event, people were not afraid of the eruption and were not "running away".