Better Whakapapa year

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 22, 22 October 1985, Page 17

Better Whakapapa year

"Mt Ruapehu can do better," park ranger Graham Ayres says of this year's ski season at Whakapapa. Although the season has been a lot better than the previous two, Mr Ayres believes this one has not been especially good. "You can always tell when it's a really bad season because the skifield staff are disillusioned and depressed," he said. So far this winter, 29 1 ,05 1 people have visited Whakapapa and of those 1110 have

had accidents, 20 per cent of them serious. There was one fatality near the beginning of the season, when a man was blown over Broken Leg Gully. Avalanche awareness forecasting has been operating with relative success this year, although there has been limited interest due to the lack of avalanches. Staff are planning to continue avalanche forecasting and avalanche awareness courses next year. A landscape assessment for the Top O' the Bruce area up to the beginning of the first chairlift is being carried out by landscape architects. Mr Ayres says they hope to make an easier pedestrian access way to the first chair- . lift. There is a need to have vehicle access to the chair lift for transporting patients, materials and supplies. "We also want to make it relatively easy for skiers to walk and queue in ski boots," said Mr Ayres. "We want to generally beautify the area to make it look like the gateway to New Zealand's largest skifield."