'Mountain will be plastered'

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 242, 10 May 1988, Page 16

'Mountain will be plastered'

Good news predicted

Mrs Bell Mills remembers Ruapehu erupting in 1945, the heaviest snowfall in 1927 and the night most of Rangataua burned down, when she was about 10. But she doesn't remember the mountain ever being so bare as it was untii May 1988. And Mrs Mills should know because she has lived in the house she was born in for all her 73 ydars - that's a house in Miharo St, Rangataua. "There's no snow on the Girdlestone at the moment, it's the barest it's ever been," said Mrs Mills, when interviewed in May. The Girdlestone is the sharp, Pyramid shaped peak on the South end of Mt Ruapehu. Mrs Mills says because there was not much in the early part of the winter there will be lots later. "I think when it starts to snow I'm sure it will

be well plastered and covered, and everyone round here says the same" says Mrs Mills. When asked for the reasons behind the theory Mrs Mills said she wasn't really into making predictions. She just said: "Oh, we'll get it. It can snow a lot in one night. The heaviest fall, in 1927, left two feet in Rangataua over night." "All I know is I've got a stack of firewood and I'm going to stay right here by the fire." Mrs Mills said she was looking forward to seeing many of her friends who come to stay in Rangataua to go skiing. "Skiing's a great thing, I've got lots of friends who come up from Wellington and stay in their houses, and they come and visit me. A lot of the houses here now have been built by the skiers," says Mrs Mills.