Ski weekend at Mt. Ruapehu

A month ago we tried to go skiing at Mt. Ruapehu but were frustrated by high winds and so much snow that the roads leading to the base were closed. This past weekend we had better luck and were able to ski in the southern hemisphere for the first time. This winter has been more rainy than usual and there has been a bounty of snow in the Southern Alps and at the North Island’s Mt. Ruapehu. This still active volcano has two ski fields, Turoa and Whakapapa (‘wh’ in Maori is pronounced ‘ph’ so be careful how you say that) and we skied the latter.

How does it compare with skiing in the U.S? I’ve only skied in the Northeast and never sampled any of that magnificent powder in the Rockies of which I’ve heard a great deal. Whakapapa has big wide bowl skiing and that is not the kind of terrain you would find in Vermont. We liked being able to do nice wide traverses but the steeper grade was a bit more challenging than we would have preferred. Throughout the slopes there were numerous boulders that must have been blown out of the volcano during its frequent eruptions (it erupted briefly last summer). The ski field is above the tree line with an almost 4 meter snow base so most of the rocks must have been covered over. I think that because of the amount of snow some of the trail signs must have been buried and were hard to see. It snowed frequently on Saturday with whiteout conditions at times that made a coward of me. I generally prefer to see where I’m going when I’m on skis and appreciate precipitous drops off better when I’m watching someone else handle them while watching extreme skiing on TV. Overall the mountain is suited to a more advanced skier with not so many trails for intermediates.

Sunday was the better of the two days with brilliant sunshine that highlighted the beauty of the jagged ridges. The air was so clear that we could see Mt. Taranaki, some 120 kilometres distant. Its uppermost cone was bisected by a very thin layer of wispy clouds that emphasized the high elevation we were at (about 2,000 meters). It might not have been the best skiing ever but it was worth it for the view alone.