Turoa Ski area officially opened today - but was closed due to bad weather.
Mt Ruapehu marketing coordinator Sam Williams said there was enough snow in the Alpine Meadow to open for the season, but extreme high winds in the central plateau meant the ski field was closed for the day.
"Theother side of the mountain has fine periods forecast for tomorrow. We are hoping that the Alpine Meadow will be open with fine spells tomorrow," he said.
The opening of the mountain was delayed on Friday because of warm, rainy weather.
Mr Williams said a significant amount of snow had been lost over the weekend. However, there had been a 3-5cm snow dump last night.
The current snow base at Turoa is 30cm.
Whakapapa opens on Friday and has a snow base of 35cm.
