Photo galleryKEY POINTS:
4.45pm Injured climber comes out of surgery after right leg amputated below knee. Doctor says he was seconds from death and calls recovery "miracle."
2.23pm: Injured climber remains in surgery this afternoon. Family say he is a "fighter".
12.53pm: GNS volcanologist Vernon Manville said he will be heading
up the mountain this afternoon to take samples of the lahar.
He said last night's lahar was not as large as the one in March.
When asked what the damage would have been if the crater lake hadn't been drained in March, Mr Manville said it was too early to speculate.
He said staff from GNS will be taking samples from the lake to see if the chemical make-up of the water has changed.
11.27am: Public access roads on the mountain and both Turoa and Whakapapa skifields are closed today. Skifield operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts said it was taking "the prudent approach" in closing today and if there was no further volcanic activity in the next 24 hours, both skifields would be open tomorrow.
11:01am: GNS says no new volcanic activity this morning.
10.58am: Neil Macgregor is staying at the Ruapehu Ski Club and said DoC phoned the club last night. "They said there was no point in evacuating at this stage. Because we're at the top of the first chair lift, there could have been some risk getting women and children out," Mr Macgregor said.
He said the call came at 10pm by which stage it was cold and people would have had to walk out. Mr Mcgregor said nothing was felt last night and this morning there is a bit of cloud cover around the top of the Ruapehu.
He said the weather is fine and the club has set up a small race course outside for young skiers.
10.30am: David Jupp is looking after 18 scouts staying at the Scout Lodge on Ruapehu, about 4.5km from the crater. He said there was a bit of excitement last night. "Some hadn't been on the mountain before," Mr Jupp said.
There was no noise or vibrations felt from the eruption and the scouts only heard about the eruption after getting a phone call from a nearby lodge at 10pm. "There was a bit of a glow but it could have been the cafe or the likes of snow groomers," Mr Jupp said.
He said the lodge has an evacuation plan but didn't swing it into action because there was no call from authorities. This morning there is a clear view of the top of the mountain, he said.
"We can see the darkened, black top. It's quite impressive," Mr Jupp said. He said with the fine weather some of the scouts have walked up to Happy Valley, keen to make use of the good conditions.
9.11am: GNS volcanologist Brad Scott described the eruption as "small to moderate' -- smaller than the eruptions of 1969 and 1975 but bigger than last October's. "Impact craters' 1-2 metres wide caused by debris hurled into the air were seen about 1.5km from the crater edge and a considerable amount of water had pooled at the top of the volcano and then run off down the Whangaehu and Whakapapa glaciers, Mr Scott told Radio New Zealand.
It was not yet considered safe enough to send scientists up to the crater on foot to make assessments.
8.20am: The parents of injured climber William Pike say he was in the place he loved when he was crushed by rocks in the eruption.
7.34am: Ruapehu District Council mayor Sue Morris said the water intake at National Park had been closed until monitoring of water quality had been completed, but there was plenty of water in storage.
Access roads on both sides of the mountain were also closed, preventing sightseers going up for a look, she said.
6.32am: GNS Science duty volcanologist Craig Miller said the eruption was accompanied by a magnitude 2.9 quake and shaking which lasted seven minutes, with no precursor tremors to give warning. "It was just straight out of the blue,' said Mr Miller.
- NZ HERALD STAFF, NZPA, NEWSTALK ZB
