Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Mt Ruapehu on track to bounce back this ski season after some 'challenging times'

Mike Tweed
By Mike Tweed
Multimedia Journalist·Whanganui Chronicle·
19 May, 2021 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌

Subscriber benefit

The ability to gift paywall-free articles is a subscriber only benefit. See more offers by clicking the button below.

Already a subscriber?  Sign in here
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Mt Ruapehu's snow factory has been in use for the past month. Photo / Supplied
Mt Ruapehu's snow factory has been in use for the past month. Photo / Supplied

Mt Ruapehu's snow factory has been in use for the past month. Photo / Supplied

Mt Ruapehu's Happy Valley ski area is on track to open to the public over Queen's Birthday weekend in early June.

Whakapapa ski area manager Steve Manunui said his team was feeling confident about the upcoming season.

"The snow factory has been pumping out snow for the last four weeks and there's been a couple of dustings [of snow]," Manunui said.

"There's also snow in the forecast over the next week so it's shaping up well."

The Sky Waka gondola and Happy Valley beginner ski area are scheduled to open for the winter season on Saturday, June 5, with the rest of Whakapapa ski area and Tūroa set to follow a month later on Saturday, July 3.

Open up the latest news from Whanganui

Get daily headlines from the Whanganui region straight to your inbox.
Please email me competitions, offers and other updates. You can stop these at any time.
By signing up for this newsletter, you agree to NZME’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Last year's Covid-19 restrictions resulted in "some challenging times for the ski fields", Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) chief operating officer Travis Donoghue said.

"Sourcing staff was difficult due to many usually coming in from overseas to work the winter," Donoghue said.

"There were travel restrictions for Kiwis, as well as the various Covid level requirements.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"That placed a lot of pressure on staff."

Overall visitor numbers in 2020 were "of course down", Donoghue said, and routine maintenance work had to be placed on hold.

Discover more

New Zealand

Tukino offering a sense of 'how skiing used to be'

17 May 05:00 PM

School Vegetable Garden Competition: Churton School students learning the gardening ropes

17 May 05:00 PM
Kahu

Iwi want sewage spills stopped

17 May 04:40 AM

Letters: A quick fix for the Dublin St Bridge?

17 May 05:00 PM

"We are confident that it will all be completed soon and all facilities will operate this season.

"Our visitor numbers did drop overall without the international market but we were compensated a little with local Kiwi numbers."

Manunui said cable maintenance was completed on the Sky Waka gondola two months ago.

"Maintenance work is on track on the Valley T-Bar and West Ridge Quad, and maintenance is under way on all the other lifts.

Whakapapa ski area manager Steve Manunui. Photo / Joel McDowell
Whakapapa ski area manager Steve Manunui. Photo / Joel McDowell

"We're also busy with a general tidy up of the ski areas and ensuring that our processes are streamlined ready for the busy winter months ahead, with both New Zealand and Australian visitors."

New Zealand's border restrictions had affected staffing levels on the mountain, Donoghue said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"They will continue to do so until all travel restrictions are lifted, which is some time away.

"We did a big recruitment drive for the winter season with our apprentice instructor programme (AIP) offering a NZSIA qualification upon successful completion and a job at either Tūroa or Whakapapa.

"We had a bit of interest from Australians to work on the mountain, but not a huge amount."

Donoghue said one positive to come out of last year's social distancing requirements was that people got used to contactless online buying of passes.

"That meant they avoided queues up the mountain to purchase passes."

The 2021 winter season is set to run until Monday, October 25, snow permitting.

NewsletterClicker

Subscriber benefit

The ability to gift paywall-free articles is a subscriber only benefit. See more offers by clicking the button below.

Already a subscriber?  Sign in here
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Ten things to do these winter holidays

27 Jun 06:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

'I'm done with them': Anger as Backhouse tenants told to leave

27 Jun 05:30 PM
Premium
Lifestyle

Gareth Carter: My favourite flowering plants for winter cheer

27 Jun 05:00 PM

Kaibosh gets a clean-energy boost in the fight against food waste

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
Motorist dies after early-morning crash in Waipukurau, Central Hawke’s Bay
Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after early-morning crash in Waipukurau, Central Hawke’s Bay

29 Jun 12:09 AM
'It's still not enough': Two-income families seeking help from community centres
Bay of Plenty Times

'It's still not enough': Two-income families seeking help from community centres

28 Jun 11:46 PM
Hawke’s Bay club rugby: Four to battle for Maddison glory
Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay club rugby: Four to battle for Maddison glory

28 Jun 11:44 PM
Missing teen: Police combing Akl mall CCTV, family 'losing hope'
New Zealand

Missing teen: Police combing Akl mall CCTV, family 'losing hope'

28 Jun 11:38 PM
The 'Blind Skiwi' chasing Paralympic dreams - On the Up
Paralympics

The 'Blind Skiwi' chasing Paralympic dreams - On the Up

28 Jun 11:00 PM

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Ten things to do these winter holidays

Ten things to do these winter holidays

27 Jun 06:00 PM

Winter weather can make keeping the kids entertained even harder than usual.

'I'm done with them': Anger as Backhouse tenants told to leave

'I'm done with them': Anger as Backhouse tenants told to leave

27 Jun 05:30 PM
Premium
Gareth Carter: My favourite flowering plants for winter cheer

Gareth Carter: My favourite flowering plants for winter cheer

27 Jun 05:00 PM
Whanganui author's new book for the ‘average’ gardener

Whanganui author's new book for the ‘average’ gardener

27 Jun 05:00 PM
Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style
sponsored

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search