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.
‌
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 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.

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
Save

    Share this article

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

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

How a spray painter is mastering conflict resolution with NZ Army

06 Jul 05:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

'He's just scared of me': Teen's Māori wards challenge to PM

06 Jul 03:55 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Brazen hammer heist: Police hunt jewel thief, staff distressed after store raid

05 Jul 05:11 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

How a spray painter is mastering conflict resolution with NZ Army

How a spray painter is mastering conflict resolution with NZ Army

06 Jul 05:00 PM

Exercise Tauwharenīkau at Waiōuru will involve up to 250 Reserve Force personnel.

'He's just scared of me': Teen's Māori wards challenge to PM

'He's just scared of me': Teen's Māori wards challenge to PM

06 Jul 03:55 AM
Brazen hammer heist: Police hunt jewel thief, staff distressed after store raid

Brazen hammer heist: Police hunt jewel thief, staff distressed after store raid

05 Jul 05:11 AM
Kāinga Ora needs to be ‘responsive to need’, says minister

Kāinga Ora needs to be ‘responsive to need’, says minister

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

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