Snowfall sees ski season take off

By JO-MARIE BROWN

A collective sigh of relief can be heard from skifield operators and skiers alike after the weekend's snowfall helped save a season that was threatening to melt away.

Whakapapa Skifield's Mike Smith said that despite an early opening this year, it had not snowed on Mt Ruapehu in five weeks.

But Friday's 35cm snowfall saw around 7000 people flock to Whakapapa's slopes over the weekend and should allow a further two t-bars to open by the end of the week, Mr Smith said.

"At the moment we're only operating at 40 per cent capacity but that should increase to 75 per cent shortly.

"The forecast is for quite a bit more snow to fall between Monday and Wednesday."

The opening of Whakapapa's far west t-bar would give access to a vast amount of terrain very popular with skiers and snowboarders, Mr Smith said.

Meanwhile, Mike Bayens, of Turoa Skifield, said a further 5000 skiers had enjoyed a weekend on the slopes there.

While staff were not too concerned about the lack of recent snow, Friday's 30cm fall on Turoa had certainly helped, Mr Bayens said.

"We were quite comfortable with what we did have but the new snow has increased our skiable terrain.

"We've been able to open the Moro t-bar.

"Now we can carry on with further snow-pushing so the jumbo t-bar can open."

Mr Bayens said the jumbo, which provided access to Turoa's longest run, should open by next weekend if weather and snow permitted.