Turoa ski field's avalanche-hit lift out of action for the rest of the season

NZ Herald

15 Aug, 2018 07:10 PM2 mins to read

A structural engineer inspects the damage to the chairlift following the August 6 avalanche.

Turoa ski field's fastest and highest lift is out of action for the rest of the season after suffering serious damage in a large avalanche last week.

In a statement tonight, Ruapehu Alpine Lifts chief Ross Copland said the haul ropes on the High Noon Express were unsafe to operate.

"A detailed report by wire rope experts has been peer reviewed by both the rope and lift manufacturer. Regrettably RAL has been advised that the haul rope is unsafe to operate.

"A range of repair solutions have been explored in detail over the past 48 hours but none of the options gave us certainty that the lift would open again this season."

A structural engineer inspects the damage to the chairlift following the August 6 avalanche.

In a video posted on Facebook tonight, Copland said the lift was inspected by specialist on Friday who did a "full scan". The report was received on Monday.

"I'm really sorry to say the news is not good."

The damage meant about 200m of specially made rope needed replacing. That rope would have to be flown out from European manufacturers which could not occur before the end of winter.

Tūroa ski patrol staff inspect the avalanche scene earlier.

"Unfortunately guys that is the end of the High Noon Express for winter. What I can say, if there's any good news in this, is it's still snowing pretty hard. We've had 25 to 30cm in the last 24 hours and we're setting up for a pretty good spring."

The avalanche occurred on August 6.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts staff triggered the snow disturbance near the mountain summit as part of normal daily operations to clear the mountain of dangerous snow packs.

The avalanche flowed through a glacial zone known as Gliding Gladys before hitting the High Noon Express chairlift.

No one was injured during the incident, which closed the upper mountain.