The magic mountain

By JOHN PARKER

The South Island boasts more than 20 commercial and club skifields ranged along the mainland's backbone, from Rainbow in Nelson down to the Remarkables in Queenstown.

By contrast, the North Island has just four. Mt Taranaki claims the club field of Manganui. Ruapehu owns the other three: the small club field of Tukino on the southeastern side and the two commercial fields of Whakapapa on the northwestern face and Turoa on the southwest.

But North Islanders know that Whakapapa and Turoa are the biggies of the New Zealand skiing world, with seasons that often run through to Labour Weekend. Together they offer 1000ha of patrolled terrain and a vertical drop of 722m, the largest in Australia and New Zealand. Ruapehu is a magic mountain, a winter home to thousands of snow-sport enthusiasts from the top half of New Zealand.

Economy and ease of travel are big factors. No airports, flight costs, or rental cars - just load up the wagon and drive.

From Auckland to Chateau Tongariro is about four hours, with a further 30 minutes to Turoa. Top-halfers south of the Bombays have it made - three hours from Hamilton, 2 1/2 hours from Tauranga, and about two hours from Rotorua.

The final assault on both fields keeps your wheels on well-sealed roads: a 6km route alongside tussock and lava outcrops to the Top o' the Bruce at Whakapapa, and a 17km scenic drive up the Ohakune ski road to the Turoa carpark.

Many South Island fields are tucked away behind the ski-road, revealing themselves only in the last few hundred metres of the drive. By comparison, Aucklanders who opt for the Pirongia route to avoid Hamilton are treated to adrenalin-surging glimpses of Ruapehu's shining snow from as early as before Otorohanga.

And from south of Owhango, halfway between Taumarunui and the national park, the mountain's bulk rearing from the Central Plateau increasingly fills the sky like a giant tablecloth laid for a banquet.

Ruapehu devotees know that every banquet has its flies. The mountain's isolation invites weather as well as wonder. Wind and storm can close the fields or make for challenging skiing in flat light, but the mountain can also deliver day after day of fine-weather skiing on thick blankets of snow down to the lower carparks.

One or other of the two fields will usually benefit from snow-bearing weather systems, no matter the direction. Whakapapa gets its principal dumps from a northwesterly or westerly storm, cold southerlies often whipping through too quickly for significant snow.

Turoa, though it happily accepts snow from the northwest or west, prefers dry and squeaky produce from cold fronts driving up from the south or southwest.

When Whakapapa's snow gets too soft, the better skiers may head for Turoa, its southerly aspect keeping the snow in better condition for longer in the season.

If your legs need resting, you can sit and replenish at no fewer than 11 on-mountain cafes, sited at convenient levels. Beginners, for example, can graze at several handy outlets near Whakapapa's Happy Valley and Turoa's Alpine Meadow; skiers of intermediate standard and above forage at places higher on the mountain.

New Zealand's highest eating place, at 2010m, is Whakapapa's Knoll Ridge Cafe. Dramatic views of the Pinnacles, rivalling anything from the Italian Dolomites, enhance the flavour of your beef stroganoff.

Turoa's popular Giant Cafe will be refurbished for the coming season and the seating doubled.

The cafe improvements are a small part of a $3.5 million investment in the mountain. It's a heartening indication of the efficiencies and strategic mountain management being achieved by Whakapapa's Ruapehu Alpine Lifts as a result of its 2000 takeover of Turoa. The Commerce Commission took a while to come to the party, but now the party is producing results.

The Happy Valley learner area on the Whakapapa side will benefit hugely from the developments. It's 30 per cent wider, and gone are the rope tows. Beginners will revel in the new Double Happy chair and platter lifts, one relocated from the Pinnacles skiing area.

Twenty-five snow guns - 15 new this season - will feed from a recently constructed 25 million-litre reservoir below Happy Valley. They will rev up snowmaking on both Happy Valley and the Rockgarden area just above it.

That has to be great news for every level of skier or boarder. In some seasons, prudent practice was to take the Rockgarden chair down to the carpark rather than risk scraping expensive skis on congested terrain rendered marginal by thin snow cover.

The new snowmaking capacity should now allow a skier to swoosh all the way down for a satisfactory end to the day.

There's even better news for next year. A third Rockgarden trail is planned, along with a further 10 snow guns. Top-to-bottom skiing will also be improved on the Turoa side now that snowmaking will pay attention to the levels on Clarry's Track, the last trail before hitting the base chairs.

Turoa's affection for the boarding community continues. The terrain-park crew - with the aid of a "Park Bully" and a "Pipe Magician" half-pipe shaper - are determined to create bigger and better facilities.

Some long-range forecasts are predicting a good snow season for Ruapehu. Decent cover will open up a ski area that has a remarkable variety of terrain and possibilities: long, easy trails and sheltered valleys, plunging quarter-pipe basins, chutes and drop-offs, and long, steep faces that will probe nerve and technique.

For the better skier or boarder, there is so much to explore - and you might discover decent powder pockets. On the Whakapapa side, try the wide-open country accessed by the Far West T-bar. It will take you to 2300m - where, on a good day, there's the tempting prospect of hiking to the summit for a ski down.

The same option is available from Turoa's High Noon T-bar at 2322m - for snow-sporters of a good intermediate standard or above.

Both sides have views which stretch for ever. On the Whakapapa side you can gaze at the 2287m Mt Ngauruhoe to the east, its active cone Mt Fuji-like in its symmetry.

Turoa has stunning perspectives to the south over Ohakune, and a clear day provides the riveting sight of Mt Taranaki's summit gleaming 150km away to the west.

Imaginative and well-priced ticketing options, including weather warranty refunds - plus on-snow accommodation in lodges - are further inducements to North Islanders.

When Ruapehu calls, you have to listen.