Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Mt Ruapehu skifield gears up for opening

as reported by the NZ Herald

Snowmaking began at Mt Ruapehu last night as the mountain gears up for its earliest season opening.

Unusually large dumps of snow last month mean the beginners' area on the Turoa skifield - Alpine Meadow - can open to the public on Saturday, two weeks before the scheduled date.

"Last Saturday there were over 100 people here. Anyone would have thought we were open already. They bring their own toboggans, kids build snowmen. It's really cool to see."

The lifts and more advanced slopes at Turoa are expected to open on the original June 20 date, while Ruapehu's other skifield, Whakapapa, is expected to open on June 27.

About 24,500 season passes have been bought, compared with 18,000 last year. About 85 per cent of those were purchased domestically - mostly in the North Island - and about 12 per cent were bought out of Australia.

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