The dream of snow lives on at Mount Ruapehu's Tūroa ski field.

"Seeing is believing. Tūroa is open. Ohakune is open. Our Ruapehu rohe - region - is open. Our arms are all open, and waiting for you," says a Tūroa spokesperson on the Mt Ruapehu Facebook page.

On Tuesday evening, the team at Tūroa updated their Facebook page with a summary of the herculean effort they've been putting in.

'Nine days closed, 376 hours of grooming, 1053 km travelled, 510 hectares ground covered. And the result? Tomorrow [Wednesday] the team at Tūroa will open the High Noon Express.

'We said we needed 20-30cm - we haven't had that. But our groomers and snowmakers have made the impossible, possible, pushing snow from everywhere and anywhere, and firing up the snow guns as soon as temperatures cooled.”

The team at Tūroa set their sights on opening the High Noon Express lift at 10am on Wednesday, and open it they did despite a lot of setup work needing to be done first.

Access is via the Movenpick lift, with access to Little Bowl, Snowbird, and Upper Freeway. The Alpine Café, Giant Café and Vertical Retail were also open on Wednesday.

Last week was a heart breaking time as the lack of snow started to take its toll. Mt Ruapehu has, to date, experienced one of its warmest, most humid, and wettest winters on record. The unseasonable weather, an influence of La Nina, has had a significant impact on the snowpack at both Whakapapa and Tūroa Ski Areas. It has not only impacted any natural snow fall accumulation and retention, but also limited the windows available for machine-made snowmaking efforts.

'It's all about the High Noon from here,” a Mt Ruapehu spokesperson posted to their Facebook page.

'Tūroa has been significantly impacted by the unseasonal weather of the last two weeks, and really, all season. The seasonal influence of La Nina has hit hard, as we've received well below our all-time average in snowfall this season. This has affected our operations, our people, and our community.

'As a result of reviewing our operations, and considering our nearing halfway point in the season, a decision has been made at Tūroa to focus our attention on the High Noon Express, and at this stage, the High Noon only. At a higher elevation, the highest of any lift in New Zealand, this terrain has a greater chance of snow accumulation to that of other lifts.”

As last weekend loomed, the High Noon - Tūroa's six-seater express chair- remained non-operational, requiring a minimum of 20-30cm to get going again.

'And when we get that, it will be our focus. Until then, sadly, Tūroa will remain temporarily closed.

With fewer facilities operational, the ski area management teams have had to rationalise their efforts heading into the second half of our winter. This review has, very unfortunately, impacted our people. In the next week, we will say goodbye to around a third of our total team of 405 people, and the largest impact of that will be seen at Tūroa.”

Determination, and waiting for snow which was forecast kept the operational teams committed to working tirelessly with what they had.

Tūroa, Mount Ruapehu. Photo: Supplied.

On Monday afternoon it was a 'can't stop, won't stop” full-on action plan on the slopes of Turoa.

'At Tūroa, our snow makers have been sitting ready and waiting for the temperatures to drop,” says a Tūroa spokesperson.

'Finally, on Saturday night, the temperatures cooled and settled enough to allow the team to fire up the snow guns at Blyth Flat, including two snow guns that were driven up last week to support.

'The current forecast indicates good windows for snowmaking over the rest of the week.”

The grooming team has been working relentlessly, all hours, pushing snow from every direction towards the High Noon Express.

'It's not often we see snow being pushed down the maunga, but that is unfolding right now [Tuesday night],” writes a spokesperson to the Mt Ruapehu Facebook page.

The work required to rebuild the High Noon trails, from 20cm at the stick, is seeing the team work in shifts covering 24 hours of each day. This will continue throughout the week.

'So the work continues, even without the snowfall. We will continue to provide updates as we go, and of course, snow would also help greatly! Our eyes are to the weekend for that.”

'Ka mahi te tawa uho ki te riri. Well done, you whose courage is like the heart of a tawa tree,” says a Tūroa spokesperson. 'The dream lives! #WeareTūroa – what a mighty team you are.”

Whakapapa

Over at Whakapapa the ski area has also received well below its five-year average in snowfall so far this season. It has had more snowmaking windows and greater accumulation up high than Tūroa. Following the deluge received a fortnight ago, the team has been able to rebuild the Valley and Knoll T-Bars, and have been progressively working to re-establish the Far West T-Bar. While Happy Valley will remain operational, along with the Sky Waka gondola, significant snowfall is needed to ensure the other lifts are able to operate this season.

Whakapapa, on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu. Photo: Supplied.

Ruapehu Scenic Shuttles owner Colin Baker says the last weekends of August were the weekends that were predicted to be busy,

'Everyone was hoping it was going to be, but it was fizzling,” says Colin as clouds and rain started to roll in.

'It's grim. There were at least 400 spaces left in the car park. For the end of August, that's bad.”

Colin says he usually sees that season peak during August with lots of school groups coming in September.

'After the last two years, we've had so many weird late August/Septembers, this is supposed to be normality – normality would be flat out busy. It's just not. It really feels uncertain. And it's not good going into the summer,” says Colin

'Last year if we hadn't have had lockdown it was the best snow for God knows how many years but no one could get to it.”

Whakapapa. Photo: Colin Baker.

The bitter irony is that in the previous year, the first year of Covid impacting NZ, lockdown also disrupted the season.

'But government bailed us out,” says Colin.

'At the beginning of this season I thought the biggest problem would have been the volcanic alert level and concern over Covid surge. But then I always said we need snow on Ruapehu before it erupts so I'm hoping it's not saving it for next year.

'This year it's been quiet. Although With the borders open, we've had a lot of Australians coming through.”

His Ruapehu Scenic Shuttle business provides a service on mainly the Whakapapa side of the mountain.

'Snow hit the south but didn't get to the north. It fizzled,” says Colin who had what he calls 'the September feeling” already in mid August.

'With the longer days it's less likely to snow during the day but snows overnight. When we get to spring, any snow we get at night tends to melt during the day. We're coming into spring very quickly now. NIWA's long range forecast does not look good for the remainder of the season."

During the snow season, he operates Ruapehu shuttles taking snow players and skiers up Mount Ruapehu, and then over summer he's usually busy taking people who are doing mountain biking, the Tongariro Crossing and other walking trails in the area.

"This year it's been quiet. Although with the borders open, there have been quite a few Australians and internationals coming through."