Volcanic Activity May Impact New Zealand Ski Area’s 2022 Season

Whilst wise skiers and boarders study avalanche danger alert levels, usually on a scale of 1 to 5, before hitting the slopes, in New Zealand there’s an additional alert level to be aware of – volcanic activity, which has six levels, the highest 5.

The New Zealand Volcanic Alert System set by the country’s Department of Conservation (DOC) and Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS) has announced the current Volcanic Alert Level at ‘2’ for Mt Ruapehu, home to the country’s Whakapapa and Turoa ski areas. This means a 2km precautionary exclusion area is in place around the crater of Mt Ruapehu.

Ruapehu is the largest active volcano in New Zealand and had its last eruption in 2007.

“The mountains don’t belong to us, we belong to them”, and we acknowledge that we can’t tell maunga what to do and how to behave, they tell us. And right now, Mt Ruapehu has a little bit to say,” a statement from the resort states, continuing,

“We are aware of the current “murmurings”, both geologically and socially, around Mt Ruapehu’s move to Volcanic Alert Level 2. We want to assure you that our team is committed to guest safety and remains in constant communication regarding any developments.”

“The majority of our facilities, and all our summer facilities, sit at least 3km from the crater. This means, our Summer Season is able to continue to operate as normal – all guests are safe, provided they follow DOC’s guidance on the 2km precautionary exclusion area.”

“In terms of the winter ahead, the only facility within the current 2km radius is Tūroa’s High Noon Express, which we have planned to open by end of July, some 100 days from now. Heating and cooling phases – what are driving the current Volcanic Alert Level setting – don’t tend to follow any lineal path or timeline, however, there is time to see out this most recent phase, before we open for winter.”

GNS has been quoted as saying “the most likely outcome of this unrest episode is no eruptive activity occurs.”

New Zealand was closed to international skiers in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic but some should be able to visit this winter if things don’t change.