Lack of snow puts famed North Island ski areas on edge

The Tūroa ski area is usually a white paradise at this time of year, its deep snowpack supporting its famous spring skiing. This season, it’s largely a barren moonscape, with tiny patches of snow jutting out between vast fields of jagged volcanic boulders.

The ski area was forced to close for the season this week, three weeks ahead of schedule.

The rain washed away the snow on several occasions and the 50 snow cannons in the ski area could not withstand the mild temperatures. Climate change appears to be a major factor after Aotearoa experienced its warmest winter on record – for the third consecutive year.

The disastrous snow season comes after the previous two seasons were severely disrupted by Covid-19, leaving Tūroa and its sister Whakapapa ski area on the brink of bankruptcy.

In Tūroa this season, snow groomer workers have spent thousands of hours pushing snow off the slopes, allowing expert skiers and snowboarders to take the chairlifts to the top of the ski area for limited runs. . But there were few offers for beginners or intermediates.

This year, 21-year-old Sam Yates landed his dream job as a ski instructor in Tūroa. But he estimates he only managed to teach people about a dozen days between frequent mountain closures. On certain days when Tūroa was closed, he was asked to pour coffees at Whakapapa’s cafeteria. In mid-August, he was among some 135 workers – a third of the staff at the two ski resorts – who were made redundant.

“It’s heartbreaking to see the weather,” Yates said.

“You move here and sacrifice six months of your life to engage in skiing. When you do that and you can’t ski anymore, it’s quite disheartening and yes, heartbreaking.”

With the snow melting and his job over, Yates decided to put his van away and move to the South Island, where the skiing was better. Then he hopes to follow the winter in Canada.

“Should be white”

Tūroa ski area manager Johan Bergman said the season had been difficult.

“We had pretty decent snowfall, but it was usually followed by bouts of rain, which washed away a lot of the snow,” he said.

“And it’s been a bit warm this winter too, across the country, so we’re running out of snow this year.”

He looked behind him at the arid mountain.

“It should be white for now,” he said.

Bergman said he believes climate change is a background factor, but this season has been more of a case of bad luck. And he is optimistic about the future of the sport at Ruapehu.

“I still see skiing here in the North Island,” he said.

But the bad season puts great financial pressure on Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, the company that owns the two ski areas. Created 70 years ago by ski enthusiasts, the company operates as a non-profit association. It is exempt from corporation tax and must reinvest its profits in the improvement of ski areas.

But there are no benefits. Last year, the company lost nearly $6 million and its total debt soared to over $30 million. The company has been looking for a major new investor, so far without success.

Even ahead of this year’s barren snow season, company auditors noted there was significant doubt about whether the company could continue to stay afloat. This week, Chief Executive Jono Dean did not immediately respond to written questions about the company’s future.

The company seems to have underestimated the threat posed by global warming. It does not mention climate change once in its latest 54-page annual report, instead listing major threats to its business as further Covid disruptions and borrowing restrictions.

The National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) found that New Zealand’s average winter temperature hit a new record high this year of nearly 10C. It was also the wettest winter on record. The agency concluded that climate change was a major contributor to both.

The hot winter trend

Professor James Renwick, a climatologist at Victoria University of Wellington, said skiing will become more untenable as temperatures rise.

“I’ve told North Island ski operators more than once that things are going to get marginal pretty quickly,” Renwick said.

He said there would always be changes from season to season, but the trend was towards warmer winters. He said it was difficult to predict how long an individual ski area might survive.

“The further south you are and the higher you are in the mountains, the colder it gets, so the longer you can go on,” he said.

Renwick added that some ski resorts may even initially benefit from additional rainfall brought about by climate change if it gets cold enough to fall as snow.

Ski areas in some countries have increased their revenue by opening their chairlifts to mountain bikers during the summer. But the Mount Ruapehu ski areas cannot because they are in a national park and do not have authorization.

Phil Jackson, who built the Hobbit Motorlodge in Ohakune nearly 40 years ago, said this year had been the worst ski season since 1983, when the mountain was covered in ice. Normally he would ski in Tūroa, he said, but this year he only skied four days on the South Island. And his RV business has been terrible.

“A shock,” Jackson said.

“Two years of Covid and now another disastrous ski season. We will survive, but there will be people who cannot survive.