Turoa snow Update

Hey Crew, i've got a new report from our roving north island reporter Kingsley on last weekends action at Turoa, read on

With the forecast earlier in the week looking pretty miserable for the
coming weekend our crew had written off the idea of heading up to Turoa
for our 2nd day this season, but as the week progressed the metservice
updates were looking better. Come friday night the report stated "Low
cloud, winds at 1600m rising to 40km east, winds at 3000m rising 60km by
midday. Rain, with occasional snow flurry above 1800m". So the report
didn't look too flash, but we couldn't help it. We had talked it up all
summer and had a newbie keen to hit the slopes. It was up to him if we
went or not, and he chose to go.
So up at 5.30am and leaving town at 6 with rain pouring we once again
decided 'If it's open, we'll stay'.
Arrived at the Ohakune 8.30 and got our newbie his hire equipment from
Station Lodge Rentals (www.stationlodge.co.nz) and up the Mt road we went.
It was an awesome sight to get to the base and see the lifts running. A
great relief after last weeks walks. So we decided 1 of us would stay and
help the new guy at alpine meadows while the rest of us cruized for the
first biggie. Up onto the 'Movenpick' lift to hopefully get to the 'High
Noon Express', unfortunatly that wasn't running yet, so 'High Flyer' it
was. We skated over and jumped on.
From the 'High Flyer' there is a few runs down and also the terrain park.
So I hit the park for a few small airs, coupled with a few small bails
(ok, maybe not so small bails).
Later in the day the high noon opened and we rode her to the top. -10
degrees or so with wind chill factored in up there. The trails had just
been groomed and the runs were awesome. Not bad for a 105cm base on the
volcano.
The weather began to clear and as blue skies cut through the wind picked
up, but that lasted all of 25 minutes around midday, then they backed off
leaving us with the remainder of the day bluebird.
I must say, later in the day the high noon trails had been taken back to
ice and became no good to ride. From the top of 'Parklane' (Turoa's
smallest lowest lift) there was only 1 trail available to base and that
was continually congested with learners falling head over heels and
blocking it up for everyone else.

Overall, at 105cm the lower mt is pretty much a write off for runs, except
when you need a break in the cafe. The 'High Noon' runs, freshly groomed
are ok, but that didn't last too long. So that just leaves mid Mt, and the
runs from 'High Flyer' are not bad at all, plenty of snow, a few rocks
here and there, then jumping across to the boneyard and as always, is a
nice run, very choppy, but great soft and dry snow built up so it's alot
of fun.

So here we are now with another cold snap covering the Mt and the fields
closed for the last 2 days due to snow. The last stake read was yesterday
with another 3cm added to the base. If this keeps up as forecast we could
see 1.5m pretty soon and hopefully the 2m mark reached within a few weeks.

Keep the snow falling!!!

~Kingsley~