Interwar period

The first people to ski the slopes of Ruapehu were Bill Mead and Bernard Drake who purchased a pair of skis from Europe in 1913 and later formed the Ruapehu Ski Club. Bill Salt, Mead, Drake and others helped to then build the first hut on the skifield in 1923, a small corrugated iron shack which still stands to this day. Skiing slowly progressed on the skifield, hindered by World War 2 with the road expanded in the 1930s to accommodate more traffic. Some small rope tows were built before the first ski lifts, the first being installed in 1938 at Scoria Flat by the Tourist Department and a further 5-6 more over the following years.^{[citation needed]}

1950s expansion

By 1951 skiing had become quite popular and Walter Haensli was granted a license to operate a ski lift at Whakapapa. In 1953 Ruapehu Alpine Lifts was formed and the company purchase the license from Haensli, installing the first chairlift in New Zealand in 1954. This chairlift was built by GMD Müller and was a single seater Diesel-Electric driven lift capable of taking 350 people an hour up to Hut Flat. Sir Edmund Hillary officially opened the chairlift on August 1, 1954. A year later the Staircase T-Bar extended up the Staircase slopes until it was removed in the late 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

Following on from the success, the No.2 Chairlift was opened in May 1956 extending from Hut Flat to the top of Knoll Ridge. This lift was destroyed by an ice storm a week later due to the extreme build-up of rime ice - common in Ruapehu's maritime climate. Over the following years more ski companies opened up and Ski Enterprises Ltd opened a rope tow then a T-Bar on the National Downhill slopes while Happy Ski Valley Ltd commenced operations of rope tows going up Meads Wall.^{[citation needed]}

Consolidation:1970s-1980s

During the 70s many of the rope tows were phased out for more comfortable poma lifts and eventually more chairlifts in the late 70s. The top half of the No.2 Chairlift was moved to run from the base of the Rockgarden, west to the Downhill Ski Club and a two seater chair replaced the Rockgarden single chair.^{[citation needed]}

The late 70s and early 80s signalled a period of fast growth for the ski area with snow groomers purchased in 1977, A double chairlift up the staircase slopes and the first T-Bar on the upper mountain. 1981, 1982 and 1983 saw the installation of the Te Heuheu Valley T-Bar, Knoll Ridge T-Bar and the National Downhill No.2 T-Bar and Double Chairlift. In 1987 the Staircase double chair was moved down to serve the Rockgarden slopes and New Zealand's first High Speed Detachable Quad was installed by Doppelmayr and named the Waterfall Express. The late 80s saw RAL purchase Happy Ski Valley and their license, the No.2 T-Bar moved up the mountain to become the current Far West T-Bar and the first snowmaking system installed in Happy Valley in 1990.^{[citation needed]}

In 1995, skiers were evacuated from the skifield when a small volcanic eruption occurred at the crater lake, ejecting rocks, ash and steam.^[1]

21st century

In 2002 the snowmaking was expanded to cover the Rockgarden and in 2005 a pump station was built under the Waterfall Express lower terminal to facilitate snowmaking all the way up the staircase slopes to the base of the Waterfall T-Bar.^{[citation needed]}

On 13 February 2009 arson destroyed two buildings at the skifield:^[2] the main chalet and an implement shed containing three snow groomers. The damage was estimated at $11 to 12.5 million.^[3] The main chalet, the Knoll Ridge Cafe was replaced by a new, more modern, facility slightly lower down the mountain with less visual impact than the old chalet.

In 2016 the Rangatira Express built by Leitner Poma replaced the Centennial and Rockgarden chairs and the second hand Delta Quad replaced the Waterfall T-Bar. In 2019, after a NZD $15m grant from the government Provincial Growth Fund^[4] the Sky Waka Gondola was built from the Top of the Bruce up to Knoll Ridge. In the process of doing this, the Waterfall Express which had begun to show its age was removed to make way from the new gondola, completing over 100,000 hours of run time in its 32 year lifespan.^{[citation needed]}

Voluntary administration

In 2022 following a poor snow season attributed largely to climate change,^[5] Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, the parent company of both Whakapapa and Turoa skifields, entered voluntary administration in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy.^[6] The company is a not-for-profit business that was established by members of ski clubs in 1953.^[6] In August 2022, Ruapehu Alpine Lifts laid off 130 workers^[7] and its total debt climbed to over NZ$30 million. The financial situation of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts deteriorated rapidly following disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts to secure additional funds from investors or the New Zealand government initially failed.^[6]

However, in December 2022, the government provided a $6 million loan to Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, to help ensure that both Ruapehu skifields could operate in winter 2023. This was in addition to $15 million provided in 2018 from the Provincial Growth Fund.^[8]

In mid-March 2024, the Government agreed to a final NZ$7 million bail out of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts to allow the 2024 ski season to proceed at Whakapapa. In addition, the Government agreed to provide NZ$3.05 million in equity and loan funding to enable the sale of the adjacent Tūroa skifield. Ruapehu accommodation and ski-hire business owner Sam Clarkson criticised the bailout as wasteful, stating that the compamy lacked people who knew how to run skifields.^[9]

Sledding At Whakapapa

Across from Happy Valley is a tubing park called 'the sliding zone'. It is a large area dedicated to tubing, and within walking distance from the base area.^[11]

Guided Crater Lake Walks

Offered in the summer months of the year, there is an option to view the volcanic crater lake at the top of the mountain. Visitors take a chairlift ride up to 2020m, from which a guide takes visitors on a 6-hour walk around the lake.^{[citation needed]}