It certainly is a case of deja vu after last year’s devastating lock down coincidentally about the same time of the year. We can only hope that the hard level 4 will get us out of this without too much damage.
My thoughts go to all involved last year and this year to make the winter season possible. A lot of hard work goes into organizing the lodge and then continues for now to refund and continue with arrangements in the hope that things will pick up again.
We did manage to have a successful ski week 1 which started with some not arriving until the Tuesday due to low snow levels closing the roads. We had two very good bluebird days with fresh snow which made for an enjoyable week. So now I have had twice as much skiing as last year!
Unfortunately, the following week the covid outbreak caught out a school group who had to abandon their trip mid-week and return home. Coincidentally, another school group had to cancel their week trip to our lodge last January due to a brief Auckland lock down which lasted exactly that week that they were supposed to be staying.
Another business which is badly affected is RAL (Ruapehu Alpine Lifts) It’s in our interest that they do well and cannot handle a long closure. They were progressing getting the lifts up to speed and if not for the lock down would have had the west fully operational by now.
Keep the following dates in mind or, better still, put them on your calendar.
Sunday 13th September to departure Friday 17th September ski week 2. There are a few spaces.
There are two weeks between this and the school holidays with the associated weekends with space. If things don’t improve by this stage, we may be able to get a lodge leader for one or two of these weeks if we can get enough interest.
Friday 1 October to Sunday 17th October school holidays.
The first week of October school holidays is generally full, plenty of space for the second week. Check the bookings page: https://wtmc.org.nz/lodge/how-to-book-the-lodge/.
Things are very fluid now and could change on a daily basis due to the covid situation.
Go to the lodge bookings page even if you are not making a booking if you want to keep up to date with how things are, go to that page as this is the page with up-to-date booking information. Go to Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering website, Facilities, Ruapehu Lodge, Lodge Bookings page.
For the lodge, the membership status is now frozen meaning that people can join the club during winter but the non-member rates and priority status for the lodge will remain until the end of October.
We need a helper for the bookings team. There is always room for those who feel that they can contribute to the running of the lodge and join a very enthusiastic team.
Brian Goodwin
Lodge convenor