What happens in bad weather?

When the weather is a challenge it can be incredibly frustrating. We know how much effort has gone into getting organized so that you can be on the mountain and Mother Nature doesn’t play her part. Please be patient with the coordinators as they make decisions as quickly and effectively as they can.
Below are the various scenarios for bad weather days.

 

Whole Mountain Closed:  Our off-site instructors are not expected to come to RSC Lodge.  They will not be paid, and RSC does not have to pay for them.  RAL will offer RSC a catch up day later in the season to make up for this missed day.  The RSC live-in Swiss Instructor is also not paid by RAL for this day, but he/she may be persuaded to participate in some fun activities to fill in the day.  Group coordinators should enlist the help of other parents and/or any other club member who are interested to initiate activities for our snow squad members.  Some ideas are:  Outdoors; jump building, snow cave building, rugby, dual slalom, skier cross, cross country, fun races on Hut Flat.  Indoors; snow quiz, physical challenges (how high can you jump up to touch a wall, standing long jump onto a soft mat, wall sit, table climbing, push ups etc), sled building, ski tuning lesson, boot fitting lesson, ski movie.  A wise arrangement might be to have an outdoor morning session and an indoor afternoon session per closed day.  Alternatively your group may like to make an arrangement to head off the mountain for the day to go indoor rock climbing at National Park or Turangi or to the hot pools at Tokaanu.

 

On Hold:  Your instructors should walk up to RSC Lodge to await a final decision from RAL regarding the lifts.  We are paying for them while the mountain is on hold.  Please welcome them into the Lodge, offer them a hot drink, and encourage them to assist in entertaining squad members until we know whether the mountain is going to open.  This is a great opportunity for the instructors to show video footage of their students if they have any, or to discuss techniques, or group management in more depth with their groups.  Once a final decision is made, groups will either go skiing, or if the mountain is closed, the instructors can leave.  We should be offered a half day catch-up by RAL if the closing decision is made before 12pm.

 

Happy Valley Only:  Instructors walk up to RSC Lodge, then ski down to Happy Valley with their group and they all walk back up at the end of their session.  Group Coordinators should communicate with their instructor in the morning, to arrange a meeting time which should allow for ONLY ONE TRIP to Happy Valley on this day.  This scenario is quite a challenge for our younger members.  Parents should assist in walking their children back to the RSC upper mountain buildings. 

 

Lower Mountain Only:  Instructors should be waiting outside RSC Lodge and will depart at 9am with their groups to ski the lower mountain.  If the lower mountain stays open all day, groups will ski the lower slopes all day.  If the mountain closes at lunchtime, RAL will offer a half day catch-up later in the season.  Instructors can leave.

 

Limited Lifts/ Poor Weather:  Go skiing!  Our instructors have many tools to help our young people manage difficult and limited conditions.  Being able to ski well in all sorts of conditions is what makes a good skier, and this skill will help Ruapehu skiers ski well all over the world.  Parents need to get their Snow Squad members ready on time and remind them that anyone can ski well in good conditions, but it takes skill and practice to ski well in difficult conditions.