Mt Ruapehu is a special place. Standing 2797m at it's highest, it is the tallest mountain in the North Island. As a result, Mt Ruapehu is at the mercy to a range of factors only found when exploring the regions mountainous areas. This page is designed to help inform you of all the risks that you may come across here up on the mountain, providing you the information needed to stay safe and enjoy your time spent in the Tongariro National Park.

Below, you'll find information on our potentially unsavoury weather, our Mountain Road and more.

Plan your trip

It's important to make sure you are prepared for the alpine environment here at Mt Ruapehu. Use this simple and easy tool to plan your trip and find a recommended equipment list.

Mt Ruapehu is unique in the fact that it is an active volcano! While this makes for an awesome riding experience, it does bring it's risks. In order to manage these risks, we have a number of systems in place. The Eruption Detection System (EDS) is operated by DOC and provides an alarm system to both ski areas including audible alarms in high risk zones, radio tones direct to staff two-way radios and text messages to ski area management. For this system to work well on the day, it needs:

• You need to respond when you hear the alarm by moving to high ground! This means moving out of the valleys and onto the ridges as quickly as you can.
• Remain there until ski patrol or other RAL staff member confirm it is safe to move.
• If you hear these warnings, and you are in a building, take shelter and stay there until advised otherwise.