As of 14:12 GMT+13 on 12 October 2026, Mt. Ruapehu/Whakapapa scores 28/100 (Challenging) for piste on PeakWave.
Ski of the day: All-mountain ski. Firm this morning but softening through the afternoon. Something that handles both is the ticket.
- Base depth not reported for this location
- Only 1 cm of snow in the last 7 days - groomers are your best bet
- 12 cm of snow expected this week
- Rain forecast Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - plan around it if you can
Limited terrain: 24 % open (8.2 km). Score reduced by 12 %.
Why limited terrain lowers the score
Quality on open runs was 32. Limited choice lowers the headline to 28, by at most a quarter. How good the open runs are is rated separately and does not change.
Estimated from weather models· Likely 26 to 30
Estimated from weather models, with little recent evidence to check it.
Don't bother today: 28.
Elsewhere in Central Plateau today
Mt. Ruapehu/Whakapapa is ranked 1 of 1 in Central Plateau for piste today.
No other resort in Central Plateau has a score today.
See every Central Plateau resort todayThe stored score has no detailed factor breakdown. This will be shown after a refresh supplies the evidence. Forecast confidence: inferred.
PeakWave scores are planning signals, not safety clearance. Check local authorities, official bulletins and on-site conditions before you go. Read our editorial policy.
Snow surface and elevation
Snow-depth evidence: inferred. Surface descriptions below are modelled.
- Base · 1630 m
- Heavy / wet · 4°C
- Mid · 2200 m
- Heavy / wet · 0°C
- Summit · 2300 m
- Heavy / wet · -1°C
Today's forecast
Local time 2:38pmNo sustained good daylight window remains today.
Next 7 days
Forecast via Open-MeteoWorking in Mt. Ruapehu/Whakapapa this season?
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Create Profile →Frequently asked questions
How often is this page updated?
Each location is refreshed every three hours. The 7-day forecast, luck factor and packing notes are computed from the same stored update.
What is the luck factor?
A score comparing how good piste is likely to be this week at Mt. Ruapehu/Whakapapa with the version-matched historical observations available for mid-October.
Where does the data come from?
Open-Meteo weather for every resort, including temperature and humidity through the atmosphere, sun on each slope and wind. Official run reports, snow stations, satellite snow cover and skier check-ins correct the snow model where they exist, and runs and lifts come from OpenStreetMap via OpenSkiMap. The Piste board lists every source and licence under How the score works.
Does a high score mean the piste is good right now?
It means the snow and weather add up to good skiing for an experienced skier on the terrain that is open. Limited open terrain already lowers the score, a closed resort or run shows Closed instead of a number, and the likely range shows how sure we are. Check the resort's own report and webcams before committing.
When is the best time for Piste at Mt. Ruapehu/Whakapapa?
The best week for snow at Mt. Ruapehu/Whakapapa is the week of 19 October (score 3/5) with low crowds.
Data sources
PeakWave uses these free data sources. Thank you to these providers.
Weather and terrain
Snow station data
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF(CC BY 4.0)
- Avalanche.report (Euregio Tyrol, South Tyrol, Trentino) weather stations and their operators(CC BY 4.0)
- GeoSphere Austria(CC BY 4.0)
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Water and Climate Center (SNOTEL, AWDB)(Public domain (US))
- Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - British Columbia (BC River Forecast Centre automated snow pillows, via NRCS AWDB)
- Source : Météo-France(Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0)
- Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada (Environment and Climate Change Canada)
- Source: Japan Meteorological Agency website (AMeDAS), processed by PeakWave(JMA Public Data Licence 1.0)
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers, Applied Climate Information System (ACIS); NWS Cooperative Observer Program; Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS)(Public domain (US))
- Snow model data from NVE seNorge (Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate), NLOD
Satellite snow cover, where used
- Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026
- Sentinel-2 L2A Cloud-Optimised GeoTIFFs via Element 84 Earth Search (Registry of Open Data on AWS)
- NASA GIBS (Global Imagery Browse Services), VIIRS NOAA-20 NDSI snow cover, part of NASA ESDIS
- Copernicus Land Monitoring Service HR-WSI (European Union), when configured