Mt. Ruapehu, New Zealand – It may be only early March, but the first snows of the season have fallen on New Zealand’s Mt. Ruapehu, a harbinger of the ski and snowboard season ahead Down Under.nA cold southerly wind dropped temperatures on Sunday and sent area residents scrambling for firewood. They awoke Monday to beautiful blue skies with this view of the season’s first blanket of white on Mt. Ruapehu, home to the North Island’s Whakapapa and Turoa ski areas.