Ross Copland, Ruapehu Alpine Lifts chief executive, says the majority of the Tūroa skifield is operating and there's plenty of snow.

The hits keep coming for Tūroa skifield as its chair lift is ruled out of operation for the rest of winter.

The High Noon Express chair lift was damaged by an avalanche on August 6, cutting access to the upper slopes just a month and a week into the four-month ski season.

Skifield operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts had expected the lift to be out of service for at least a week while the damage was assessed.

But in a message posted on the skifield's Facebook page on Tuesday, its chief executive Ross Copland said the haul rope had been found to be unsafe and there was no suitable repair option that would get the lift back up and running this season.

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"I'm really sorry to say the news isn't good. There are a number of damaged wires in the rope that would require approximately 250 metres of new rope to be installed," Copland said.

SUPPLIED The damaged chairlift tower on the Turoa skifield's High Noon Express is inspected by structural engineers

Manufacturing this special rope in Europe and getting it to New Zealand could not be done within a timeframe that could have it installed this season, he said.

"So unfortunately, guys, that is the end of the High Noon Express for the winter."

Ski shop salesman and former instructor Cris Hatton-Carr had earlier told Stuff the lift provided access to about one-third of the higher and more challenging areas on the skifield.

Tūroa has had a troubled start to the season.

The avalanche had been triggered by explosives during routine checks of dangerous snow packs.

Though nobody was injured, staff had to scramble for cover as the avalanche swept over a ski-lift building, carried off a large snow-grooming machine and bent a large tower supporting the top chair lift by 45 degrees.

A week earlier, on July 28, a bus crashed on its way down from the skifield, killing 11-year-old Hannah Teresa Francis of Auckland and injuring 20 others.

Concerns were raised by several people about the state of some of the buses used by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts. The 1994 Mitsubishi Fuso bus that crashed was 24 years old and had failed nine inspections in the space of a decade.

Police are still investigating the crash.