Whakapapa is a ski village on Mt Ruapehu in New Zealand which is an active volcano. As if it's not bad enough skiing on an active volcano, many people also stay overnight on the mountain in ski huts.

This is a unique experience which involves 50 or so ski clubs to which people join and then stay for nightly tariffs of as low as $10. Everyone in a hut usually join together to cook meals, share bunkrooms and socialize with each other. It is a great experience for kids who learn every card game in the book and meet people from around the country.

From many of the huts it is possible to ski to the chairlifts and at lunch, rather than spend money in the cafe, ski back to the hut for a cold chicken sandwich from the previous night's roast dinner.

Living on the mountain is possible at Whakapapa because it is a northerly facing skifield, which in the Southern hemisphere means that it gets the favorable weather, however it also means that the snow tends not to be as good as it is on the southerly side, at Turoa.

Despite that, Whakapapa is the largest skifield in New Zealand with a daily throughput of up to 10,000 people. They have a website here: http://www.mtruapehu.com/. For those people who do not belong to a ski hut accommodation is available at the Chateau at the bottom of the mountain or in nearby National Park or Turrangi. The ski season is typically from July to September.