A complete 'white-out” at Mount Ruapehu saw the closure of a road that provides access to Whakapapa Ski Field.

Skiers and snowboarders were forced to hunker down in club houses yesterday as strong winds hammered the mountain.

A lot of digging was needed to free vehicles parked in the car park at Whakapapa on Sunday. Photo: Facebook/Grant Harvey.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts commercial executive manager Simon Dickson says the 6km section of Bruce Road, providing access to Whakapapa ski field, was shut on Monday and would remain closed overnight.

'There was no-one escorted off the mountain yesterday, the road was closed apart from operational vehicles,” he told Stuff.

Simon says the road was closed 'because of ‘white-out' conditions created by winds gusting up to 120 kilometres per hour throughout the day”.

There was a constant wind of about-100kph wind barrelling through the slopes at the 1600-to-1800m level.

'The biggest issue is visibility,” adds Simon. 'It's not ice or snow stopping the road, we deal with that all winter, it's the wind that whips up the snow and people suddenly lose sight of the horizon.”

It's unclear how many people still remain in the clubhouses and staff are expected to assess the situation this morning.

The storm came as Whakapapa gears up for bumper ski conditions, with one of the best snow bases in recent memory.

'There's over 3.2m at Whakapapa, and over 3m at Turoa,” says Simon. 'It's the best spring skiing conditions we've had for over five years.”

The weather is expected to clear at the end of the week in time for the start of the school holidays.