This excerpt from the acclaimed miniseries about Kiwi mountaineer and philanthropist Sir Edmund Hillary includes his 1930s childhood in sleepy Tuakau, and scenes from the 1940s, when his desire to join the war effort clashes with the beliefs of his pacifist father. Ed's young life is sketched in three chapters: a stolen library book ignites a passion for the mountains, teenage Ed experiences the grandeur of Mt Ruapehu, and adult Ed (played for the remainder of the series by Andrew Munro) grows restless with life as a beekeeper while being labelled a coward for his family's war stance. 

This early 80s series aimed to introduce and encourage young Kiwis into the outdoors. Fronted by legendary climber Graeme Dingle, and based at Turangi's Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre (co-founded by Dingle in 1973), it was produced for the Department of Education. In this fifth episode Dingle and a bevy of young Kiwis learn about the basics of alpine travel: traversing and belaying on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu. The team tackles an igloo build, before practising self arrest using a pick axe, and ultimately, summiting the volcano.

Made by the NZ Broadcasting Corporation in the mid 1960s, this half hour TV documentary sets out to summarise New Zealand. More than a promotional video, it takes a wider view, examining both the country’s points of pride and some of its troubles. In a brief appearance Barry Crump kills a pig, although the narration is quick to point out that the ‘good keen man’ image he epitomises is also a root of the country’s problem alcohol consumption. The result is patriotic, but certainly not uncritical. Writer Tony Isaac went on to make landmark bicultural dramas Pukemanu and The Governor. 

This documentary comprehensively traces the history of skiing and winter sports in New Zealand. From Mannering and Dixon, who used homemade skis in an almost-successful ascent of Mt Cook and the hut-building pioneers of recreational ski clubs in their pre-Gore-tex garb, to commercial ski fields and lifts, superb archive footage shows the advances. New Zealand teams at the Winter Olympics in Oslo in 1952 and Sarajevo 32 years later had come some way from the days when carrier pigeons were used to report snow conditions from Canterbury's ski fields to Christchurch.

Three young ski instructors head south for an end of season adventure on Mt Ruapehu and the Tasman Glacier. Michael Dennis and Anne Reid both competed for NZ in the 1968 Grenoble winter Olympics. They join Swiss-born heli-ski pioneer Herbie Bleuer on the slopes in this 1969 NFU short film, replete with slightly dated, “hip” voiceover. With not another soul in sight, the three begin on Mt Ruapehu, skiing down to examine the crater. Then it’s down to Queenstown and a ski-plane flight onto the top of the Tasman Glacier for a run down its 27 kilometre length.

In this Māori Television reboot of the classic game show, presenters Pio Terei and Stacey Daniels Morrison take the roadshow to the North Island town of Ohakune, under the foot of Mount Ruapehu. To be able to barter for te moni or te kete, contestants have to successfully answer locally themed questions. In this fifth season episode, contestants — including one who saw Selwyn Toogood in the original show as a six-year old — are quizzed on giant carrots, halitosis, stamps and ski fields. Imagine those famous carrots in the MultiKai cooker!

Taking viewers on a tour of the Volcanic Plateau in the central North Island, this aerial jaunt is enough to make anyone want to take to the skies. After taking off from Rotorua, the award-winning NFU short treats us to soaring shots of the Waimangu Volcanic Rift Valley, Ruapehu, and 'The Frying Pan', the world's largest hot lake. As well as the impressive scenery, the voiceover (supposedly by the pilot) offers up a brief history of the geysers and fumaroles littering the plateau, and a mention of how the Waikato River has been interrupted by "that necessary monster: progress".

This promotional film showcases Tongariro National Park, New Zealand's oldest (and the world's fourth oldest) national park. The film covers the park's four seasons, from dandy spring days at the Chateau ("holiday headquarters") for the romance of bowls and moonlit mountain jazz; to the scenic and snow-sport thrills of the volcanoes in winter: Ketatahi springs, the crater lake, beech forest, trout fishing, and skiing on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu where "the only sound in the white stillness is the hiss of the tips streaking into the snow".   

These excerpts from part one of Tom Scott’s award-winning series on the life of Edmund Hillary look at his early years. Ed reflects on his youth as a gangly Auckland Grammar student, beekeeping, and a school trip to Ruapehu that sparked a “fiery enthusiasm” for alpine adventure. Coupled with a young man’s frustration with his “miserable, uninteresting life”, this passion for the hills soon led to a solo ascent of Mount Tapue-o-Uenuku as an RNZAF cadet — famously climbed on a weekend’s leave from Woodbourne base— and a 1947 ascent of Mount Cook, with his mentor Harry Ayres.

Smash Palace is a Kiwi cinema classic and launched Roger Donaldson's American career. Al Shaw (a brilliant, brooding Bruno Lawrence) is a racing car driver who now runs a wrecker's yard in the shadow of Mount Ruapehu. His French wife Jacqui is unhappy there and leaves him, taking up with Al's best mate. When she restricts Al's access to his young daughter, his frustration explodes and he goes bush with the girl, desperate not to lose her too. "There's no road back" runs the tagline. New Yorker critic Pauline Kael called the film "amazingly accomplished".