This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
EGMONT —May 25-27 I I en - Ian wa agieid ee You can camp anywhere around here I said to no one in particular as 38 people screamed past me into the warm confines of North Egmont 's camp~ house. ._ Wimps I thought as rain lashed the deserted car-park. ie Typical Egmont weather greeted us later in the morning. Damp overcast and no mountain in sight. We wandered off up the track leaving the: decision of ascending or circumnavigating until the last.possible: moment . "We could always go around till it clears up and then go over ‘the top": said my brother-in-law and 'his' friend. Up I said asserting my © authority and up they went to my surprise. Eric raced off in front, ' reached the snow and kicked huge steps. When he could only kick ‘half’ a «2/2
Ze step we decided it was time to put our crampons on. Climbing out of the cloud we spent the next hour or so playing in the sun in the crater, taking photos etc. Time to leave and we dropped back into the clag down a direct route to Holly Hut. The route became a bit more direct than we'd hoped but with the help of the rope Murphy said I wouldn't need we descended down a rocky/snowy gut into the wrong stream. Bowling down the stream we hit the round—the-mountain track about 2 minutes from the hut. I looked for a campsite whilst my tough and fearless troops spread out their pits in the spacious Holly Hut. Hunting about for awhile to make it look realistic. I skulked in after them. Sunday morning we rose early and shot up onto the Pouakai Range armed only with parkas and cameras. A study of the map had shown copious quantities of sub-alpine scrub (predominantly leatherwood) which deterred us from bashing down into Cataract Stream. Arriving back at the Hut at l0am we had an hour for morning tea (FE perk) and then set out for Puniho Road stopping for touristy shots of Bell's Falls, lunch, and when Neil's. friend Jack ran past me with his nose an inch off the ground, collapsed in’a heap and bit me in the leg. With me-on this adyenture weré: Neil Woodrow, Eric Eyans, Miles Davison, Peter Thorn, Andrew Denley, Richard Smith and Jack MeCconchie.