This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
It all started one night when Andrew Brown (of Tongue & Meat fame but currently residing at Massey) rang me to ask a favour. He wanted me to look into the possibility of taking the float plane down to Nelson Lakes as he was leading a MUAC climbing trip down there. It was only after he asked the favour that he asked if I would like to join them. A few hundred dollars worth of toll calls later I was enjoying a quiet sleep one Monday morning at the ferry terminal while waiting for the rest of the trip to arrive. Notwithstanding the fact that I was the only person in the terminal ! was woken in a less than polite manner and told to go sleep elsewhere. My reply was even less polite and I want back to sleep. A few more passengers arrived and I was forced back to the land of the living to find Andrew. The rest of the trip duly arrived and I was introduced to my companions for the next 8 days; Sarah, Mike, Gerard and Matthew. When Raitways couldn't think of anymore excuses we managed to board the boat and after a minor skirmish with a stewardess about the amount of climbing gear which we were trying to get into the bar with, we settled down to a few beers and some trip planning. The terry trip passed quietly and before we knew it we were on the bus bound for St. Arnaud. Once in St. Arnaud Andrew made a tactical error and started to walk down to the lake while the rest of us hitched a lift with the guy who runs the water taxi. Once safely down at the lake Andrew started the trip off well by dropping his viewfinder cap into the lake. Nobody was keen on diving for it so we loaded about 200 kilos of gear into the boat and set off for Coldwater Hut. The boat was so overloaded that when the motor was throttled back the bow stuck up in the air at about a 50 degree angle. Anyway we arrived safely at the hut and after a quick feed we started up the valley at about 6.30pm.
A steady pace up the valley brought us to the swing bridge after about an hour, and a couple of hours after that to Hopeless Creek. A couple of punters were feeling somewhat jaded at this stage so the decision was made to bivvy for the night. This was fine until it rained and sorne people found thai their bivvy bags could do with replacing. First thing on Tuesday morning a quick trip to John Tait ensued and as it was still raining the day was spent drying gear and playing cards. It was decided if the night's radio sched gave a good forecast for Wednesday then we would go up to Cupola that night. As it was the forecast was bad and we decided to slay put and get gear dried properly, as this was easier io do at JT than at Cupola. Unfortunately Wednesday dawned fine so we'lost half a day going up to Cupola later that morning. While the punters spent the afternoon sorting out gear, Andrew and Tony went for a look around on Cupola as there was a lot of avalanche debris around. They came back quite happy and it was decided to go up Cupola the next day. Once again the evening was spent playing 500, with the Brown/Duftel! combination proving to be unbeatable. It must also be remembered that they weren't helped by their partner Matthew who went eight hearts with a hand of nine hearts and didn't get them!! The combination of Steel/Stone & O'Neill playing as the other team proved to be a bit conservative and as such didn't reach it's full potential. Everyone was woken up early on Thursday by Andrew suggesting that we get our act together as it was a beautiful day. We eventually got going and apart from a combination of snow and ice conditions ranging from rock hard to waist deep snow which proved interesting for some people, it was a trouble free climb until we climbed up what we thought was a bump in the ridge, to find t was impassable on the other side. After a quick recce by Andrew It was found that we had to climb down and then climb back up to the snow basin which we were locking down on. The decision made we went back down to the lower snow basin for lunch and then climbed approximately 200m up a couloir to lead us onto what appeared jo be the correct route. At this stage it was about 4 o'clock so it was decide to give it away for the day and head for the hut to celebrate Sarah's 21st birthday. That evening will go down in history as a fun packed party complete with party hats, cake, balloons and a little liquid refresnment. The next morning was somewhat less than an early start, however we got to the previous day's high point in time for lunch and than a short climb around the corner took us to the summit. We were rewarded with a beautiful 360 degree view with superb weather. The only problem with the photo session was that Andrew hadn't learnt how to drive the timer on his camera. After about an hour on the summit we started down with Gerard and Michael setting the pace and Andrew and Tony supplying belays to those that needed them. At one stage Sarah borrowed Tony's hammer to practice her two tool technique and took off like Spiderman. Only one incident marred the return trip and that was someone had a step break under them and narrowly missed taking Andrew and Matthew off the mountain until he managed to sell arrest. That evening everyone was in high spirits and the spirits flowed freely and the winning combination of Brown/Duttell continued on its winning way.
Nexi moming great hilarity ensued as everything from ice axes to plastic plates were used to try and get pancakes out of a frying pan. Once breakfast had been disposed of Gerard and Tony went for a quick climb up the south ridge of Hopeless and got about halfway along before running out of time and having to head back down. This was while the rest of the troops lay around in the sun. The afternoon was spent getting all of the gear down to JT again with a short detour to have a look at the Travers Falls. The evening game of 500 was livened up by Tony who managed to set his hand on fire when he got too close to the candle which he was using. The last night in the hills was also the time to thank the mountain radio operator for the great service which they provide - especially Tony who had been getting nightly reports from home on the state of his puppy and baby - in that order. Sunday was spent walking out to St. Amaud and pigging out on fresh food in the one takeaway bar in ihe place. Gale force southerties sprang up that evening and it was very nice to be able to sit in front of an open fire with a couple of bottles of wine playing the inevitable game of cards. Monday saw us heading back for Wellington while planning the next trip, except for Sarah who declined to join us and headed south for a few days skiing. Allin all it was a realiy good trip with excellent company. Signed your roving correspondent Tony Stone.