This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
It was going to be one of those trips where a comedy of errors did occur. It started with the cancellation of the bookings enabling tne trips to go to Nelson Lakes for Labour weekend. That. problem was sorted out on the Wednesday prior to the weekend. The Mediums would go around the mountain track while my trip woutd snow cave on the south side of Mt Ruapehu. The inevitable traffic delays slowed our progress along the Golden Coast by up to half an hour. If that was not enough the newly installed rear tyres turned out to be retreads. This was graphically demonstrated by a 300mm chunk fiying off the left inside tyre as we travelled along the Raumati straights. I decided that the rest of the tyre would travel ok. Thus we continued north. A check at Bulls confirmed this. But before Hunterville the other haif of the chunk decided to let fly. Robbie Morrison jumped straight in and started to undo the wheel nuts while Brian Johnston got the jack into position. Then we ail had to laugh as I advised Robbie that the so called tight nuts that did not seem to undo was due to the fact that on trucks the left hand wheels have left hand threads. Then came the problem of how to remove the spare. Even with the light of the main street lamp Paul could not see how to undo the locking nuts. Once more I came to the rescue and suggested that the boot box be removed to allow access from the top.
We spent the night in the Girl Guides lodge at Ohakune. (Luckily it was not booked when I phoned that afternoon). The weather forecast for the Saturday was not as good as for Nelson Lakes. But it was decided that we should give it a go. After dropping off the Mediums on the Turoa skifield road, I parked the truck in the parking lot. Robbie and I hopped Straight onto our skis while the other four started plugging. Half way up the ski field the visibility was reduced to a third of the previous 1,000 odd metres. We were aiming to find the Maungaturuturu shelter situated at 2300 metres. Thus the Slow process of following a compass bearing was practiced. I waited with the compass while the others wandered off up into the murk following my direction commands. Then when they were just at the point of disappearing out of sight I would hait them and I then skinned up to meet them. This was repeated about half a dozen times. With the aid of Brian's altimeter we finally arrived at the spot where the shelter was. By now the visibility had reduced to about 30 metres. Going by my memory I concluded that we were not able to find the shelter due to it being completely buried. The good thing about the weather was the lack of wind. We all agreed that we had better find a spot to dig in. We climbed another 50 metres to steeper ground. We had wisely decided to take an alpine tent. This was pitched on a levelled site while the tunnel entrance was dug close by. it was now about 3.30pm. Having not had a lunch break, just snacks on the way, on went the billy for a brew. By now it was snowing lightly. The four shovels were manned and the tunnel started to grow. Those who could not dig, sheltered in the tent. The wind Started to get up. The best place to be was at the coal face out of the wind. The design had one tunnel that went in for about 5 metres and then two sleeping wings, one on each side. Soon it was dark and finally we had completed one of the wings. It was now 10.300m. Brian and John had retired to the tent and it was now time for them to occupy the cave. Brian was not feeling too good and was in his sleeping bag. So to keep him warm Robbie, Alasdair and I grabbed his sleeping bag and dragged him. into the cave. There was a storm blowing now and Brian's entrant bag kept him dry. We left them to settle in and start preparing dinner. Robbie and I kept digging the second wing. Then we decided that we had better call it quits. So around midnight there was only room for one on the other side of the cave. Alasdair and I would sleep in the tent. I had returned from digging out the tent to find everyone, except Alasdair settled in their sleeping bags and so Alasdair and I cooked the dinner. We had dug the end of the tunnel big enough for the two of us to stand up in. Upon the first mouthful of the chicken casserole, Brian was seen hurrying down the tunnel to be sick. He did not quite make it. I made an easy job of the clean up. I just scooped up the floor and threw it out the door. That night the weather cleared and I watched the snow groomers on the ski field when I got up to relieve my full bladder around 4.00 am. In the morning it was decided that we complete the cave and at the same time enlarge the sleeping platforms. Outside the weather had once more closed in from the south east. This time we all pitched in and we all had the unpleasant shift out in the bad weather at different times during the day. At 3.00pm we had finished (approx. 10 hours digging) and we were rather proud of our work. What a mansion. Each of the two wings had more than enough room for 3 people and all the gear. There was a cooking bench with storage shelves. A vent was placed in the roof and the standing platform had been enlarged so 3 people could fit. We all hit the pit and we managed to have dinner at a more reasonable hour. It proved to be a warm cave with just the one emrance. Finally the skies cleared that evening. During the afternoon the snow had turned to rain. That meant in the morning the tent and our skis were covered in ice. The surface of the snow had a hard crust. Robbie and Alasdair were not feeling well. Paul, John, Brian and I took advantage of the clearance and raced up to the crater. It took us an hour and a halt for the return journey. The signs of the predicted southerly front started showing in the sky when we packed up to leave at 11.00am. I looked forward to the ski down. But Robbie did not. He had a stomach bug and so did not have the energy or will power to ski. We headed on down and stopped off at the shelter. We estimated that Alasdair had been standing on the spot on Saturday. The hatch to the roof entrance was dug out and we all had a took inside. Most of us decided that our cave was better due to the stale air of the shelter and the lack of light. I had to use my edges on the icy crust till I got down to the ski field. Robbie had a go at skiing on his telemark gear but could not hold it together due to his weakness. So he walked down and caught the chair lifts with the others. Lunch was had at the Girl Guides lodge along with a refreshing hot shower. The Mediums were picked up along the Desert Road and the bad weather could be seen hugging the mountain as we drove home: The dinner stop at Bulls proved interesting. I had to have a fonger rest than normal due to the lack of sleep over the weekend. John was seen throwing up his dinner in the rubbish bin on the corner. Pauf’s stomach was feeling queasy. Robbie could only lay down and sleep.
The Tararuas pulled over to see what the problem was with the truck parked on the side of the Himatangi straights. Paul was trying not to be sick. He had to succumb to the ultimate in the end. I managed to come through the whole weekend without any problems though. It proved to be the best cave that I have stayed in on Mt Ruapehu and the rest of the team helped me enjoy the trio. Shame about all the misfortunes.
Participants:- Brian Johnston, Alasdair Wallace, Paul Kennett, John Hoffeins, Robbie Morrison.
Leader, truck driver, scribe:- Lyndsay Fletcher.