This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
By Nathan Stevens
Friday 8th July 1994 and a party of 8 trampers headed up to Carterton on Friday night. The trip in the truck was uneventful and we arrived about 9:30 pm. It was cold sleeping in the truck. On arrival the snow fell around the vehicle and it was really amazing for me. At about midnight I needed to go to the loo but I didn’t want to wake anybody up. It was difficult holding on till morning.
We woke up to a cold frosty moming. We went up to the shelter and had some breakfast. I got told off for not having the right gear, after so much effort in packing it the night before. Then we started tramping up the track and Istarted to see lots of snow and I thoughtit was great. We got up there and there was even more snow. Nearly slipping over as I walked through the door, but steadying myself in time, I got up and dropped my pack gratefully onthe bunk. I went outside, hid, and waited for Mark and then got him with a snowball.
That night I had some interesting talk with these other campers that came up. Eventually fell asleep about 9:30
The view outside the window near my bunk was fabulous. The lights of Carterton could be seen in the far distance.
The next morning, got up, went outside to find lots of snow to play with. Found a great slide and got lots of snow up my back. Saw the other Mark and started to walk up the track with him. He pushed me into the snow and I got up and threw a snow ball at him but it missed. Got him back later in the bus on the way home.
We got our gear together and before returning, we went up the mountain a bit. On retuming to the hut, we had a hot drink, got our packs on and started to slide down the mountain. I was last getting my pack on so I slid into everybody as I went down the mountain quite fast. We got down to the truck and had a hot cup of soup in the shelter.
Would I do it all again? Yes, but maybe not next week.
"RY MOT ORE FOR GOSSIP BUT..."