This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
19th - 21st September, 1997
The wind was tearing past the hut at 5am when the alarm went off. It was still blowing a gale when we eventually set out, but the wind began to ease as we traversed snowy slopes towards the Central Crater. We held a council ~-ef -war-above Blue (white)~Lake;— and decided we might still have a chance at the three peaks. Donning crampons, we headed out across the crater and up onto the summit ridge of Tongariro. We dumped packs below the top and raced up the last few hundred metres to the summit. It was a brilliantly clear day. Ngauruhoe
Lisa Lee-Johneon
towered above us, Ruapehu behind, and Taranaki far in the distance. Most of a roll of film later, we zipped back to our packs and down the slopes into the South Crater. We again left our packs there, and had a quick lunch stop. I followed a heavily laden Hutt Valleys group up Ngauruhoe, overtaking them halfway up. Rhys and John soon disappeared far above me and were already returning across the summit crater when I staggered over the top. More photos, and I hurried back across the crater to try and catch the boys up. They were cramponing down, and already about two-thirds of the way back down to the saddle. Two Aussie guys wanted to know the fastest way down; “Headfirst, backwards,” I told them. I think they were a bit surprised. I donned my bum-sliding overtrou’, slung my crampons over my shoulders, and set off down the fast way. Speeding past many climbers, and a few descending, I sailed triumphantly past Rhys and John shortly before the saddle.
We descended the saddle and stopped for a much-needed break at Mangatepopo Hut. The walk across the valley to the Chateau seemed to take forever, and we were not the least bit ashamed to hitch a ride up the Bruce Road. It was late in the day when we arrived at Iwikau Village, and we brewed up and had dinner in the public shelter. Torches out for the last stretch, we set off up underneath the chairlifts. It was darker than the previous night, with the moon not out yet. We cramponed up the ridge towards the Alpine Club hut at Delta Corner, the slopes quite icy as the temperature dropped. The Pinnacles could be seen dimly across the valley, and the lights of the skifield below. We reached the hut in good time, and were soon enjoying a hot brew and electric heaters.
We set off into another brilliant, blue-sky morning, and quickly gained height up the groomed slopes. The Pinnacles were silhouetted against the rising sun. Ngauruhoe seemed an enormous distance away, above a sea of clouds. The skiers were still asleep, but we shared the mountain with the busy skifield staff. We passed the iced-in Dome Shelter and headed down into the crater. The crater lake was only a third full, fluorescent green and quietly bubbling. My crampons were balling up badly, and the walls of the crater reflected and intensified the heat. I soon cooled off in the freezing wind when we gained the ridge below the summit of Ruapehu. I once again caught up with the guys on the top of Tahurangi, and more posy summit photos were taken. We headed carefully down the upper slopes off Tahurangi and back across the crater. Glissading down amidst millions of skiers, we experienced a brief period of navigational confusion, but eventually found our way back to the Alpine Club hut for lunch. Cloud had obscured the lower slopes during the day. After dire threats of being left behind if we were late, we didn’t muck around as we headed down to the road, and we got there nearly an hour before our deadline. Back home to Wellington for a nice restful day in the office.
The team: John Thomson, Rhys Burns, Lisa Lee-Johnson (scribe).
[Photo captions and page text that interrupted the story:]
Trip Reports