This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
by Jason Penny For a long-time tramper wanting to up the anti, two weekends climbing on Mt Ruapehu learning the basics was a great first step. The weather was near perfect and we learned plenty that ! hope to put into practice starting as soon as possible. First up, a short intro session oné week night, including a strip-tease of all the gear being taken off and explained (very helpful). I packed only what was on the list and discovered I've been over-packing all my life. Begged and borrowed what I didn't have and felt very prepared and organised by the time Friday rolled around.
The first weekend up on the mountain was learning the basics. I had to re-learn how to walk once the crampons went on, walking up and down little slopes of snow and ice. Then we cut steps with our ice-axes and started navigating our way around the mountain side. After lunch we moved onto self-arresting, the techniques for stopping a potentially dangerous slide down the mountain with the ice-axe. This proved to be fun and painful with plenty of variations. Inevitably some of us decided it was just as much fun not to stop (enter Kathmandu plastic bag sliding) to the consternation of our tutors I’m sure.
As we moved about from place to place we learnt a bit about mountain safety and even about gear security. If you leave a helmet or a shiny metal drink bottle on an icy slope, next stop might be a few hundred metres. Some found this out the hard way. It was a stunning environment for learning as we were constantly surrounded by clear views of Ngarahoe and even as far as Taranaki to the west. Our senses were overwhelmed and our cameras memory cards filled to overflowing as we tried to take it all in. On Sunday we made a fairly good effort on starting a snow cave. It was to be a grand monument to feats of engineering against the elements, but in the end we ran out of time. Ah well. Each night we returned to the lodge a little more bruised, but happy and very hungry. Two weeks later we were at it again, a little more familiar with our surroundings, equipment and each other. On Saturday we set out in high spirits to climb all the way to the dome shelter above the Crater Lake. Every summit is an awesome achievement, and this was a pretty good feeling. There was plenty of time to practice what we'd learnt on the ascent. We decided to loop round on the downward journey and although exhausted a few of the more adventurous chose to scale another ridge on the far side of the plain in the centre where our guide Grant had once played a rousing game of cricket (photo in the lodge). That peak felt even more satisfying and the descent from there a challenging, hair-raising affair. On our return we discovered one of the AIC crew battered and bruised after a stunning fall which I'm sure will be told and re-told one day becoming legend.
Next day I was up early making pancakes for the punters, with a secret recipe handed down from generation to generation. After a hearty breakfast it was back up to aptly named Broken Leg Gully for a bit more practice before the weather closed in. After a blow-by-blow from Dave at the site of his fall, we headed back to the lodge for the final time. Allin all, this was a great intro to mountaineering and I would highly recommend it to anyone considering. It was a great way to get to know some of the club members as well, couldn't've met a nicer bunch of likeminded individuals. Bring on the big mountains, I'm ready for more!