Queens Birthday - Ruapehu "Climbing" Trip

- Phil Mackie

Friday night. Cold - breath candensing,we quickly burr ow into our pits and huddle together on the Whakapapa Tavern veranda. Next morning - promise of things to come - high cloud and cold.

Lunch is consumed outside and inside Glacier Shelter after a tiring climb. My food-bag is coated with kiwifruit yogurt - good start! We grovel in the melting heat and the crowds up onto Dome,and enjoy the prospect. A good cover of snow. The party splits,and some go searching for a place to stay while others wander around Pyramid,Cathedral Rocks,Te Heu Heu etc. We begin to excavate a platform near Dome, when we are halted by a shout from Sue,who has found a superb ice cave.

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A beautiful grotto of white snow and hard glassy ice studded with rocks,the entrance jagged with icicles. It is very deep,and we don't get to investigate its full extent. A sleeping platform is levelled,the wanderers join us,and our 9-body arrangement completed. It is very cold - water freezes in the billy in 5 minutes. The sky turns first orange,then midnight blue.

We are woken by Cam departing for Ketetahi Springs for a soak - he didn't quite make it. Fantastic clouds,like black ink in water,streak the sky. We split up into parties and potter about the mountain. Bruce and I decide to poke around Cathedral Rocks. We eye the south face of Te Heu Heu but decide to wander around the easy way because of our decrepit state of health. We are rewarded with fine sombre views of the park. 2pm - back at the cave. Cloud has moved in quickly and a strong cold wind blows. We begin to fortify the rather wide entrance of the cave by fixing tents over it,using the poles and our gear as pegs.

Matt and co. arrive back in foul white-out conditions as we finish,but Brian and Mike have not come back from Tahurangi,and time is creeping on. Matt dons gear and goes outside for a look. He arrives back soon after,declaring the conditions impossible. We are all very worried.

The next morning we awake to damp pits - one tent has blown down and spindrift coats the cave. Outside the weather is foul,the snow spinning madly about. The feeling inside the cave is tense,and tempers are slightly on edge. It is hard to describe the feeling that pervades a party when an accident occurs. We all knew that if Mike and Brian had not been able to find shelter they would not have survived. I recce the snowcave back around the plateau wall,to see how the party there had fared. After tracing along the wall I find it deserted,with a candle still burning! It is decided that Matt and Irene will go down to Glacier Shelter to see if Mike and Brian were there. The rest of us sit around in the cold,unable to do anything except wait for news,and then Brian and Mike arrive. They had spent the night huddled together in the shelter using the emergency stretcher and some blankets.

We are all pleased and relieved,and morale lifts. We decide to go down the Whakapapa side,as routefinding down to Tukino is a bit trickier. From the Top O' the Bruce Matt takes off on a marathon hitch-hike around the mountain and walks all the way up to the van,which is stuck. Things aren't set to rights until late,and we have just settled into pit for the night when the van pulls up outside the tavern. Awake all the way,we arrive back at about 5.30am. I'm just in time for a bath,breakfast and clean-up,then straight to work on Tueaday. To pit after the first aid evening - only about 4-5 houra sleep in the last 72 hours - what an epic.

Participants were:

Bruce Wilson - leader (spent most of the next week in bed!)

Matt Johnston (acting leader)

Irene Fetrove (ridiculously healthy)

Susan Ensor (recovering from flu)

Marc Patterson (coming down with flu)

Mike Harris (went AWOL)

Brian Derby ( " " )

Phil Mackie (stuffed ankles)

Cam Falkner (ya missed the fun ya sucker!)