Maybe some of the people who have seen me swanning (stumbling) around on the AIC recently will find this amusing, but I am conducting the next concert of the Orpheus Choir and Wellington Sinfonia. It’s at Wellington Cathedral Molesworth Street on Saturday 18th October at 8pm. The programme is all American music: Barber, Hovhaness and John Adams. Tickets are from Ticketek. I’d love it if some people from the club were there. There’s no way to self-arrest when the orchestra makes a slip… Simon Romanos Skiing Kevin Patterson, Chris Fleck and I had a great weekend based at Whangaehu Hut. The walk up to the hut on Friday night was dubbed “mikes midnight marathon”, which I thought was unfair because the distance was closer to six miles than twenty-six (it was a lovely night for a trot though). On the Saturday we skinned up the Whangaehu Glacier in nice weather, which deteriorated to a white out as we made the top of Pare. After a run from the summit in a brief clearance and a bite to eat at the dome it became obvious that no further clearances could be expected. It was decided that a tactical retreat to the hut was in order. After leading Kevin and Chris on a traverse into the white void I assured them that before us lay the wide and obstacle free glacier, they were firmly instructed to forget the white-out and let rip. After an uncertain start, the confidence built and at one rest stop Kevin informed us that according to his GPS we were averaging 45km/h even though we couldn’t see a thing! Sunday was a glorious day; we skinned up the crater outlet stream and had elevenses at the lake edge. We had a few runs on a choice slope above the lake, and then had a run down the Mangaturuturu Glacier. After a long skin back up the Mangatututuru and across the plateau we enjoyed a brief luncheon in the sun before skiing down the Mangatoetoenui Glacier and traversing around to the hut. After collecting our gear the run back to the car park completed an enjoyable weekend. Mike Peat