30-31 August. The alpine stylers comprised Nigel Roberts, Tom Zink, David Eaton and Mike Peat. Like all good weekend expeditions dining in style is just as important as climbing with style. To this end, café cuisine was required and the Exchange in Taihape fitted the bill for our Friday climbing pleasure. Forget practicality, we know 4 scallops served with a drizzle of hollandaise on an enormous plate is aesthetically pleasing but disappointing to the appetite! After taking dessert and coffee we bundled into the jeep and drove to the Karioi Forest (near Tangiwai). A pleasant tent site was found on the bank of the Wahianoa River where we retired for the night. The morning dawned calm with a misty rain but not overly threatening so it was game on. We forged on for half an hour through the bushline and up onto the tussock flanks to 1200m altitude, where we abandoned the vehicle and continued on foot. Following a series of wandering spurs, we climbed gradually eventually hitting the snow line. The snow gradually increased in depth until it became pretty tough going through knee deep fresh powder. Exhausted, we finally pitched the tents at about 2200m on the lower Wahianoa Glacier mid afternoon. Determined to make the most of our time we pushed on into the whiteout, reaching the summit 2797m at 6 pm in the last rays of sunshine in very cold conditions. By a stroke of luck, it cleared briefly while we were on top so we were able to enjoy the sunset over Taranaki. The descent was completed in darkness and falling snow but the trusty GPS led us safely back to camp. Sunday’s weather was perfect, so David, Tom and Mike headed off to climb Girdlestone which towered magnificently over our tents. We climbed the remote south face which is quite steep, thigh deep powder snow made the climbing hard work but straight forward. The summit was reached in calm cloudless conditions, and we descended via the north ridge. The east facing snow slope leading back to the Wahianoa Glacier had to be treated with a great deal of respect, it was ripe for avalanche after having had the sun on it for several hours. Our caution was soon proven when we were halfway down, the slope released about 100m away after a large lump of sastrugi fell from the bluff above. After a leisurely lunch back at the tents with Nigel, we packed up and headed down arriving back at the car in the late afternoon. So concluded a fantastic trip into a stunning area that sees very few visitors. Mike Peat 3 GUYS GO FAIR WEATHER CLIMBING (25-27 JULY) The somewhat intimidating icy south side of Egmont was the destination. Unfortunately about the only thing that went right on the first weekend attempt was the successful location at last of the Pizza Hut in Wanganui (it’s amazing what you can use a GPS for!) The weather on Saturday was poor with a strong cold wet southerly blowing, so we vowed to maintain our home earned brownie points and make a return the following weekend. The second weekend was perfect, a light northerly left us on the south side with a big blue sky hole. The Syme Hut icebox was obtained in mid morning and in good public servant tradition we stopped for a 2 hour lunch break. Fully rested the push for the summit was on and achieved just after 1 pm in somewhat smooth steep icy conditions. Tom got out his new toys (ice screw) and after a couple of attempts we eventually knocked off Sharks Tooth via the northern wall route. After overnighting in Syme Hut and having a bit more of a play the next day it was sadly time to return. A pretty perfect weekend. Team=Paul Clarke, Kevin Patterson (trip leader) and Tom Zink.