On the weekend of 31st July – 1st August, David Eaton, Sam Newton, Tom Wilson, Yibai He and Mike Peat headed into the remote south eastern side of Mt. Ruapehu. After stopping in Taihape for the customary espresso, we headed into the Karioi Forest in two 4WD vehicles on Friday night. The last couple of kilometres of the drive was very rough going over tussock and alpine scrub to the bush edge where we camped beside the vehicles. We had about 5cm of new snow overnight, and it continued to snow all day as we made our way up the 7km long Tufa Spur through ever deepening snow. About midday we found a comfortable wind scoop below point 2096 where we decided to luncheon and then dig a snow cave. Snow conditions for caving were excellent and within 3hrs we had excavated luxurious accommodations. The remainder of Saturday revolved principally around eating and melting snow for numerous brews. We made an alpine start on Sunday getting away from the cave just before daybreak with a full moon to guide our way. Dawn came perfect, calm and clear as we cramponed across the broad saddle to the toe of the east ridge of Mitre. The Wahianoa and Whangaehu gorges on either side of the ridge were still dark and forbidding, but our ridge rose steeply before us bathed in the peachy glow of the rising sun. The summit 500m above beckoned, but three tricky looking steps and a couple of gendarmes in the lower section of the ridge barred our way to the easier ground above. Heavy rain during the week had stabilised the snow-pack, and a good overnight freeze ensured perfect cramponing conditions so we elected to climb un-roped. We discovered the route as we climbed, turning each of the difficulties by traversing out onto the faces on either side of the ridge and up exposed 45deg gullies. The crux was a 10m step at about 60deg. We celebrated the summit with the usual handshakes and photos, had a quick morning tea and then set off down before conditions warmed up. The descent went smoothly, with just one abseil required at the crux and by lunch we were back at our cave. Our grotto was still in the icy shade of a bluff which encouraged a brief lunch before packing and heading down. After eighteen years of mountaineering on Ruapehu and seven years thinking about the Tufa Spur, thanks to the rest of the team for making the climb so memorable when at last we got up Ruapehu’s best ridge. Mike Peat Taranaki Alpine Club 75th Jubilee The Taranaki Alpine Club’s 75th Jubilee is now being planned for Queens Birthday weekend (4th & 5th June 2005) and will be held in New Plymouth. The theme of the reunion will be TripsOutings-Events. If you have any photographs or slides that you would like to contribute for inclusion at the celebrations please contact: John Jordan Convener 75th Jubilee Committee 254 Johns Rd, RD8, Inglewood, New Zealand phone/fax 06 7624752 email jd.jordan@xtra.co.nz Any material will be returned as soon as it has been scanned. For anyone wishing to join in the celebrations please contact John Jordan. We look forward to your company. Greg Hall Taranaki Alpine Club Hart on Ice! Thanks to Adventure Consultants and the Distahgil Sar Fund I spent a week in August in Wye Creek. This valley runs south from Single Cone on the Remarkables and provides some excellent ice through July and August. The Adventure Consultants course is based at around 1400m giving a 15-30 minute snowshoe wander to various ice cliffs. The first day was fly in and set up camp, with a full afternoon looking at body technique and getting used to the steep ice. (Lesson 1 - never stand under large icicles dripping with water and not be grounded). Tuesday saw the first of the storms come through bringing high winds and starting the process of de-stabilising the surrounding slopes. Out came the transceivers and an hour was spent playing hunt the buried treasure (Lesson 2 - always double check before burying a transceiver that it is on!) A windy Wednesday looked a worry and crossing unstable snow was no fun, but we got out and spent a full day looking at placing ice screws and practicing leading on ground from WI2/3 to WI4. Some necky leads from the Aussie contingent and many wobbles placing screws gave a great day out. (Lesson 3 - express screws are the business, as are the new Charlet Poser technical crampons). Thursday was a true write off, a metre of wind blown snow nearly buried the camp resulting in a 4am digout to keep us safe. Friday improved slightly with a snow show escape down valley. This is a very pleasant walk and brought us out at Lake Wakatipu in the sun to await the taxi back to Heliworks. This was the day the big avalanche came off Treble Cone so we were more than pleased to be out. If anyone wants to know more about the Adventure Consultants course or Wye Creek then contact me at sh@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz Steve Hart AIC 2004 – THE PROGRESS SO FAR AIC 2004 took off with a bang and a roar with the instructors’ weekend at Tukino in early July. The bang was literal as part of the bumper was separated from the Budget Van as Alan ‘Rally Driver’ Lowrie piloted us back to the Desert Rd on Sunday afternoon. All up it had taken just over 3 hours to get from the Desert Alpine Lodge to the Desert Road due to large amounts of the white cold stuff. All instructors however proved their shoveling skills and with the help of the bulldozer we were soon mobile again. A few weeks later and we were back, this time a group of 35 people. Unfortunately Marmaduke is no longer, so this time we had a 4wd bus to transport us up the mountain. Chaos reigned for a while as those on the bus were turfed off about 30 minutes walk from the lodge and had to deal with extra packs and attaching hardware in a howling cold wind. Vehicles were passed abandoned at various stages along the road, depending on how far they had managed to get. Fruitcake and hot drinks at the lodge and then bed followed at 2am. Conditions on the mountain improved over the weekend and all groups
