We (myself, Peter Rowe, Malcolm McGechie, and Duncan Rait) had hoped to do a bit of alpine rock climbing at Mt Cook over the Chrismas break. However, un-settled weather meant we didn’t even venture into the Park. Instead, Malcolm, Pete, and myself spent a couple of days cragging on the Port Hills and at Hanging Rock on December 28th and 29th waiting for the weather to sort itself out. We reached Unwin Hut on the night of the 29th in torrential rain where we met up with Duncan. We then spent the 30th waiting to be flown into Tasman Saddle, but conditions were never suitable. We decided to head for the South Temple Valley instead and left that night. We were greeted by more torrential rain at Twizel and all the way on the drive in next to Lake Ohau. Luckily there is a nice shelter at the South Temple Road end, handy for cooking and sleeping under. The sandflies are brutal though, which meant we all got up quite early. The weather was clearing however and we slogged up to Gunsight Pass via the North Temple and into the top of the South Temple with packs full of rock gear, as well as ice tools (for a possible climb on Mt Huxley). We set up camp on some lovely tussock benches at the 1500m contour. We were all a bit tired from the walk in though, so decided to rest that afternoon. Probably a good idea, as the rain came in again and lasted all night. About 10am on the 1st it decided to clear so we headed off for a climb that afternoon. Duncan and I climbed Weta Prowl (3+ and about 300m) on the west face of Steeple Peak, which consisted of generally easy scrambling on slabs and some exposed ridge traverses to the summit. The rock was fairly compact, although there were a few close calls from rock loosened by stuck abseil ropes on the decent. Malcolm and Pete climbed another route onto the minor summit of Steeple Peak. The weather cleared up nicely that night so we headed off early on the morning of the 2nd. Duncan and I climbed the Southwest Buttress (Butterfly Buttress 4, and about 500m) of Bruce Peak, which was excellent climbing on very firm rock (except for a very loose and blocky section just above the snow). We also saw another party trying an unclimbed line, but they bailed off about 1/3 of the way up and we didn’t see them again. We had excellent views on the summit from Mt Hooker up to Cook, but the divide was well covered in cloud on the western side. Pete and Malcolm climbed Weta Prowl on Steeple Peak. Snow conditions were not too good, with lots of sloughs on any slopes in the sun so we decided not to try Mt Huxley and headed back out to the road end, via the South Temple Valley (an easy and very scenic route).The forecast for the mountains still didn’t look too good so we spent a couple of days cragging in Wanaka, a day in the rain on the West Coast, and even managed to sneak in 2 fine days at Paynes, in between more torrential rain. Eric Duggan In other news…. Pamela Doake and Mike Peat headed south with the masses over the holidays. Mike says in between the espressos and sun baking, the pair managed a few days’ tramping in Nelson Lakes, followed by a crossing of Ball Pass. Kris Persson, Vanessa Johnson and Rachael Schmidt had an epic attempt on Mt Aspiring in winter-like conditions via the Therma in the first week of December. Kris made the summit in appalling conditions, before the trio spent a night in a snowcave on the Bonar during a storm. Garth and Angie London, Rachael Schmidt and Nicky McIndoe (ex-Wgtn section member now in the UK), spent a few weeks down south over Xmas/New Year avoiding the rain and getting in some good tramping including the Five Passes in Aspiring National Park. There was still a fair bit of snow on Fohn Saddle and Fiery Col, and the group discovered the joys of Grade 14 rock manoeuvres on snowgrass! Pete’s Post (did you all see him on TV talking to Sir Ed?!) It only hurts when I laugh. Not true, actually it hurts all the time. Yesterday we had another SAR training day, which involved jumping into big crevasses and relying on my two rope-partners to hold the fall. (We had a safety belay as well). Then I had to prussik out while the others built an anchor. Maybe I’m getting old, or perhaps it was the big overhanging lip plus the fact we didn’t have crampons and ice axe with us (or maybe it’s because…Ed). But my arms are very sore today. The next exercise was to put someone in a rescue litter and drag them across the snow to a point where we could lower them down through the icefall. Of course we picked the fattest person as our victim (and NO, it wasn’t me). The snow was deep and soft, with us two kiwis pulling the litter like a sled. Ten Americans followed along to control the direction and to yell at each other. It was very physical due to the snow conditions and was a good workout for my legs. They are sore today as well. Christmas and New Year were celebrated appropriately with a dinner and a party. We have a local FM radio station on the base, and a survey was taken to see if people wanted Christmas songs played. The result was 35 against and only two people for this proposal. A few minutes ago I saw a penguin grovelling along the ice in front of the base. Since we are about 20km away from the nearest penguin colony and since he should have been heading the other way to get to sea, I assumed he must be lost. I’ve offered to teach him some navigation, but it will obviously need to be GPS-based. The Magnetic South Pole is actually north of us and about 1600 km away (magnetic variation was 155 degrees 24.87 minutes when I last measured it). Because we are quite close to the magnetic pole and the earth’s magnetic field is always changing in position and intensity, navigation by compass is a waste of time here. The rocks are volcanic and highly magnetic, and we are only 30km away from Mt Erebus - an active lavacrater volcano. As you move around with your compass you can detect big local anomalies in the magnetic direction.