To take advantage of Queen’s Birthday weekend, an 8-member party including H. Cox, S. Dowall, B. Fry, R. Geursen, L. Griffin, B. Hodge, A. Nevin, and K. Patterson hopped on the Friday night Interislander and struck out for an ascent of Tapuae-O-Uenuku (2884m) and Mt. Alarm (2877m). We tented on Friday night on farmland near the carpark (450m). The clear skies provided a spectacular night of star viewing and brisk temperatures. A leisurely Saturday saw us criss-crossing the Hodder River around 70 times to reach the Hodder huts (1440m). The river was quite low and easily navigable. Total time from the carpark to the huts was around 6 hours. Weather was sunny and warm. Sunday had excellent visibility, but inclement weather was apparent to the west. We broke up into two groups for a 5:30 start. Both groups followed the Staircase Stream to the basin beneath the south col. One group then continued up Tapi while the other party went directly to Alarm. Following the successful ascent of Tapi on thin, unlayered snow via the southwest ridge, that party made a traverse south of the 2711 gendarm to the south col and the followed the northeast ridge of Alarm. The first party had already summitted via easy rock on the same ridge. The descent followed the same route as the ascent and was concluded by a casual hike back to the Hodder huts in the late afternoon. During the regress, a light snow began to fall. By the following day, a few cm of snow had accumulated at the elevation of the huts. We retraced our route along the Hodder River back to the inviting bathtub sized pool in the lower Hodder by the carpark. All goals were accomplished. Bill Fry