With every adventure you learn something new. The Alpine Club trip to Angelus Peak taught me that mountaineering is akin to childbirth (well, what others have told me about childbirth anyway) … After the gruelling ordeal, once you’ve survived the pain, the trauma, and the tears and come out the other side facing the miraculous reward, your brain forgets the hardship and you want to do it all over again (mostly). 15 brave club members, many of which were entirely new to the alpine environment having just completed Snowcraft 1 or 2, embarked on a long weekend to the pristine and delightful Nelson Lakes. The weather gods blessed the group with much more pleasant conditions than expected. The forecasted rain stayed away on the Friday hike to Angelus hut, however, the wind took its place with avengence. I felt almost like a ‘grown up mountaineer’, post-holing in knee and sometimes thigh deep snow along Robert Ridge in 70kph winds. My pack was the anchor keeping me attached to the narrow ridgeline, which meant I only almost got blown off the ridge twice rather than being completely swept off. I could have cried tears of relief when Angelus hut finally came into view, through the gnawing ice crystals being blown into my eyes. A welcome, cosy, warm oasis in the surrounding whiteness. The gale-force winds seemed to blow away any other irksome weather so blue skies were all we saw for the rest of the weekend. Although some doubted their fitness and abilities to be able to summit, almost everyone in the group made it up to the 2,075m summit of the spectacular Angelus Peak in good time. Back to the hut for the rest of Saturday afternoon, celebrating with delicious food and table bouldering. The return trip along Roberts ridge on Sunday morning was a totally different experience to the Friday hut approach. A still atmosphere and solid snow conditions enabled us to soak up the radiant rising sun and absorb the breathtakingly epic views of the surrounding snowy Nelson Lakes peaks. The treacherously freezing wind on Friday was a distant memory. So keen for the next adventure! Well done to all the trip participants for coming along and also not dying or getting lost. It wouldn’t have been the same without you. Thanks for sharing some of your thoughts and experiences of the weekend … Dena, Naomi and Wim on Robert Ridge Photo: Dena Valente Jack: “The hike in was obviously challenging but I really enjoyed it. Very different to any kind of hike I’ve done before. And climbing Angelus on Saturday was so amazing!“ Aimee: “As an NZAC newcomer, I was very pleased to be able to get up (and down - the tricky part!) Angelus Peak, having been a bit too scared to go the whole way last year. Some nice big steps from the more experienced in the group may have helped with that …” Laressa: “The biggest learning I took from the weekend was how walking a track one day and walking the same track two days later can be a completely different experience, and that this needs to be factored in to planning, always. Friday night’s 8 hour trudge through often thigh deep snow was halved on Sunday, happily walking on hard snow and ice in full daylight.” Dena: “I had such an awesome weekend, thanks everyone for being part of it. More mountain missions definitely required.” A Haiku: Angelus fun times Type 1, type 2, and type 3 Phew, we all survived Anja, Stephen, Sarah Jack Cooke summiting Angelus Peak Photo: Rachel Hockridge Looking over the frozen lake to Angelus Hut Photo: Rachel Hockridge
