A Winter Ascent of Mount Ngauruhoe

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A WINTER ASCENT OF MOUNT NGAURUHOE Claire Silcock The Ascent (Claire Silcock) The first snows arrived with a vengeance this year SO the The moment of reckoning was fast approaching and amid opportunity to climb Mt Ngauruhoe in ideal conditions diminishing enthusiasm and envious glances at the Easies was too good to pass up. As with most club trips, the still safely ensconced in their pits, we slowly began to number of punters fluctuated and finally settled on seven. gather our belongings and change into gear more suitable Struan decided to leave the hills well alone that weekend for a late night stroll. Mumblings of piking were quickly so forecasts predicting less than favourable weather were stomped on by our illustrious leaders and we resorted to largely ignored and an optimistic bunch spent Thursday stacking on layers of clothing, watched by the Easies from evening packing frantically. the comfort of their warm pits. At last the drudgery of another Friday in the Tax The inevitable could no longer be delayed and as we Department was behind me and I headed off to the stepped down from the back of the truck, a very light Railway Station to join my fellow trip-mates. We were cool breeze was blowing from the south. The night was soon on our way in the Duchess, grinding up the Gorge perfectly clear however and we could vaguely make out and heading north to our objective. the snow-covered shape of our objective, seemingly far in the distance. Idle chatter and the usual dirty jokes eventually subsided as we stretched out and tried to get comfortable with After a quick pose for a team photo and an uninspiring someone's feet in our armpits. Attempts were made to flash of left buttock from Rex, the troops were ready and examine the insides of our eyelids 'till the Duchess we gave the Duchess a last wave as she trundled off, rumbled to a halt at our favourite dinner stop. engulfed in the darkness! With tummies full of copious amounts of burgers and No time was wasted in locating the track and setting off chips we were soon overcome by the urge to sleep. After into the night, crunching across the frozen ground under what seemed like a few minutes but was in actual fact a a blanket of stars. The first clump of trees was reached in couple of hours, the troops began to stir and we became good time presenting a selection of very comfortable aware of a reduction in the Duchess' speed. We awoke to campsites, but by this stage the troops were all wide a patchy white world and ice on the insides of the awake and enthusiastic SO a unanimous decision was windows. reached to continue on to Waihohonu. Some repair work to soft feet was necessary at this point, but in no time at all, amid chattering and scrunching, we set off again in pursuit of a place to camp.

The time passed quickly and we were soon at the junction The slope didn'tappear to be SO steep on this side and the of the tracks. A few metres further on we set up camp snow was much softer since it had had the sun on it all under a most peculiar clump of trees and Gerard, Dan and day. We raced off down to South Crater, stopping every I went on a short cross-country trek in search of water. now and then to admire the view and take the odd photo. The usual fluffing around delayed the final act of crawling into our pits 'till 1.30 am, but we were soon being rocked As we crossed South Crater the sun was setting, bathing to sleep by the gentle throat gurgling snoring of Gerard. Mt Ngauruhoe in a palette of stunning pinks and reds. We It is prudent to note at this point that Rex got the blame stopped briefly to admire the colours and then realizing due to his notorious reputation. that darkness would soon be descending upon us we picked up the pace and trudged up to Red Crater in the We stirred a few hours later to cold noses and a frigid gathering dusk. morning. However there was no wind whatsoever and only patches ofvery high cloud. Dan cooked up a big pot Grumbling tummies reminded us that quite a comfortable of porridge designed to move mountains and Rex tried amount of time had passed since lunch so an assortment unsuccessfully to supplement his breakfast with a rat that of chocolate, sweets and scroggin was passed around as came daringly close to our campsite. we attempted to revive some energy. Gerard produced a frisbee from the depths ofl his pack and Darkness arrived and we continued along by torch-light we warmed up with a few throws. Meanwhile Rex across Central Crater to the Col and the last stagger disappeared to attempt to attract every blow-fly in the down to Ketetahi Hut. A glimpse of lights in the distance entire Volcanic Plateau and Anita was keen to compete and the occasional voice raised our spirits and urged us for dual honours. on, but a wrong turn resulting in a minor diversion from the track caused brief consternation and an unplanned Finally we were off, heading towards the base of Mt climb back up to the snow-covered track. Moral of the Ngauruhoe. One river crossing had us momentarily story don't follow other people's footprints they don't perplexed and those of us with short legs cursed our necessarily know where they're going either! parentage as the outcome was wet feet. We settled in for a pleasant cruise through patches of snow surrounded by The lights of the hut finally appeared and the familiar the peace and tranquillity of the Volcanic Plateau. We voices of Tania and Toni were almost as welcome as the were afforded great views of the Kaimanawas, Mt bowls of delicious Sweet and Sour, cooked by Lindsay's Ruapehu and our primary objective, Mt Ngauruhoe, troops, that were pushed into our hands. Due to the which was looming larger and larger, beginning to bulging nature of the hut we erected our tents on the dominate the horizon. frozen ground outside and warmed up in front of the roaring stove. Too tired for the hot-pools, we opted The first pangs of apprehension were felt as we surveyed instead to retire to warm pits. the mountain for the safest route, but we were soon on our way again after a photo and a chocolate stop. Sunday dawned fine and calm and we spent a leisurely Attempts to match Gerard's stride failed miserably and morning eating and relaxing in the sun. The wander to the once again I cursed my short legs. road end was pleasant, and we finished off the trip with We dropped into a gully hoping to find a stream but to a display of our frisbee skills (or lack of them) in the our disappointment it was full of snow. We had no option carpark. but to melt snow on the primuses and SO the battle began MSR Vs Peak 1! We had stopped for lunch on a patch Those on the trip were: Anita Catchpole, Rex Benbrook, of ice at the base of Mt Ngauruhoe and before long, we Gerard Krishnan, Mark Loveard, Philip Lake, Daniel got carried away melting snow, ending up with much Keller and Claire Silcock. more water than we knew what to do with. Energy reserves now replenished we began our ascent. The views were impressive although the climb required much concentration. It took longer than anticipated but eventually we topped out and were standing on the crater lip taking in 360 degrees of spectacular views. All sorts of goodies were then produced from people's packs and we thoroughly enjoyed the frozen chocolate fish a summit prize from Anita. The chewy crocodiles proved to be almost too much for some of our fillings but they tasted good. Aware that we were behind schedule we took one last lingering look at the view, donned out packs and began the descent in earnest.