Mount Angelus

Text taken from the club newsletter.

MOUNT ANGELUS by TONY GAZLEY with ANGIE WILKINSON, EMILY SHROSBREE, ANDREI ZUBKOV, SAM KEMPTHORN,

BRENDON ECKERT and SPENCER CLUBB

Nelson Lakes is a wonderful winter playground for trampers, skiers and climbers; and the annual WTMC post-snowcraft trip to Mt Angelus at the southern end of the Mt Robert Range has always been popular...

Descending down to Hukere Stream from Lake Angelus

This year seven punters arrived at the ferry terminal at 7 a.m. on a fine Saturday morning - but they had to wait until after 10 a.m. before the boat left the wharf. While this was initially annoying, the seven enjoyed the relaxing trip south; lounging in the children’s play area, reading or playing cards, and then the drive to St Arnaud, and the easy walk into Speargrass Hut which they eventually reached just after dark.

To make up for lost time they were up and fed next morning shortly after 5 a.m. and out the door at 6 a.m. The walk up to Angelus Hut is normally straightforward, however, on this day there was deep soft snow that had fallen during the previous few days and which from above the bushline became deeper still. The two biggest macho alpha males were sent out in front to plug steps for the other mere mortals. And the steps were deep! And very often one or other of the seven would fall even deeper into a snowy hole which would cause much mirth among the others until they eventually took a turn at sinking them- selves.

But the sun shone from a clear blue sky, there was no wind and the view got better and better the higher the seven climbed. They reached the ridge above Lake Angelus where there was a spectacular 360 degree panorama of snowy mountains and deep green valleys. Lake Angelus was frozen and there was talk of a contest whereby one could slide down the snow slopes above the lake to see how far across the ice you could get—probably for the better this idea was dropped when someone suggested that the ice may not be thick enough to support a person and that it could all result in a very damp ending.

So instead, they competed to find the silliest way to descend the snow slope to the hut. Sam and Angie won hands down with their method (not taught in snowcraft)

Deep snow on the way up to Lake Angelus A demonstration of silly descending of simply running as fast as possible until they were able to come to a semi-controlled stop or fell flat on their face. The hut was empty so the seven spread themselves around, ate lunch and packed gear for the climb of Angelus.

By this time the wind had increased, there were dark Southerly clouds forming around the higher peaks, and Mt Angelus had disappeared from view. Nevertheless the seven set out into the gathering storm with high hopes of reaching the summit. The climb around a frozen Hi- napouri Tarn was slow because of the deep snow but they eventually reached the slopes leading up somewhere to where they supposed the top to be. By now the wind was very strong, visibility was near zero, there was blowing spindrift and falling snow. It was very definitely an inhos- pitable place to be. In spite of this, the decision was made to go on a bit higher and try for the summit if possible.

Somewhere about 60 m from the top the soft snow changed to an icy surface and crampons were needed. Here it was decided that four would call it quits and head down while Angie, Sam and Brendon would carry on as far as possible. The four turned down into the wind with the idea of simply following the deep tracks made on the way up, but they had already gone, filled in by the drifting snow. With no visibility and uncertain of their location they descended by dead-reckoning until Emily spied two tarns that they had passed on the way up and that were dimly visible through the greyness. From here on it was simply map and compass travel until thankfully the hut loomed ahead of them. They changed out of snow-covered clothes and moved back in to find two other occupants had arrived after following the footsteps from Speargrass.

They had a hot drink, started preparing the evening meal, and continually watched out the window for the return of the other three. As time went on, and with daylight fading, they became increasingly anxious, only to be relieved by the sight of three dim figures moving slowly towards the hut somewhat off-course but at least safe. And to make it better, even though they had iced-up clothing and hair and were clearly tired, they had big smiles after a successful summit. It was a cheery group that enjoyed a hearty meal prepared by master chef Andrei before head- ing to bed and another early start next morning.

With the amount of new snow about and the gener- ally slow travel, a walk out along Robert Ridge was not possible so Hukere Stream was an obvious alternative. The seven were away by 7 a.m. heading down the steep slopes to the valley below. The snow was even deeper and softer here and the leaders left a deep trench for others to follow. The weather, while better than the previous day, was still windy and snowy and the view down the valley was one of tones of grey without any colour at all, but with the dark sky it appeared very dramatic all the same.

Once in the bush, the scene changed to a winter won- derland of snow covered trees with a small stream flowing between snowy rocks. It was such a delightful place and the seven enjoyed the easy walking compared with the earlier trench furrowing. Many stops were made simply to take in the stunningly beautiful winter scenery. Eventually they arrived at one of the pleasant grassy Travers Valley River flats and called it time for an early lunch. There had already been some discussion about Sam’s gumboot tea making ability so it seemed like a good idea to have some tasting. Sam set the others the job of collecting enough wood while he lit a fire and started the billy boiling.

As Sam admitted, it was not a record billy boiling time but the seven were in no hurry and simply lay about enjoying the warm sunshine—even though there were small snowflakes still falling. And then there was the nice surprise when Emily announced that she had exactly seven marshmallows left to share for toasting while they waited.

The tea was a good black hearty brew but not Sam’s best, as the tea bags he used were an odd assortment of dregs from the bottom of various packs and the pepper- mint flavour dominated the taste somewhat. But no-one cared - it was that sort of trip.

The seven made it to Coldwater Hut with half an hour to spare so everyone, except for the wimpy trip leader (who used the excuse he had done it many times before), jumped off the jetty into the lake. Here Angie took hon- ours with her leap of a tucked two-footed take-off forward somersault. Then the water taxi arrived for the trip down the lake to St Arnaud and the waiting van.

Back at the hut after climbing Angelus

Angie executing a tucked forward somersault