There was an air of anticipation as we gathered at the railway station. We'd spent the last weekend practicing our snow techniques, and Sharron had hinted that the next thing we should do is put our theory into practice by going somewhere. Where would we get to? Would the weather let us? The forecast was great, but I've learned that that doesn't necessarily mean that Ruapehu would play nice.
One of the many skills I am learning as part of tramping and snowcraft with WT&MC, is a detailed knowledge of where the best takeaways are at the towns on SH1 and SH2. And Bulls was our destination for dinner so that means the Best Doner Kebab Shop In All Rangitikei for sure. So we tried dialling in our order beforehand, which led to the phone being passed from person to person through the van until all 10 orders were placed. This was only partially successful since they insisted on making all our kebabs one at a time!
We arrived to brilliant clear skies and settled into the lodge.
Saturday saw us up early and enthusiastic. The weather was behaving and it was incredibly clear. As promised, we were indeed off somewhere - we were going to head for the summit. We divided ourselves into two groups - the "keen" group and the "try-hard" group (Sharron's names!) and 8am saw us off and walking.
Our first destination was the ampitheatre and the Alpine Club lodge. Conditions were superb, with really fantastic, weekend-of-the-season weather. Unlike the previous week, the snow was quite firm underfoot, with hard-packed snow and ice. Our crampons gripped perfectly.
At one point we crested a small ridge and walked straight down the relatively steep face on other side. Steve took us (the Keens) straight down the face! It was great to learn to trust your crampons that much - to be able to walk down a steep face and just stick to it with the steel spikes on the bottom of your boots. We meandered up the other side and looked back as the Try-hards tackled that face. Nic went first ... and lost her footing and slid straight to the bottom of the gut, even getting airborne at one point. The others picked their way down quite gingerly after watching how Nic went!
We stopped for a snack at the Alpine Club lodge after about 45 min and pondered on how this would be their standard walk in the evening, with all their stuff, after driving up for the weekend. That's a little bit too keen! We seemed to make very good time after passing the lodge and soon left it, and the ski lifts, far behind. We approached the summit via the spur that leads to Paretetaitonga, and passed the AIC'ers practicing their ice climbing. Icy snow gave way to ice and sastrugi. The going got steeper, and our pace turned into a slog. And then my crampons fell apart! Steve helped me with a bit of inventive use of the straps to hold them together for the day and it wasn't much longer before we crested Glacier Knob and got our first, astonishing view of the top. Before us the ridge sloped down to the Plateau, a flat moonscape basin ringed by uneven, ice blasted ridges and peaks.
We sidled along the ridge around the Plateau to Dome Ridge, and stopped at Dome Shelter for a well-earned, leisurely lunch, our first views of the crater lake on one side, and on the other the plateau, and our next destinations - the ridge of Tukino Peak and Te Heuheu. The shelter was entirely buried, and we had to take Steve, Marie and Sharron's words for it that there was even a structure under the impressive mound of ice blasted snow - until Steve located the general area of the door and dug it out (about a metre down). As we ate our lunch we pondered on the fellow who lost his leg in the shelter to a boulder thrown from the crater, and the soldiers who died on the plateau. It's sobering how much power there is in the mountain.
So after lunch, off we set again, following down the ridge and dropping off to the Plateau. I decided to descend off the ridge a little early, then watched astonished as the others hit a sheer ice face and came down backwards on all fours. Scary stuff. But soon enough we were walking across the plateau, which was a surreal experience. "Like being on Antarctica," as Illona put it. With no frame of reference other than the "low" peaks around us, we could have been anywhere, at any altitude. There were quite a few groups up on the summit with us - did I mention that the superb weather made it the weekend-of-the-season?! - and we crossed paths and chatted to some of them. There was one group coming up to build a snow cave and overnight on the summit. Others had brought their skis and boards and were looking for good descents. The people around us were all that gave scale to some of the vistas - you'd be looking at a "close" view and then pick out a couple of ant-sized people and realise that the perspective was quite different to what you thought.
Soon enough we were at the other side of the plateau, on a saddle that divided the plateau from the north face. This was the moment of decision. Over and down to home - or turn right, go up the ridge, and visit Tukino and Te Heuheu as well? With time ticking away there was only a few hours of good daylight now. But we did the sums, there was sufficient time, and so Steve led Illona, Megan, Duncan, Kat, Cecilia and me up to the two summits. The ridge rose steadily up to our first peak, with a sheer drop back to the plateau on our right. We were getting tired - at least I was! - but after 40 minutes of slog, with Steve and Illona leading the way and the rest of us straggling behind, we reached the Tukino summit, a craggy peak with a huge drop back to the plateau on one side. We gingerly got as close to the summit as we dared and took photos.
Then it seemed to be an easy stroll to the rounded knob of Te Heuheu, which we reached bang on target at 3pm. A quick photo stop and it was time to come down, down a beautiful powder bowl that cried out to be skiied or boarded. Some of us perfected bum-sliding as we descended. As we reached the skifield, Steve headed with purpose to the top of the waterfall express - and before we knew it he'd sorted us rides down the hill on the chairlift. So some weary, grateful bodies slid into seats for the last part of our descent, and back to the lodge by 4:30.
What a superb day. Sublime weather, perfect conditions, a full day of walking, astonishing views of Ngarahoe, Taranaki, Tama Lakes and Taupo, the stark beauty of Ruapehu summit, and visiting four of the 12 Ruapehu peaks. It really doesn't get any better than that.
The AIC'ers were quite late back - 8pm or so. They'd seen sunset at the summit, and came down in the dark. Their photos from the top were breathtaking.
Sunday saw tired bodies getting ready and out to see another perfect day with cloudless blue skies and no wind. Does that really happen two days in a row at Ruapehu? Today was a skills learning day - self arresting, snow caves, and avalanche transceiver work. We headed off in the general direction of the ampitheatre, and soon found an ideal spot for all three activities, right by some AIC'ers practicing crevasse retrievals.
My first activity for the day was snowcave digging. Steve marked out two entrances to dig, and he started on one and I more slowly started on the other. I was thinking that this was going to be VERY slow and unproductive until I suddenly cut through the hard layer and into the soft snow that those in the know were expecting to find. Even then, though, I learned that digging a snowcave is slow going. After 3-4 hours of us all taking turns digging, we had only done a U-shaped tunnel and were ready to start digging out the platform. So not something you'd be doing in a blizzard as an emergency shelter. Talking it over with Craig, you'd be making a snowcave as a base to operate from on multi-day trips - if you'd somehow forgotten your alpine tent! A good tent on a platform with a wall (extended up to an igloo if necessary) looks like a better option to me.
In the middle of this, Steve came over to us and said in quite a calm voice given the circumstances, that there'd been a freak avalanche up on the flat part of the ridge (yes, a very freak avalanche!) and somebody was buried. But luckily he had some transceivers that we could use to find this person. After a bit of fiddling to get them in search mode, we pretty quickly located where this unfortunate individual was - but not before Illona did some pretty realistic self arrest practice as we crossed the very icy head of the ridge without crampons. She did a textbook job, I'm happy to report.
Using the transceiver was very straightforward, accurate (to about 10cm, with a 50m or so range) and quick. Very comforting, especially with the terrible avalanche season we're having this year. One of the stats I heard on the radio after the Coronet Peak avalanche, is that if you're found within 15 minutes you've got a 90% chance of survival, but past that time you it very rapidly drops to a mere 10% survival rate. I'd rate a transceiver as essential equipment, anywhere you've got any chance of avalanche.
The final activity to practice was self arresting, and we all spent quite a while throwing ourselves off this ledge, in all manner of positions and contortions. We all got the hang of it pretty well, though I managed to do a spectactular fail, and write off my bike helmet into the bargain as my ice axe caught by the spike and threw itself at my head. (That was the time I was trying to just launch myself with a blank mind, and not think of what I had to do in advance. More practice for me I think!). Marie was a great self arrest coach, and had us all drilled really well by the end of the day.
So after a morning of digging, and searching, and falling - and watching the AIC people save each other from crevasses too, as well as entertaining the passing skiers and boarders - it was time to trot back to the lodge, clean up and head off. After a far less eventful trip down the mountain, and an obligatory stop in Ohakune for a chocolate eclair, then all too soon we were back in Wellington and our Snowcraft course was over.
Coming into the course, I'd expected that I'd learn quite a bit, but I didn't count on it being just so much fun and having so much of a great experience as well. I've not just gained a whole heap of valuable information and advice and experience, I've also got some memories that I'll treasure. Events that are this good and happen this smoothly don't just happen - a huge amount of thanks has to go to Sharron, Steve and Marie for the superb organisation and planning that went into this. If you're reading this and haven't done much snow work before - make sure you get your name on Snowcraft 2010!
Weekend 2 Snowcraft photos:
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