Did I Mention the Wind?
Report by Chris Tuffley (Palmie North)
Whangaehu Hut, 1-2 September 2007
A message from Rachael and Mike—already up at Tukino, with Rachael being the only skier on the whole Tukino skifield - (an experience highly recommended, specially when the liftie has to sit and watch you ski all day – Ed) -confirmed the forecast of high winds before Terry, Malcolm, Murray and I (from the Palmie section) had even reached Waiouru. “It’s windy as blankity,” reported Terry. “Oh well,we’re going anyway.” 3pm in Waiouru felt a little early for dinner, but we weren’t sure what time we’d make it to the hut, and an early dinner cooked for us sounded better than preparing a late one after a hard walk. Ditto changing in Waiouru, rather than up at the ski field…so on went thermals, jackets, boots and gaiters before we all piled back into the car. The Tukino road was clear of snow, and in short order we were experiencing the wind ourselves, being buffeted back and forth as we set off to Whangaehu. For all that the walk went fairly quickly, and we joined Rachael and Mike at the hut just as darkness fell.
The wind was roaring round the hut, so we didn’t bother making plans or setting alarms for the morning. After a restless night—I think we all slept poorly—I woke to a square of red sunshine on the wall, and sat up to admire the sunrise. As the sun rose the wind lessened, and, breakfasted, we decided we ought to go out for a walk. The four of us from Palmerston North headed out ahead of Rachael and Mike, and wandered up the Whangaehu glacier. The East Gully of Matihao looked inviting, but we soon found it was too windy even for that and quickly retreated. Sidling round below Matihao we found a relatively sheltered spot for a bit of lunch, then headed on up to the Summit Plateau. Snaking ghosts of spindrift added another dimension of beauty to the great white amphitheatre-like expanse, but it was a scene best admired with our back to the wind, to spare your cheeks the frequent blasts of flying ice.
We continued on to give me my first view of Crater Lake, then chose Dome and Dome Shelter as he highest point of our meander—the wind having forced us to retreat from Pyramid. The view from the top of Dome was fantastic: aside from the gusting wind it was a beautifully sunny, and the white cone of Ngauruhoe was visible beyond the northern peaks of Ruapehu. Dropping back down off Dome we met Rachael and Mike briefly at the top of the Whangaehu glacier, then continued on down to the hut, at last walking with our backs to the wind.
After dinner the roar of the wind outside somehow managed to crank itself up a notch, and the hut shook with the gusts. With the hut perched on top of a bluff, and a trip to the loo requiring crampons as it was, we decided that perhaps we’d better all try to hold on for the night…We passed some time reading the hut’s old Reader’s Digests, until it was finally late enough that we could respectably turn in, then settled down for another restless night.
Mercifully, the wind lessened with sunrise again, relieving our fears we wouldn’t be able to walk out. It was still too windy for climbing though, so we decided to just head home. Venturing out, Terry got the outer door open after clearing the spindrift in the bootroom…only to discover a half inch thick sheet of ice still blocking the way, that had to be cleared with an iceaxe! We packed up, paid a quick visit to some students who’d built themselves a spacious snowcave at the base of the bluffs, then followed the poles back out to Tukino and the road home.
We were Mike Courtney, Terry Crippen, Murray Gifford, Malcolm Leary, Rachael Schmidt, and Chris Tuffley.