Leader: Simon Garton
On a very cold Saturday morning I picked up three trampers, being sure to leave them waiting by the side of the road for a few minutes so they would appreciate the car ride. Having all met up at Mt Robert carpark we spread out across the ridge track with Chris L possibly leading the race. A group of teenage toboggan sliders suffering on the uphill were quickly passed en route to the shelter. There we met a mountaineer breaking in his near $2k boots for his upcoming trip to the 8200m Cho Oyu two weeks hence. I wished him good luck with the Himalayas and once more we set off at our own paces agreeing to meet at Angelus Hut sometime later. I was happy down the back somewhere, Chris and could others hopefully make the steps.
Actually, the Glovers were already out front breaking the trail. As usual, I was changing my layers fairly regularly while talking to Leigh about how office work can get in the way of monitoring Blue Duck numbers in the Wangapeka catchment. Once past the skifield I could see perhaps 20 walkers ahead. At one point, Andrea decided to lead our rear group of three straight over the ridge rock obstacle, instead of the cattle track sidle. This was a great diversion with Chris leading the layback-climbing move and being there to assist Andrea whose chest pack prevented her from swinging around the rock. Once above the hut the popular option was straight down the snow slope onto the lake. The snow was too soft for a glissade or bum slide.
Plenty of bunk room in the hut but no firewood. Oh well, we should get warm from the 20 something bodies. We spent many hours being entertained by John’s match tricks, stretching competitions from the ladies, and sit-down dancing demonstrations from the ladies. Shame my cramp prevented me from joining in.
The next day the mountaineers knocked off Angelus – see Andrea’s account below – and some of us did some tobogganing with the mattresses. Mostly group efforts including 3-up backwards and over the perfectly made jump. Thanks to the master mattress driver for his steering prowess.
The first call to rise came at 4.30am with the promise of a pretty moon pic! By the time the moon set a hour later, seven hardy souls were wrapping up in anticipation of a summit bid. The eighth kindred and free spirit, Gina, planned her adventure over Sunset Saddle and down to Hopeless Hut. At 6:15am we were off.
Traversing across a frozen tarn in the dark heightens the senses until it has been prodded and tested to hold. The edges were slushy and indeed further along the Hinapouri Tarn lived up to its name ‘dark waters’, its partly frozen waters made more outstanding against the chalk white of the snow.
Angelus was named after a devotional prayer and our wishful thoughts of good weather were heard, or maybe we just got lucky. Beautiful dawn, hardly a puff of wind. Just past Hinapouri Tarn, we donned our crampons, taking turns to wind our way up, the sun painting the rocks hues of pinks and oranges.
We all reached her glistening crown and indulged in the vista and achievement, the hut now a mere spec to the north. The descent was initially slow, not throwing caution to the wind. The lower slopes brought some hilarity and emergence of the inner child through jovial participation in body sledging and snow kayaking. Cryptic messages were spotted in the snow from Chris, who greeted our arrival back at the hut at 11am, just in time for a well-earned cuppa.
Having watched the climbing party return safely down Angelus ridge, we returned to the cars while watching the weather close in, exactly as forecast. Sweet as, let’s do it again sometime.