Tukino Ice Cimbing Weekend 2009

By Anthony Stead

It was looking to good to be true, two near-on perfect weekends on Ruapehu. The entire mountain was laid out in front of me without a cloud to be seen.
“Margaret’s Leap” is the arguably the most accessible ice face in Tongariro National Park. A mere half-hour walk from the car park and it came into view. There was a good covering of ice/snow, and lots of different grades of climbing – enough for all to play. I started on what was basically a steep snow climb, and by the end of the day, I was tackling big vertical sections further along the face. We had three ropes going at the same time on the face.

As the light started to fade, we headed for the NZAC Whangaehu Hut. There were 10 of us in total but only 6 beds, so there were a few campers. An alpine start was needed to make the most of the great conditions on Sunday, so we headed up the mountain with the moon shining down followed by the pre-dawn glow of the sun. There was an amazingly quick change of colour as the sun came over the horizon. Some moved up the Cathedral Rocks and over to Te Heu Heu peaks, some headed back down to the hut for breakfast.

After breakfast we head back up the mountain again, suckers for punishment some would say! Now the sun was baking us in the still, summer-like conditions. We attempted to head up to the ridge that leads up to the summit, but the sun was so intense, that we became increasingly worried how the face would hold up to the fourth day of sun. There were pieces of ice raining down on us and it was still only early in the day, sowe pulled the pin on that route and headed to Pyramid Peak where we could see climbers peppered across the peaks, making the most of the conditions. After lunch, we removed our crampons and slid back down to the hut. All in all, it was a great trip, the weather was very kind and the only thing that limited us was our physical ability.