MSC Snowcraft Course

17-19 August 2007.
Levin / Waiopehu Tramping Club Ski Lodge, Whakapapa Skifield
Friday

Friday was a rush of an afternoon - race home from work, unpack and repack my pack to try and cut down how much I was taking, and then wait for my ride to arrive. Quickly enough we were on our way towards the north, battling a very full car and Friday afternoon traffic on State 1. We stopped once in Paraparaumu to pick up our last passenger, and then sat in traffic for most of the next hour through to Waikanae (about 30km, if that). We stopped in Bulls for dinner at the the Kebab shop. It was good Kebab... This photo is some of the sauce options they had.

We then stopped briefly in Waiouru for batteries and to text the people we were meeting so they knew where we were and it was off to Whakapapa village. The Bruce Rd was open all the way to the top with no chains required, which was good, but the cloud was dense like fog and we could only see about 20m ahead of the car as we were driving. Thankfully the Bruce Rd doesnt hang off the side of the mountain like some other ski field access roads.

By the time we got to the lodge and got unpacked and into our pits, it was nigh on midnight and time for bed...
Saturday
Saturday was a not too early start because the weather wasnt that great. We had a good cooked breakfast, got our stuff for the day together then spent a couple of hours sitting in the nice warm TV room to talk about weather, map reading and general safety precautions. Eventually we headed out into the gloom to learn about walking on snow.

It was bitter cold, as you can tell by the photo below - I was wearing a beanie AND a balaclava, polypro and ski gloves, 2 or 3 thermal tops and my gore-tex raincoat and was still only just warm! We practiced pigeon holing, walking in general and then self-arrest on a nice slope with a good run out at the bottom. We had lunch in the shelter of the Wanganui Lodge (I think).

About 4pm we headed back to the lodge to relax and warm up for the afternoon. Most of us napped before dinner and I was incredibly sore considering we had only been out on the snow for about 5 hours and had only walked about 2km! After a really nice tea of Lasagne and something (I had at least 2nds), we watched a DVD about avalanche and weather and then went to bed - about 9pm!
Sunday
Sunday dawned clear after snow the night before, which meant sunshine and a hard layer of frost on the top of the snow. That meant crampons (which I hate using) for at least the first part of the day. As much as I hate crampons, there was no way to move on the snow without them that morning, because without them you just slid about!

We headed back up to the slope we had practiced self-arrest on the day before and did some more self-arrest and practiced cutting steps as well. By this stage the crampons were off because the snow was softening up a little.
We carried on up the hill and around the edges of the ski-field boundary, practicing walking some more. Then we buried some avalanche transievers and took turns looking for them. Eventually it was time to head back to the lodge for a late lunch and pack up to head home. On the way home we finally got a glimpse of Ngaruhoe from about half way back down.

Back home we headed, I went in a different car this time though to have more room. We stopped in Taihape at the Exchange cafe for hot drinks and some food, then got stuck in nasty traffic north of Otaki from an accident south of Paraparaumu. Traffic cleared somewhere south of Otaki, then backed up again at Mackays Crossing, so we took the Paekakariki Hill rd over to Petone to drop off Rebecca and then finally home to my flat at about 7.30 then to Mum and Dads for a decent shower and nice dinner.