Following a couple of beaut Search and Rescue training weekends based at Tukino Alpine Sports Lodge, and with a positive forecast and good snow and ice, it was time to get out and play.
Don French knows the area better than most, with years of climbing and route-setting here he has a crag named in his honour, and a long history with the Tukino Alpine Sports Club besides. He was keen for a day trip down the Whangaehu Valley, so that became the main objective for the weekend. Our third team member was Rupert Holbrook, all three of us known to each other through Wairarapa LandSAR.
As usual, Friday evening meant a dinner stop at the Taihape Roast Shop for their famous roast pork with apple sauce, then it was off along the Desert Road to the turn-off and into 4×4 mode for the 14km to the lodge. This time of year the drive can be slow going through deep snow or ice, but we had no trouble.
Saturday started early with an easy 300m climb over a couple of kilometres to Whangaehu Hut, where we stopped for a break and met a solo climber who’d already traversed over from Whakapapa that morning. He made me feel unfit.
Whangaehu Hut.
From the hut we traversed around the north side of the cliff it sits atop and dropped carefully into the valley bottom, aware that a climber had fallen to her death in this same spot only a year before. It made for a sober moment on an otherwise cheerful day, and we moved with a bit more care and a bit less chat through that section than we might have otherwise.
Upper Whangaehu River.
Whangaehu Hut (top of cliff on the right). We came down the left hand side.
Don French.
The trip down the valley turned out technically easier than we’d expected, with only a little navigation needed to dodge the odd drop-off or dead end. In stunning weather we stopped for lunch on an exposed spur, with great views down the valley and west to Ringatoto Peak, towering 800m above us at 2,591m.
NE face of Ringatoto Peak.
The largest frozen waterfall of the day, at E-1823935, N-5648372.
About as technical as it got.
The lower valley shortly before we crossed over and climbed out.
By mid-afternoon we were hunting for a spot to cross the Whangaehu River without wetting our boots, and on the climb out found some nice water ice to play on, a first for me. A couple of runs on that, then it was a climb of about 100m back to the hut for an evening of good company with the other mountain users staying there.
We found some ice on the way out of the valley bottom (iPhone shot).
Sunday was a half day, so we headed twenty minutes north-east of the lodge, crossing the Mangatoetoenui Stream to the Irish Ice Express route, a two-pitch ice climb and a step up from the day before. It turned out a great climb for Rupert and I, while Don soloed up beside us.
From the ridge-top it’s an easy walk up and over, then south back to the lodge for a clean-up and the drive home.
Irish Ice Express, W12.
THE PLAYERS
Don French.
Rupert Holbrook.
North of the Saddle 
Leave a comment