Summit Luncheon & Tongariro River Rafting

Have you ever seen Santa Claus lash on a pair of crampons and take hold of an ice-axe before?  Neither had I, till Saturday morning as we were preparing to climb Mt. Ruapehu, the North Island’s highest peak, for the annual Summit Luncheon.  Students representing tramping and alpine clubs from around the North Island dressed as funky disco boys, fair Chinese maidens, and reindeer pulling a shopping cart sleigh gathered at Massey University Alpine Club hut at Turora hoping for good weather.  With an early wakeup on Saturday morning (not unlike Christmas mind you) we discovered what we were after—no not the shiny new train set—but fine blue skies, crisp mountain air, and a view of the mountain.  Because the sun beat down so warmly, the snow melted quick and before long we felt our boots sinking into the snow.  We pushed on higher, where wind and slightly crustier conditions prevailed.  After 4 ½ hours of tramping, we reached the summit plateau and I pulled out of my pack a few surprises, including four dressed chickens for carving, smoked Alaskan salmon, meringue, a business suit, and a cigar.  After all, this was a formal event.  Following a photo shoot, waltz, and game of bocce balls the feast was prepared—and a feast it was, consisting of numerous dishes and a scrumptious dessert.  All atop an active volcano with a crater lake and a splendid 360 degree view.  (To view more photos of the summit luncheon click here).

On Sunday many trampers, including myself, opted to take part in an avalanche course organized and taught by one of our own highly skilled mountaineers.  We went over avalanche theory, snow profiles, compression block testing, and transceiver searches.  Even though I have seen numerous avalanches go off in my life and even been very close to them in person, I had never taken a course on the devastating natural phenomena before and found the session highly beneficial.  I was particularly impressed by the accuracy and easy functionality of the transceivers, which are used to locate people buried in the snow (granted they must also be wearing a transceiver).  I’m glad to know the Auckland University Tramping club owns five and I can borrow one if I’m ever going on a big expedition.  They have some pretty sweet gear available for hire, which I am very pleased about and have already taken full advantage of.

Well, that was this past weekend, but I’ve been staying busy as always.  Last week for instance, I scheduled half a dozen presentations to give to Rotary clubs around Auckland and put the finishing touches on my PowerPoint slides.  I also had my thesis approved by the Geography Department and have been continuing with my research, reading many interesting articles on evacuation planning and the use of GIS in emergency management.  I even made it over to the Auckland Regional Council to talk with the hazard managers and GIS technicians about trying to get transport data released for my thesis study (no luck yet).  On Tuesday night, my sponsoring Rotary Club, RC of Newmarket, put on a pub quiz night which I and my friends Soren and Marcel joined in.  We helped propel team “Aliens Abroad” to a close victory over President Roger Harvey’s squad.  Afterwards we had to do a bit of searching for Soren’s car though as we had accidentally parked outside a few closed shops, which displayed “night towing area” signs.  Who would have thought you can’t park in front of closed shops at night?  Obviously not this naïve Alaskan boy living for the first time in the big city… Sometimes you have to learn the lesson the hard way or in Soren’s case, learn the lesson twice!

(Some random folks rafting the Tongariro River--photo off the internet as I did not want to get my camera wet).

The weekend before last (19-20 September) I went with the Canoe Club (a dubious name as they are really a bunch of kayakers) to the Tongariro River for the dam release flow—a biannual pilgrimage for North Island paddlers.  As my kayaking skills are not yet up to whitewater par, I settled on using my packraft, which weighs less than three kilos, fits in my backpack, and handles whitewater fairly well (though I learned high volume class IV is really pushing it).  Though I went for a few swims, my dry-suit proved its weight in gold and I stayed warm and dry.  I’ve also learned to quickly pop back into my boat and to hang onto my paddle for dear life—a lost paddle could spell ruin in turbulent whitewater.  On the class III sections with large whitewater but fewer holes and suck eddies my packraft handled beautifully and I’m beginning to feel very comfortable in it.  The next step is to take it on some grand backcountry expeditions combining rafting with tramping, which I’m really looking forward to.  The South Island must be just spectacular for this.  I can’t wait!