The night of August 14th 2026, a fresh cohort of budding mountaineers arrived at the isolated Manawatu Lodge, on the outskirts of the Whakapapa hut cluster. We attempted to get as much rest as we could for that night, focused for our first objective on a mountain!
The morning came quickly, despite some of us having arrived late at night that didn’t stop us from attempting an agreed upon objective - Dome! With some caution upon the weather and avalanche forecast, we decided to set out. We marched up over the ski field to scope out the conditions with preparation that we might have to turn back. All the same we kept our eyes peeled for the changing mountain conditions.
The snow felt good and we all felt comfortable with the steady marching on. Within our groups we discussed and split off into different routes. Some points we were partially in a cloud, the light moisture tickled our faces and obscured our vision but at other points, the cloud disappeared briefly enough, revealing a stunning view.
Glacier Knob became a couple of groups’ choice of stop for lunch. With a bit of energy recovered, we made our way up to the ridgeline to admire Summit Plateau. At this time, we were very much in a cloud, surrounded by a dreamy and surreal landscape of ivory. Although visibility was low, it was still incredibly beautiful.
At the top of the ridgeline, we realised that the ridge narrowed and descended into a rather unsafe traverse on a dodgy snow face. To technically say that we reached the summit of Dome would be incorrect, as we were maybe a few hundred metres away from it. However, I want to celebrate my cohort’s feat of what is otherwise a successful mission. To us, that was Dome (2.0) and most would agree, it’s far better!
I have only just started mountaineering - but if this is common for descending a mountain I would love to mountaineer more often. Our descent route consisted of much sliding and self-arresting down the slopes, sort of like a queue of penguins on a well formed ice-slide. I am not sure how long the longest slope was, or what the top speed was (a landspeed record was debated) but we all quickly agreed upon that this was undoubtedly, the best and most efficient route down. The fun was only such a bonus.
Most of us arrived back at the lodge timely at 4:30pm. We all ended the day with a fantastic vege curry that was made by some talented chefs amongst the cohort.
The next morning (Sunday) naturally we rigged the lodge ceiling beam with some ropes to learn a bit of rope-skills and as a small intro to the what we might see further down the journey as mountaineers. At the carpark, we bidded farewell, all leaving as more accomplished young mountaineers but more importantly, with a new network and friendships of like-minded adventurers!
I wish everyone in this course all the best for any future objectives and am only eager to hear about any future endeavours any of us partakes in the future! Thank you to all the instructors and everyone who participated to have made a fantastic Wellington Snowcraft course for 2026!
