It was with a less than ideal forecast that four of us left Wellington on Friday 4 September, 2026, with the goal of climbing Te Heuheu on Ruapehu maunga. We were three developing alpinists, all with fewer than ten trips under our belt, in Michael, Lachlan, and Bogdan, and one experienced and patient leader, Patrick. After some car troubles along the way and what some participants described as the crux of the whole trip (a wet, sleety, snowy, and windy walk in the dark with heavy Day 1 packs and all the luxuries needed for a weekend up the mountain) we arrived at Pinnacles Lodge, our base for the weekend.
We had already had much discussion along the way, particularly in Taihape over dinner, about the conditions we were likely to find and how we would need to modify our original plan. The avalanche forecast was considerable in the high alpine, and NIWA forecast poor visibility on the Saturday morning – both big red flags (Sunday was completely out due to a comprehensively terrible forecast). There were also possible high winds higher on the mountain.
We discussed the aspects on which the avalanche danger was located, and concluded that while we should not attempt our original objective of Te Heuheu, we could head up the mountain on less dangerous aspects aiming towards Glacier Knob just before the summit plateau, assessing conditions as we went and with a decision point at the skifield boundary. We also nominated a turnaround time of 1pm to allow plenty of time to get down before forecast low visibility later in the afternoon.
Saturday dawned bright and clear, contrary to the forecast whiteout conditions, though with a cloud base below the skifield which thankfully seemed to keep away from the mountain. Something to watch out for, though. After the typical morning faff and all the usual checks (which revealed that GPS devices can interfere with avalanche transceivers – an unwelcome discovery, and something to keep in mind!) we set off with Glacier Knob as the ultimate destination, though acknowledging the high chance we would need to be satisfied with a pleasant walk in the snow.
With Lachlan in the lead, we made our navigation decisions by consensus, and arrived at the NZAC Ruapehu hut in time for a late-morning break, conditions still bluebird. We then set off along the ridge that leads to Delta Corner, and ended up bluffing ourselves out. Embarrassing! At least three of us had been to the area before, and should have recalled the small but steep rocky faces rising above Delta. We discussed our options as the clouds (remember those?) began to roll in. Our small inadvertent detour, and the fact of the changing weather, meant we had likely lost our chance at gaining Glacier Knob. We had had our pleasant walk in the snow, and decided now was the time to return to the comforts of the lodge – but not before getting in some good skills practice!
As the weather continued to slowly roll in, and under Patrick’s able guidance and watchful supervision, we practised downclimbing a steep icy slope, got in some good self-arrest practice, and (perhaps most valuably) had a great avalanche rescue practice session. Skills we hope never to need to use, but confidence-building in that, despite hiccups, we were still able to locate a buried transceiver in under five minutes every time, getting down to two minutes 16 seconds on our final attempt. After some more skills practice, including in using an ice tool to traverse steep firn, we followed the ski trails through by now very claggy conditions back to the lodge.
All in all, a fantastic day out in the snow with a great crew of people. What more could you want?
