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A Momentary Lapse - September 2005

Paul McCullagh (CNI) and Mike Peat skinned up to Whakapapa Hut in balmy conditions by the light of the full moon on Friday 19th August for a weekend of ice and ski adventures.

Saturday morning was spent on Pink Floyd Buttress climbing the middle (crux) pitch of 'Momentary Lapse of Reason' which was in good nick due to the face being fully shaded all morning. This pitch alone is worth a weekend on the mountain, it has everything from delicate face climbing, crack climbing, ice runnels and even an overhang to finish. The route can be run out at times depending on whether ice build up hides the cracks, but good protection can usually found with blade pitons, wires and small to medium sized cams. Many of the mixed lines in the area were pretty dodgy with the ice inadequately frozen to the rock, and warm weather meant that any route with sunny slopes above was a bomb zone. In the afternoon we ski traversed from the hut west for about an hour to the Barium Enema ice crag which was completely devoid of ice. Exhausted after our energetic traverse where we lost only 15m altitude over several kilometres, we decided to further punish our bodies by skinning back over the west ridge of Pare and most of the way up the Whakapapa Glacier. A glorious run was had back to the hut as the sun was setting over Mt Egmont on the western horizon.

Sunday dawned fine and even warmer than the previous day, we put the morning to good use climbing on the Moonshine Buttress while the snow softened. A single pitch route called 'Whisky' was climbed in excellent conditions, and would appear to be one of the few waterfall type routes to form properly this year. The ice took screws nicely and good rock anchors can be found suiting wires and small cams. From here we skinned the short distance to the broad saddle at the top of the pinnacle ridge for lunch. The most exquisite spring snow was found as we skied down the north side of the pinnacle ridge, traversing and skiing the steeper faces until we met the floor of the valley about 200m below - highly recommended. There are no tax cuts for the ski-tourer though, our 5 minutes of fun going down amounted to 30 minutes of sweating and puffing, skinning back up a broad gully to regain the ridge. Our ski back to the hut was temporarily derailed when I lost an edge after shooting a gully and found myself sliding down hard ice out of control. Anyone who has had the "falling experience" will vouch for the fact that you seem to have a surprising amount of time to analyse the situation. My equation went something like this; crikey I've slipped over... get feet down hill and try to get the edges in to slow down... too steep and icy - not working... isn't there a groomer track below me... how big do you reckon that drop is... about 3m I think... at this speed it's going to hurt like hell... anytime now... anytime now... (sound of meat being dropped from height onto a hard surface)... feels like I've broken my arse and some ribs too. After lying prone several minutes to recover my breath I found that lady luck was with me, no broken bones, just a tortured body for a few days until the swelling and tenderness subsides.

Mike Peat