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Ten take on Tapi - December 2004

After many days staring at Tapi across the strait we finally got through the hoards onto the ferry out of Wellington on the Friday of labour weekend. Our group consisted of four students from the 04 AIC along with six others for a total group of ten. Our original plan of finding each other simply by carrying ice axes got a little confused by the number of others going climbing that weekend. We finally found everyone by about half way across the strait and the climbing stories and aspirations all started to come out. We stayed the night in Picton and made the trip down the Awatere Valley the next morning.

The trip up the Hodder was good fun and all managed to stay pretty dry. 70 river crossings was the official count. We arrived at the huts at about 5 and squeezed into the 18 bed huts along with the other 10 already there. A couple outside in a tent and on the floor (we didn't find the spare mattresses until the cleanup on the final morning).

The next morning was cloudy and damp but we were not going to be put off and packed up for a summit attempt. Tim showed some serious determination and declared that he would not join us and have a hut day. His resolve lasted for about 30min and he caved in at the final moment and joined us. The whole day was spent in thick cloud and we ended up getting pretty lost. Following a meeting of the minds we decided to turn around and retrace our steps out from about 200m below the summit. On the way out Shane accidentally demonstrated a self arrest at the top of the huge north face. We all had our hearts in our mouths for a few seconds but the lessons from AIC were clearly learned well. We had some epic bum slides and found our way back out to the huts hungry but happy after a 9 hour day. Shane had decided he was invincible that day and attempted a daring flying leap across the Hodder. He ended up clinging to the side of slippery rock by a few fingers to avoid being dragged down the raging 2 foot deep Hodder. We all had a good laugh.

Day three dawned very similar with thick cloud all around us. The forecast was for improving conditions so the bulk of the group decided on a late start. After Manu and Andrew gave Siobhan and William a less on how to play 500, we all readied our selves for an 11am start. Once again we had ourselves a piker as Siobahn settled down in her Everest bag for a hut day. Once again though a spineless back down at the last minute had her joining us for another hard 1400m slog up a mountain we couldn't see. We had learned from the mistakes of the day before and knew exactly the way to the summit. For four hours we all probably thought of turning around but kept going as a Fleeting glimpse of blue sky spurred us on. We struggled our way up the final couloir to find the early morning group of Josh, Merewyn and Tom coming back down from the summit. We followed the summit ridge up to what we though would be a grey anticlimax of a summit. The instant we stepped up onto the summit the clouds cleared and we got about 5min of great views of the seaward Kaikouras and a few unnamed peaks to the east and west. We were all pretty psyched and couldn't believe our luck. We spent about 10min on the summit and took heaps of photos before heading back down the ridge. We had some awesome bum slides down the couloir and dropped about 800m in less than 10 minutes.

We arrived back at the hut that night at about 7pm and all watched the self professed "gourmet cooking group" cook up 6 pasta snack packs to go with their veggies. That was enough to feed the lot of us and I'm sure they didn't get past halfway. Like all good mountaineers they packed out what they packed in, right guys, right.

Day four was a great fine sunny day and we all enjoyed being in the river on the way down. The water level has risen a bit and a few of the group took some impromptu dips. Merewyn managed to end up sitting down facing up stream with her back to a large rock and the river at about chin level. We got out to the cars at 3pm minus Josh's plastics, now added to the shoe tree at the bottom of the Hodder.

We fell into the 'Toot and Whistle' 15min before our sailing and were amazed at how quickly the produced steak sandwiches and roast dinners (big ups to the T&W/G). We had an amazing sunset on the ferry back and are already planning the next trip. I think the girls will be pining for big boy in between times.

Missing Tom Wilson, Manu Big Boy Ward, Siobahn Isles, William Veale, Nicole Mouth Moistener, Josh Qui Gon Jinn Groom, Merewyn Ellis, Tim Holt, Andrew Finnigan.

Andrew Finnigan