President’s Desk Kia ora folks, Last one of these for the year or me. Boom 2019, you’re over. That’s right it’s December already. November disappeared in a bang, literally, and all that’s left is a shimmering haze, can’t tell if it’s Aussie bush fires or electrical smoke from Tahurangi, but we’re cooking now, summer is here. To recap… November was a bit crap in so many ways. Slush summit was cancelled due to bad weather on that weekend (who’d have thought?) , however pleased to see a few of the snow crafties getting out there under their own steam and […]

President’s Desk Hi folks, Spring weather means predictable unpredictability in our mountain weather, but those who have managed to find the weather windows have been rewarded with nice crampon conditions in the early morning and softening descents by lunchtime. Good conditions now for those that participated in the snow craft courses to get amongst it. The skiers have been making the most of it as well, with a number of successful descents from the summit. Good work if you can get it! With more snow falling as I write there is no immediate end to the spring season in sight, […]

President’s Desk Hi everyone, Well social media tells me it’s been a good month for the TAC community, fb pages are loaded with gloating images of happy climbers on rimey summits, icy sunrises, and tales of springs first ski descents from the crater. Presidential tenure however seems to guarantee almost none of the above, mine coinciding somehow with a decline in appearances on the maunga this month, however happy for all of you.. really… So let’s remedy that. Make this “take your president climbing” month, starting with the (delayed) club trip to Syme Hut (now) on the 6th of October […]

President’s Desk Hey everyone. What a shambles of a month! Plenty of fresh snow, probably better suited to the skiers than climbers recently and only the briefest of weather windows, usually on a Tuesday (*#!!) to get into it. Having to cancel the Ngaruahoe trip was a massive disappointment, especially to Ange our trip coordinator and a SC1 course is also in weather limbo. However on a brighter note we have managed to run a SC2 course and two SC1 courses despite the weather and from what I saw, everyone had a great time. We’ve blooded some new instructors and […]

President’s Desk Hi everyone, Well this month has been productive, despite generally inclement weather, congratulations to the Snow Craft 1 and 2 candidates who stuck it out last weekend despite the wet conditions and a big thanks to the instruction team for biting the bullet and getting it done. This weekends course looks like it will be more pleasant conditions however. Such is mountaineering. Kevin Conaglen is working up a proposal for a club trip into the Hopkins Valley in early January 2020. His plan at the moment is to set up a base camp at Elcho Hut, from where […]