11-16 October 2020

Leader: Bryan Wild

14 of us travelled to Whakakpapa for a late season romp in the snow. The plan was a mixture of skiing and a bit of tramping, but all up ..... just to have some fun ..... which we certainly did.

We left Kapiti and had a coffee stop at Taihape which also doubled as an early lunch stop, visited the supermarket for some fresh food and we were arriving at the top of the Bruce by about 2.30pm. A couple of loads carried up to the CTC lodge and we were just about settled in by 3.30pm.The CTC Lodge ( Catholic Tramping club ) is spacious and very warm and is an ideal place to relax and kick back for a few days. It’s almost impossible NOT to be able to relax as it’s just so comfortable.

As per forecast our 1st day dawned ( although it seemed in two minds whether or not to bother ) wet, very wet. It was warm with cloud down to a low level and so nothing much to do except chill out inside the lodge. Day 2 wasn’t much better and we had the onset of ‘cabin fever‘ by now so we all decided to visit the hot pools at Tokaanu. We arranged to pick Brandon up from Ohakune first and then all meet later at the pools. A swim, a bit of lunch and then back to the lodge by mid afternoon - the weather was brightening a little by now. Good forecast for the Wednesday ....... and sure enough we all had a fantastic day skiing on the mountain.

Thursday’s forecast was 50:50, by now Owen, Marian & Kathryn had arrived & a few had to leave and so some of us went for a tramp to Whakapapaiti hut, just a couple of hours away from the lodge. It was bright & sunny though with a cool wind at the start, was now becoming quite warm.

Friday, our last day on the mountain had a good forecast and so we were excited at the prospect of one more day of skiing. After the clean-up we vacated the lodge by 9.00am and with gear packed away into cars we set about putting those planks of wood back onto our feet. It didn’t take long for the muscles to object .... and so we all had another great day of skiing.

We left the mountain at varying times and were all back to Kapiti by early evening, tired and refreshed.

Those on the trip were:

Bryan Wild, Brandon Holman, Glenda Robb, Chris Keating, Graeme Richardson, Paula Richardson, Yingjun Shelton, Miyah Shelton, Lucas Shelton, Pam Glover, John Glover, Marian Cox, Owen Cox, Kathryn Cox