Beginner’s Sno Skool 1 2025

Instructors: Chris and Brendan 

Students: Jess, Hannah, Elyse, Nicholas, Gaku, Satyam, Flynn, and Shella

Date: 27th to the 30th of June 

Location: Tongariro Mt Ruapehu 

Snow? Mountains? Ice? Sounds like fun to me. With 10 people in total and a University van, we were straight on our way towards Mt Ruapehu and the uphill adventures that awaited us. 

All of us met outside the UoA clock tower, the original meeting spot for every tramping trip. Arranged in our seats and with all of our heavy packs, we were eager and excited for the snow-filled days ahead. On the way down, out of Auckland, we made a stop to pick up some very important gear i.e. ice axes and continued our mission on the highway. Some of us jammed to nice Greek instrumental songs and others listened to Eurovision songs from countries like Turkey’s ‘kiss-kiss’ and the O.G. ‘Europapa’ from the Netherlands contestant.

It was off to a good start and we spent a nice warm night at the YHA hostel, in the morning some enjoyed hot ramen noodles and others just prepared oat-packed meals. Before waking up, us girls in our girls-only YHA room, looked out the window in the morning, and Jess with a very concerned face stared out at the rain and hardly-visible mountains or anything in the distance, the only thing we could really see was the mini-golf course outside the hostel. But, there was no turning back now… only onwards. However, not everything was running perfectly when we realised Nicholas didn’t have any waterproof or heat-insulating pants for the trip up… he said he was keen to do it in his thermal pants but of course our instructors didn’t let that one slide. So as Nicholas and Chris went to rent a pair of nice pants so his legs wouldn’t collapse on the entire trip, as we waited during that period, we ate some of Brendan’s crispy noodles in the van which he said tasted like metal. 

Now we were ready for our last stop, the bottom of Whakapapa ski field. After a briefing at Whakapapa and some more gear pushed into our almost bursting tramping pack earlier that morning at YHA, we were finally ready to start to make our way up to the NZAC hut. We had measured our crampons and put them on, which we didn’t realise was so complicated but after practice became easier. Chris and Brendan taught us some techniques in the snow, walking up and down with some cool Dune-like SandWalk, not really though as we just kept taking wide steps but kind of that vibe but in snow.

The way up was a bit hellish but we made it through, navigating towards the hut in raining and freezing conditions. Before we made it, the sunlight had disappeared and it was completely dark which meant head torches on. However, we had to make a stop outside the

ski-field cafe just before the NZAC hut as Shella’s crampons came off. The wind bashed us and nature was challenging our resilience but everyone waited patiently and we continued on. “Yippeeeee!” “WooOoooo!”, some noises and sounds were made as we finally reached our form of civilization. 

The hut welcomed our clanging crampons and dripping wet gear. Some more eager than others to get straight into the hut started to disassemble and put all of our cold and wet gear in the drying room, that is when Jess was still sitting out in the shoe-room and taking some time to get used to the new environment. The huts drying room was met with pure joy and a sense of relief. Heaters were switched on. Vegetables were chopped. A switch of socks to warm-up our feet and within an hour it was already dinner-time which consisted of warm nachos. 

The next day was super fun with heaps of theory on weather conditions, avalanches, and a bit of environmental physics on how ice and snow form in different ways on the mountains depending on wind and the density and spreading of snow/water particles. We went out and practiced skills like using a wind safety cover and shovelling up snow to search for a transceiver in a fake ‘avalanche’ scenario. Very useful skills indeed.

With penguin huddling, ice-axe techniques, crampon-tightness importance, and our amazing instructors we returned back to the heat-insulated hut. In the evening after some more theory, which included the use of salt packets as fake ‘snow’ to help us understand how snow and wind works on the mountains, we let our creativity flow. 

We also explored the night-sky afterwards filled with stars. The feeling of insignificance when you’re looking up at something so magnificent in a place so far away from the fads of society is a truly remarkable experience.

The last day was a Monday and also it was the last day of the month being June the 30th 2025. After an absolutely lovely day and skill-enhancing training of snow science, self-arresting skills, Jess and Shella not taking off their crampons while everyone else did. It was time to head down. We employed many skills we had learnt and then decided almost ¾ of the way down, to make a stop and slide down the snow, Flynn had lots of fun doing that not self-arresting at all, while Brendan showed off his cool twisty and turny self-arresting moves and tricks. Very cool and life-saving indeed. 

Also fun fact: we learnt that Brendan’s favourite mountain or tramping snack is… (drum-roll) Pineapple lumps (some of us still prefer sour mix though) 

At one point we all stopped again to admire the view of the car-park on the Whakapapa ski-field. Wow, we made it! We got changed and did a gear-swap saying Hello to Snow School #2, reassuring them not to worry and they would have a good time too (I hope they did given the weather conditions)...

All of our packs back in the van and everyone ready for the trip back home, we reflected and were proud of our tramping and alpine achievements. 

Thank you so much to our amazing instructors for this beautiful and challenging experience! We hope to be out back in the New Zealand mountains soon.