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mountaineering courses in NZ 15-Aug-2006 At 3:40:48 PM JohnK

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>THe second time we were stuck in the hut for 8 days straight. Could not
>see more than 100m outside, had to hang on for your life just to get to
>the toilet and the hut was struck by lightning almost every night. Almost
>completely out of food on about the 9th morning the weather cleared slightly
>and we ran down the Tasman for a few hrs. As soon as we reached the moraine
>the weather completely closed in again, I fell in a hole, twisted my ankle,
>climbed back out of hole, slept on a pile of rocks, it rained, got hungry
>and dragged my sorry self to Mt Cook Village the next morning (actually
>it took all day).

That's a great story Jonathan! I have to admit I have been a bit more fortunate in breaking it up and spending a night at De Bache hut before going to Mt Cook village. However I did walk in the rain for a day going the other way from Ball Shelter to De LaBeche hut last Xmas and went the wrong way thus spending 7 hrs bashing through morraine ice cliffs & huge holes!

Don't let all these stories scare you Rodeo. Walking out of the Tasman might be hard the first time but it's good preperation for anything else you plan on doing and it gets far easier every time afterwards. If you want to visually see this area including photos from a TMC by Alpine Guides in the upper tasman and walking out go here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnkazanas/sets/544526/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnkazanas/sets/1758356/