Page 16 - 2008 AMA Summer

7 thought you bought the air sickness pills!'
dated snow, exposed ridges, regular avalanches and incredibly loose rock. Conditions that add a darker dimension to the easy accessability of the range, beautiful views, awesome climbing and skiing and excellent hut facilities. During this time, Bob was christened ‘Bouncing Bob’ after a slab of snow on which 18 stone Zac was perched, gave way initi­ ating a superman slide for Bob who was belaying. It ended ungracefully, but safe­ ly, in a heap several m etres below.
I will always remember the colours of the sunsets at the Kelman. It became a ritual to don the down jackets, pop onto the balcony, admire the views and sip hot brews whilst chatting over the day’s events. Surely the ideal debrief after an excellent day.
The next tw o days were spent in Mt Cook village with hearty meals and discussions of rope and summit teams. Fast forward three days and we’re
now landing on the grand plateau underneath Mt Cook for the big attempt up the Linda Glacier route. After get­ ting all the kit to the Plateau hut, Phil and party skied to the glacier to recce a route up. Meanwhile, we deployed ourselves on a sunbathing cadre.
And then the weather turned.
Now we had some decisions to make. We had approxi­ mately 7 days to attempt the sum m it before flying out. The next day five of us ascended the north side of Anzac peak in poor weather to practice clim bing and com m unication in the high winds and spin­ drift. W ith a little experience and the trust we now had in each other, we found our­ selves clim bing fast and effi­ ciently.
Imprinted on my memory that day is the figure of Phil Ashby bounding around on the exposed summit ridge like a mountain goat, telling us to “Hurry up!” Luckily the wind was blowing hard enough to drown out the sound of me
Jules staying out under the stars.