The Mt Egmont Alpine Club open climb 2007 was a great success, although the views were limited because of cloud & mist. Personally, I like the cooling effect this provides. Dr Richard Holve, a GP locum at Ruanui Health from USA went up with a fast group while I plodded up at the back, in case there was a medical problem I needed to attend (and I now prefer a slower climb). We caught up at the top (he had all the views, I got the mist).

On the previous Mt Egmont Alpine Club open climb in 2006 (below) I had also planned a slower climb at the back but halfway between the drinking Rock and the Lizard some Tasmanian visitors had reached their limit and needed to be escorted down, so I didn't complete the climb.

A Mt Egmont Alpine Club Fantham's peak climb was an opportunity to improve my fitness prior to a summit climb and the next tramp. For some reason I have always found this to be harder on the legs than climbing the summit, although the contours are no steeper - perhaps one doesn't allow enough rests. I was interested to find a rabbit huddled in the scoria half way up.

The near perfect conditions at the onset deteriorated as wet and misty clag came in further up, forcing the wet gear on and the camera packed away.

While I had done a fair bit of tramping around sections of the mountain, it had been 5 years since I had done a summit, when Ian Bardsley and John Barrell and I climbed the East Ridge to Shark's Tooth which at 2510m is 8m lower than the summit (but it looks higher from Hawera). There are much better views from here.