Students learn to cope with mountain

Spending the night in a self-made snow cave and waking up to a whiteout were among challenges faced by Wairarapa College Year 12 Outdoor Education students recently.

Towards the end of last term, 17 students and two college staff travelled to Whakapapa Ski Field to gain a unit standard in alpine skills.

With expert tuition from an Alpine 2 instructor the students spent time learning the basics of crampons and ice picks, how to "self arrest" - or stop on ice - and how to move through deep snow.

Teacher-in-charge Kath Wilkie said the students built snow caves in the side of a hill and made snow mounds by making a pile of packs, covering the pile in packed-down snow and taking the packs away to make a cavity.

They then spent the night in the snow caves they had made.

Ms Wilkie said they woke up to a whiteout.

'It was very cold and the students got a bit grizzly.

"It pushed a lot of them outside their comfort zones with the weather, demands of the activity, sleeping in a snow cave, being in a foreign environment and working in deep snow," she said.

Ms Wilkie said the students rose to the challenges and were a great group.

"It's all about teamwork, from carrying the gear up from the carpark to building snow caves."

Ms Wilkie said it had been "awesome" giving the students alpine skills and the experience would allow them to extend that into Year 13 .