During the month of May, a very keen team of Australians spent 9 days training and practicing mountaineering and alpine climbing on rock and ice. They based themselves at Kelman hut in Mt Cook national park, learning and improving  their knowledge about glacier travel, crevasse rescue, establishing belay stations, knots and rope work, using crampons and ice axe and in general the tricks of being and staying safe  in the mountains. One participant had the unfortunate experience of a collapsed lung after only a couple of days and had to be evacuated. His medical condition luckily stayed stable enough while a storm kept them hut bound and he’s now in good hands and well looked after.