The Rubik's Cube Record

I've promised Robbie that I will publish his latest exploit on the blog - a world record perhaps.

To paraphrase his Dad Geoff's words, when he emailed some photos; here are some shots of Robbie, who completed what we believe is a world first. At the 2670-metre Dome Shelter, near the 2797m (9177ft) summit of Mt Ruapehu, after his first ascent and aged 11, he solved his Rubik's Cube puzzle. Dome Shelter is the highest point that recreational climbers of the mountain are advised to reach.

It affords a great view of the often active crater lake, visible in the background in some of the pictures. We are confident that no one has completed their Rubik's Cube puzzle atop Ruapehu, but admit it might be difficult to prove this to the Guinness Book of World Records. Robbie has learned to complete the 3X3 cube puzzle in the past few days and has spent hours honing his skill and trying to lower his best time, which stands just below four minutes at present.

Unfortunately, the event took its toll and he couldn't do the cube after for a couple of days. The four hours in the snow was enough to give him a painful dose of snow blindness that required a 1am visit to our hospital's accident and emergency department that night. The next day he was a patched member of the I've-conquered-Ruapehu gang with two round, gauze pads stuck over his eyes and was been advised to keep himself in the dark for the day. Geoff was his seeing eye dog. The day after he was pretty much back to normal. No permanent damage, and the Rubik's Cube record is under siege again.