Kime Hut Temperature Experiments

This past weekend, I was on a tramping trip with the WTMC and we passed through the “new Kime Hut” twice due to the gale force winds turning us back at Mt Hector. Yes, another failed attempt at the Neill-Winchcombe Ridge.

These were of course my first visits to the “new Kime Hut”. It is located above the bushline, without any source of fuel for a fire. Without any heating it was bitterly cold inside and as an alpine hut, so I decided to repeat a past experiment of measuring the temperature inside and outside the hut. Each time leaving the thermometer away from body heat for 5-10 minutes before taking a reading.  From these measurements I learned that every trampers hope that the new Hut would be warmer have been dashed. If “old Kime Hut” was “The Fridge” then “new Kime Hut” must surely be “The Chiller”. I certainly do not possess scientifically calibrated equipment, and the table below is based on very few samples. However, it does show a clear pattern - that the new Hut has not broken from the heritage and legend of the infamously cold Hut that is recently replaced.

“old Kime Hut” 1978-2013		“new Kime Hut” 2013-…
6 June 2009		26 October 2013 (Photo by Mike)
Outside temperature at 0230:	–0.8C	Inside temperature at 1120:	4.2C
Inside temperature at 0240:	0.4C	Outside temperature at 1132:	4.7C
Difference:	1.2C warmer inside	Difference:	0.5C colder inside
Outside temperature at 0930:	0.8C	Inside temperature at 1340:	4.9C
Inside temperature at 0940:	1.6C	Outside temperature at 1346:	5.2C
Difference:	0.8C warmer inside	Difference:	0.3C colder inside
Body heat in hut:	1 person	Body heat in hut:	4 persons

You can find my original post from 2009 here: http://craig.mcgregor.gen.nz/2009/06/tararua-forest-park-kime-by-moonlight.html

MTB: Skyline to Red Rocks

I made another feeble attempt at pretending I was mountain biker. With Mark who had recently arrived in Wellington, and is hanging out with with the folk  from the Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club joining in the fun. I must say, I am not (yet?) a very good mountain biker, and it certainly showed. We started with the hardest bit, as I described as “aerobically challenging” with the slog up to Mt Kaukau. At an hour for the first 3km, completed it wasn’t looking good to make it all the way down to Red Rocks.

 

 

Once over Mt Kaukau, the riding seemed to get easier and we picked up the climbs up Johnsons Hill, Makara Peak, Brooklyn Wind Turbine, and Hawkins Hill along the way. Not the fastest, but had a lot of fun finding new local territory to explore. In general the tracks in the mountain bike parks, even with their deliberate obstacles were easier to ride than lose rocks, and deep rutting we found on the shared walking/livestock/biking trails. I particularly enjoyed the end-to-end aspect of the route that provided a feeling of having ridden somewhere – especially with a contiguous route off-road route free of motorised traffic  (until the return ride home). Mark, told he me he saw more of Wellington on this ride than in the previous two months he had spent living here. There were plenty of views, and I should have taken a lot more photos while I was catching my breath.

 

It was a fun outing for the day and raises the question of why hadn’t ridden this ride sooner?

 

Mt Kaukau

Wrights Hill

Slightly contradictory set of signs approaching Hawkins Hill. Don't bring your road-bike, and don't run! But is a mountain bike a vehicle?

 

Air traffic radar on the top of Hawkins Hill

Ruapehu Crater Lake: Summer & Winter

This past weekend I completed the second weekend of a Snowcraft course with the Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club. On Saturday we had good weather and made it up to the Crater Lake at the top of Mt Ruapehu. Having previously visited these parts in the height of summer, I thought contrasting the summer and winter photos from the same location would be interesting.

Pinnacle Ridge

Dome Shelter

Cathedral Rocks

Crater Lake

Rangiwahia Tops; Triangle & Irongate

Date: 13-15 July, 2012

Punters: Bernie, Brendan, Craig, Debbie, Jamie, Paul (L) and Sarah from the Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club.

 

On Friday night we surprised a full hut after tramping up to the elevation of 1300m.asl to Rangiwahia Hut under torchlight. Most of our group stayed on the floor, but I was not one to let a few clumps of snow sighted under torchlight discourage me and chose to stay outside under the veranda on the east deck. After all, I do not go outdoors to stay on a stuffy hut. Ironically, I spent the rest of the weekend hearing the tales of woe of how cold the rest of the party was - inside the hut!

 

 

Snowy Ridgeline

Saturday morning began with a climb up into the snow line proper. It began with mostly good travel with a few instances of stepping through the firm crust and post-holing into between knee deep and waist deep below. This was related to the snow covering the tussock shrubs. On the descent toward Triangle I found myself falling through the snow almost every other step. My knees took a hammering and with supporting cast members, Paul and Brendan we were leaving a trail of blood to mark the Ruahine Tramper massacre every time we post-holed through the snow.

 

On some firmer snow, Sarah let out a not quite so death curdling  scream as she went for a skate down the slope. I drifted off the back of the group as I continued to post-hole through the snow, in one case having to fetch my boot which didn't come out with my leg. My knees were pretty smashed up by the time we reached Triangle Hut where we had lunch.

Descending down to Triangle

Triangle Hut

The section down the river after lunch was absolutely my favourite section of the trip. It seemed surprisingly warm given it was the middle of winter. Possibly this was due to running water being warmer than the frozen stuff we had spent the morning amongst. When we got to the track that left the river with a near vertical scramble before descending rapidly to the river. I was promptly overruled when I suggested it was a flood track and the river was not in flood. (Post trip I have been advised that is both possible and impossible to follow the river in this section. I may return to explore this for myself)

 

 

 

We had a large serving of pasta with tomato base for dinner. Having the fire on on the evening I found the hut too hot but the veranda was small and covered in firewood so I stayed inside on this occasion. Perhaps just as well given the heavy rain that fell in the middle of the night.

 

Irongate Hut

 

The route out on Sunday was less interesting. It was more or less, a flood track up the side of the river that went up, across and down as each slip along the river was crossed. We stopped for lunch at Heritage Lodge, which was welcome as a shower passed over. It was great that it only rained while we were indoors. On returning home the news was full of flooding woes that thankfully did not beset on ourselves.

 

I think this route would be more suited to a summer trip and it may or may not be possible to follow the river from Triangle to the Irongates, near the road end. This may take some exploring and some possible pack floats... Most trips seem to have this thing about following tracks these days, but I continue to consider them optional :>.

Neill-Winchcome U-turn

Date: 2-3 June, 2012

Punters: Alayne, Alistair, Craig, Debbie, Kaleb, Phillip & Weimin from the Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club.

 

Unfortunately some trips do not go as well as one hopes. I had looked forward to this trip for months with the Neill-Winchcombe ridge being a major point of missing red-line on the map on my lounge wall. The best trip on the schedule I proclaimed. In different conditions it certainly could have been.

 

The Neill-Winchcombe ridge is a less travelled ridge which connects Cone Ridge to Mt Hector. Whereas most visitors to this part traverse the Southern Crossing traveling north to south from Otaki to Kaitoke (or Waiohine Gorge), the Neill-Winchcombe joins Mt Hector and provides a path toward the east. Our intentions were to start from Waiohine Gorge, stay at Cone Hut on Friday night, ascend Cone and the travel west along the Neill-Winchcome Ridge to Mt Hector and descend down to Kime Hut on Saturday. Then traverse the Tararua Peaks to Neill Forks on Sunday before returning to the van at Waiohine Gorge on Monday.

 

After a night walk on Friday night, we arrived at an occupied Cone Hut at which half our party stayed in the hut while Alistair, Phillip and myself camped out in good weather. As we departed camp on Saturday the skies were clear and no wind was present. By the time we reached Cone, we were walking in clag with limited visibility but very little wind. We entered the forest and followed the forested ridge with a brief open patch at Neill. The travel along the marked route on this track was constantly up and down with the odd rock scramble for good measure.

 

 

We did not cover this ground as fast as I had hoped, but this didn't become a problem until we reached Winchcombe. The wind was howling in from the west. Walking upright was becoming somewhat of a challenge and we soon found ourselves crawling along the ridge toward pt1378 tightly grasping the tussock. With fading light, gale-force winds and the ridge narrowing toward razorback we chose to turn back for the safety of the bushline for a night of unscheduled fly camping. Unfortunately without a water supply the array of gourmet food carried on our backs had to return with us on Sunday morning while Saturday nights dinner was limited to snackbars and chocolate.

 

 

We certainly were not the first party caught in the position, however unlike us according to other blogs I have read  many have camped nearby a tarn for water supply in this area.

 

All trips are easier with hindsight, and I should have woken the party to leave earlier on Saturday morning and I certainly underestimated the time traveling along the undulating Neill-Winchcombe ridge. I do think that in winter with less daylight, and few bailout options to a cosy hut or a fantastic campsite it may well be a better option to approach this ridge from Mt Hector, thereby being in the bushline later in the day, or if the weather changfes.

 

As for my red-line, there remains a frustrating 1.2km gap between Mt Hector and .1398 which will be resolved by a future successful completion of this trip.

Tramping the Lake Dive Loop

Date: 25-27 May, 2012

Punters: Anthony, Craig, John, Paul, Rebecca and Tommy from the Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club.

 

I had signed up to lead a trip on Queens Birthday weekend, so after a few years of ultra-distance cycling and not much tramping I thought it best to remember how to walk beforehand. After an ever changing list of punters due to withdrawals (including the assigned trip leader whom I replaced in a bloodless coup) and late entries, six of us met on another WTMC tramping trip that began with introductions as we made our way up to Taranaki where we stayed at the DOC managed Konini Lodge with unusual tramping luxuries including hot showers.

 

Throughout the weekend, the expression of outlandish theories on how to resolve the issue of New Zealand's immigrant Brushtail Possum population dominated the conversation. Suggestions by the Australian member of our party that Brushtail Possums in New Zealand were not fatter than Brushtail Possums in the western isles were soon resolved when an over fed specimen was perfectly lined up under headlights by Paul - until he showed more mercy via the brake pedal to the possum than the possum will itself provide to our native flora. Needless to say as many theories around possible biological, genetic and birth controls were found to be flawed and thus quickly dismissed in the manner as any poorly thought-out conspiracy theory.

Mt Taranaki and Fanthams Peak

 

We rose on Saturday to a clear day with perfect visibility to the snow covered peaks of Fanthams Peak and Mt Taranaki. There are people who visit Taranaki many times without seeing the mountain, so with half our party having never been here were lucky to see a great view of mountain.

 

By sight the Upper Lake Dive Track looked only marginally affected by snow, but after talking with DOC staff before leaving I was advised of the possibility of gullies filled with refrozen snow. I took my ice-axe a precaution to make some big foot-holes if such an eventuality made any members of our party uncomfortable..

 

Sir Edmund Hillary Memorial

Hooker Shelter

 

Stairs leading towards Upper Lake Dive Track & Fanthams Peak

 

 

Our tramp began with the steady, often staircased climb past Hooker Shelter and Kapuni Lodge to the junction of the Upper Lake Dive track and the track to Fanthams Peak. During this steady climb we could see a group in the distance trying to cross a gully filled with firm snow on their way toward Fanthams Peak. With this observation any prior thoughts of dropping our packs for an optional side trip to higher ground quickly evaporated.

 

A little way above the track junction to Kapuni Lodge we met another party coming down the mountain who kindly offered some advice. It is often hard to assess the quality of advice provided by other parties when you briefly meet for 45 seconds or so. There is after all a continuum of advice received in such circumstances ranging from never leave the house paranoia to quality advice all the way through to the she'll be right gung-ho. Therefore it is of course useful to assess how any advice provided might apply to your own party or trip. On this occasion I was advised of treacherous snow and ice filled gullies, "People have here died you know", and that I would drown the survivors in the streams when returning on the lower track with some rain in the forecast.

While I appreciated their concern, the lack of snow and dry streams did suggest that of absurdly paranoid advice. My grandfather once told me you tell a lot a about person by looking at their shoes. Whilst I couldn't care less weather their boots had been freshly polished I did note that while they had nice shiny gear, they were currently walking on dirt in crampons having just walked down wooden steps that had neither ice or  snow covering then. I thanked them for their advice and that I was aware that there were showers in the forecast and continued on to Lake Dive.

 

We had no wind and mostly clear clear conditions across the Upper Lake Dive Track. There were some small pockets of soft snow and certainly no ice or hard snow. The track offered views across to inland Taranaki farmland "Somewhere" and overlooking the native forest surrounding Mt Taranaki. There are few places that show possum damage to the forest as evidently as here with numerous skeletons of solid native trees that now have neither foliage nor life.

 

Having not been tramping of late I could feel my knees a little after what is an easy descent down to Lake Dive Hut. On arrival we met a group of students who were using this tramp toward their Duke of Edinborough awards. While they were doing there homework we began playing the cardgame "Hearts". Seeing the Duke of Edinborough students studying their maps and recalling what they passed through during the day did make me think an easy trip using this approach could be an alternative method of delivering the clubs Bushcraft courses.

 

Our epic battle over cards was temporarily interrupted by more important things - our stomachs. A minor crisis was averted with some surgery performed with the help of Anthony to recover the fuel hose which detached from the fuel pump of my primus into the the middle of the full fuel bottle. Once reattached we set about getting on with the meal. We all had a collection of ingredients assigned to us by trip leader Paula (absent), and whilst Paul, flatmate of Paula lived in the same house as Paula he hadn't a clue as to the recipe. A fine team effort was co-ordinated to create a fine meal of satay noodles which was gratefully consumed by all.

 

As our card game resumed, the DoE students began playing "the famous person game" and become more and more boisterous. No matter how much sugar we ate via our oversupply of chocolate biscuits we were simply unable to compete both in decibels and pitch. Some funny lines were heard which I am sure we can credit the students as providing solely for the means of our entertainment:

"Is the fire on?" "No, the fire is going. You can't just turn it on"

and

"Invented the iPod" "Isaac Newton"

errr, I think Mr Newton was inspired by a different apple!

 

As the students suddenly ran out of sugar and disappeared to bed promptly, the lack of background noise and distractions made the game ever the more tense. Once Paul completed his convincing win while subtly hiding in the corner and not bringing any attention to himself we soon followed suit.

 

During the night, a gale westerly came up with the express purpose of proving to us that Lake Dive Hut is in fact, very securely fastened to its foundations.

 

 

 

With the arrival of daylight we timed our exit of the hut perfectly. It started to rain the moment we stepped out the door. The track appeared to have a lot of recent maintenance and was nowhere near as muddy as I recalled from a previous visit. Without the warmth of the sunshine, we walked faster, rested less and made good time back to Dawson Falls via the Lake Dive Lower Track. Thoughts of extending the trip around the Dawson Falls loop walk were quickly dashed with the kind offer of a hot shower at Konini Lodge.

 

Driving home

From Pinnacles to Sea with the “has beens"

I briefly came out of tramping retirement last weekend, and went for a tramp with WTMC in the Aorangi Forest Park (also known as the Haurangis), between Martinborough and Cape Palliser. Alistair wrote a trip report for the WTMC newsletter, and has kindly allowed me to re-publish it here.

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Medium Tramp, October 14-16, Haurangi Forest Park

by Alistair Young

I was down to lead the medium traverse of the Haurangis – one of my favourite set of hills, but with no punters signed up things looked grim until Craig McGregor, an ex-Chief Guide signed up. It’s been a few years since our glory days at the Tongue & Meats, and with no other punters signed up, we were obviously so quickly forgotten! We were a pair of “has been” trampers on this trip with Craig having spent so much time ultra-cycling with his feet cleated to his pedals that he had forgotten how to walk, while child rearing is proving the ultimate endurance event of all for me.

The Pinnacles.

Camping at the Pinnacles on Friday night, we were barely tucked away under the fly when the light, but persistent rain started coming tumbling down for the night.

At daybreak, a brisk 800m ascent quickly reminded us that the Haurangis although small in stature, are a nuggety and physical place to tramp. We caught the odd glimpse of the sea as the weather alternated between sunny and drizzly as we shared a robust conversation on the subjects of tramping, politics and rugby. Lunch followed the descent to Washpool Hut with a brew cooked on Craig’s DIY beer-can stove,  which this tramp proved to be a roaring success.

With our tummys fully laden, another sharp ascent and descent led us to Pararaki Hut where we had originally intended to stay the night. There was enthusiasm for an early Sunday departure among other trips with which we shared transport. There was some rugby game on apparently, thus limiting us “has beens” to a only a day and a half to relive the glory days. Over yet another brew, we hatched a cunning plan to push on toward Kawakawa Hut, thus allowing us to complete the originally intended route, with no shortcuts and finish by lunchtime Sunday. This would mean tramping to sunset but as veterans of many a fit trip that was par for the course.

The saddle and watershed area between the Pararaki and Kawakawa valleys is a lovely place, great stream travel, marvellous stands of mature native trees and a spectacular descent into the Kawakawa stream over a well marked but not manicured route makes the Haurangi traverse one of the best Wellington based medium tramps on offer.

We found the perfect campsite just above the Kawakawa Stream where we dined on chilli con-carne and pasta before pitting down as the drizzle returned, it had been a long 12-hour day, from start to finish but well worth the effort. We were both buzzing.

Camp cooking over a beer-can meths stove

The next day brought clearing drizzle, we were at Kawakawa Hut within 30 minutes and breakfasted with the easy-medium group before heading up south up the other branch of the valley towards Mangatoetoe. Travel was fast, the stream was low, its banks clear, in spite of this the unimaginable happened - I lost my punter in broad daylight. The drama unfolded thus:

I got ahead of Craig and stopped to brush my teeth, five minutes passed and a little concerned I left my pack where it could easily be seen and headed back down the stream to find Craig to no avail. I had lost my punter in broad daylight in a 10 meter wide stream with a marked route up it!

Punters don't just vanish  - having thoroughly searched down stream I continued slowly up it looking for tracks, and soon found a single fresh footprint the manhunt was over, Craig had walked passed me while I brushed my teeth, a large boulder separating us and the noise of the stream had rendered me invisible. He had passed 5 meters from me without either of us noticing - as likely as tossing a coin which lands on its edge, we had done the impossible.

The mouth of the Mangatoetoe Stream and the Sea

The next hour was spent catching up to Craig – who all the while was cursing his miserable leader for charging ahead and not bothering to wait or grant him a break, he could not believe it when he saw me approaching from behind – we soon found the funny side of it and returned to a steady pleasant plod over the next saddle to Mangatoetoe Hut for a quick bite before the final trudge  to the sea  with the sun finally coming out in earnest.

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Approximate Track times:
Road end - Washpool Hut:	5hrs	10.5km
Washpool Hut - Pararaki Hut	4hrs	6.8km
Pararaki Hut - Kawakawa Valley	2hrs10m	5.2km
... Kawakawa Hut:	16 mins
Kawakawa Hut - Mangatoetoe Hut:	4hrs	9km
Mangatoetoe Hut - Carpark	1hr	5.3km
Times shown in this table and inline blog text above are indicative only. Travel times in the backcountry are variable depending on fitness, terrain, the size of your party, weather conditions and stopping times for snacks, photography, your interest in botany and such like.
You can find more information about Aorangi Forest Park on DOC's website.

Tramp: The Moonlight Southern Crossing

After a few false starts on the fourth? attempt I finally completed the Moonlight Southern Crossing. Prior attempts having been thwarted by weather and well, a sheer lack of Moonlight.

Trip Data:
Distance:	37km
Time:	12:56:51 (moving)	21:40:31 (elapsed)
Elevation:	Ascent: 2,357m	Descent: 2,224m
Trip Data:	Garmin Connect
Location:	Tararua Range, NZ	24 July 2010

It is hard to say exactly what it is that gives this trip its magical appeal. Perhaps it is the statistical unlikelihood of having a clear night in the Tararua Range during the middle of winter? Let alone underneath the full moon! The Tararua’s are renowned for their imperfect weather,  as Geoff Spearpoint observed in his book “Waking to the Hills”

Weather plays a major part in Tararua affairs, mist normally covering the tops for 250 days of the year. Southerlies bring the snow and freeze them; westerlies bring the rain and wet them; and the northerlies blow until it is a marvel there is anything left.

I had arranged to do this trip with Mike and Sam, and we were all watchful of the weather forecasts and weather model information in the week leading up to July's full moon. The best weather looked like it would be on Sunday evening, but the storm passed through quicker than expected over Friday night, Saturday was a cracker of day.

 

Sam and I hatched a very approximate plan over the telephone which optimistically featured the fastest times we had travelled over each section of the route. Oooopps. Not the best way to estimate time! At least walking straight through, without staying in any huts saved me from having to splash out on the recently increased price for a new annual hut pass.

 

Flat battery number one: After seven weeks of being an incredibly fuel efficient Subaru - stationary on my driveway! The battery was dead and would not turn the motor over. Thankyou awesome neighbour Ken for helping me out so we could go tramping! I must say I do prefer to walk or to cycle, but must make sure I the car moves out of the driveway at least occasionally!

 

I collected Mike and Sam enroute to Otaki Forks. Oooopps battery issue two: I had not replaced the batteries in my SPOT after removing them before flying back from the USA recently.  Sorry - no digital breadcrumbs for the worrying family at home. No problem as long as we do not need that SOS button!

 

Shortly after crossing the bridge over the Waiotauru River we saw Spencer, whom I had not seen for a couple of years. He reported ice on top; crampons recommended; couldn't get into Kime Hut as it is frozen over. We noted that regardless of the not so balmy conditions he had reported that he had travelled without an ice-axe. After a quick chat Spencer kindly drove my car back to Wellington to save me the effort of returning to Otaki Forks to collect it!

 

A few minutes before reaching Field Hut darkness encroached as we travelled for our last few minutes in the bushline with the use of our headlamps. Once beyond Field Hut and above the bushline the moonlight provided enjoyable conditions under a beautiful night sky.

 

With Mike on the trip and his knowledge of astronomy we were able to celestials the prominent celestial body in the sky to our west. All without needing to refer to Wikipedia to pretend to be smart. Now above the bushline we had Venus as a prominent celestial body to the west.

 

The lack of snow was notable as we walked across Table Top. At this time it was difficult to co-relate with Spencer's crampons recommendation. There were a few patches of firm snow as we crossed Dennan followed by thin layers of snow leading to Kime Hut. There was substantially less snow than when I was here last year, however, on this occasion it was much nearer to frozen and a lot more slippery.

 

Upon reaching Kime Hut the door was frozen shut, just as Spencer had warned.  Sam used his ice-axe to remove the frozen ice from the large metal latch to gain entry. I was pleased to have thought ahead by carrying extra fluid with the Kime Hut water tank frozen solid, which was always going to be likely at this time of year.

 

Departing Kime it was onward and over Field Peak (which counter-intuitively is nowhere near Field Hut of course). Once reaching the descent of Field Peak on it's southern side it was icy and slippery. Once again, just as Spencer had advised. My ice-axe has been on many more trips than it's been required in the past. Tonight it was essential to assist my rather less than assured footing on this mixture of ice and rock.

 

There was some cloud about when we reached the summit of Hector and the memorial cross, but not enough to block the light of the moon, or as Mike would prefer to correct me, the light of the sun reflecting from the moon.

 

As we descended Hector and made our way through the Beehives, the track itself was a little treacherous having formerly being wet, but now was frozen solid. Where possible we walked on the safer route over the tussock alongside the frozen track. Where rock covered in 'black-ice' was the only option my steps were far more tentative, as I grovelled through with my ice-axe held by clenched iron-fists. This made progress pretty slow. Ideally there would either be lots of snow to make crampons ideal, or no snow at all. The mixture of snow and rock as tricky, particularly on

 

Once over Atkinson there was a lot less ice around as we continued around the Dress Circle and over Aston, now with Jupiter clearly visible to the south east. Once at the top of Alpha where there was no snow or ice at all. We spent a few moments relaxing on top of Alpha. Enjoying the night sky and the still air which is so rare in the Tararuas Range.

 

We approached Alpha Hut quietly, but found it empty on this glorious evening.  Without needing to worry about disturbing others, we had a reasonably long rest an a snack before departing a little after 4am. We were already a long way behind our intended, and optimistic time but only had the Marchant Ridge left between us and our destination at Kaitoke.

 

The Marchant Ridge an area of geography that often subject to much slander among trampers. I have often felt this is this isn't necessarily justified. Many trampers lament the lack of views on this goblin forest coated ridge, yet the goblin forest of the nearby Cone Ridge celebrated. With the Marchant so often described with, well lets just say with many short err, "adjectives". The current topographical map BP33 shows eight spot heights along this ridge, with a mere150m of altitude descended between the first last of these. It certainly seems to be with some justification that many describe this ridge as:

'Uphill in both directions'.

However, I believe that the real reason ridge is so despised is because it is both long and at the end of epic journeys. The Marchant Ridge often being the final stretch of a  Southern Crossing or an 'SK' and it is some 15km long. The mind says you are nearly there, but in reality you are not. The route from Alpha Hut to Kaitoke along the Marchant Ridge covers 40% of the total distance over the Southern Crossing route!

 

 

On this occasion, I stepped in a hole somewhere near the 'top' of Marchant Ridge. After wincing and limping for a few strides, at which time I felt like rolling over the ground screaming like a girl, I just kept walking. The further we went the more my knee swelled. I was unsure if I had an injury, or if a less ambitious trip would have been more desirable after not having been out tramping for a while.  I just kept on moving. The sun was rising by the time we reached the open area on Marchant that was created by a fire here some years ago.  and eventually we found our way to Kaitoke over 21 hours after leaving the car in Otaki.

 

This was a much slower trip than we had optimistically anticipated. That said the GPS data that Mike collected suggests we only spent about 13 hours actually moving - the rest of the time Mike and Sam must have been waiting for me? While they *did* spend a lot of time waiting for me, I’m not sure it was quite accurate!

 

 

Thankfully about a week later the swelling in my knee came down and I can once again see my knee cap – phew!.

Thanks Mike for the photos and GPX file. You can read more about this trip on Mike’s blog at http://www.windy.gen.nz/index.php/archives/487#more-487

And thankyou for leading the trip Sam :)

Tararua Forest Park: Penn Creek/Table Top

It has been far too long since my last post. I have not been out tramping a recently, the last time was in the first weekend of August, where we managed to get out between severe storms that created a lot of carnage in the Tararuas. Having been too slack to pen my account on this trip,  below you can find Fraser's version that he e-mailed me, and some of his friends who thought that the weather was too severe to head for the hills.

You may also like to read Mike's account of the same trip.

Fraser writes:

After eating a bowl of soup and drinking an ale in Byron's Resort on Otaki Beach (that had no power due to the storms having blown the power lines down), I set off to meet the WTMC trampers. On my way to meet the WTMC people, I found two people and their dogs wandering about in the dark on the gravel part of the Otaki forks road. I asked them the situation, and they said that they'd been wandering in the dark for two hours, that there were major slips on the road and I would not be able to continue. They also said that anyone that wanted to tramp would need spikes and be in serious trouble due to the weather. Due to their distressed state, I gave them a lift back to Otaki Beach, calling Craig to inform him what was going on. Cellphone reception was very poor, so I had trouble talking. It turned out that the people I'd picked up were very stoned from smoking oil spots in the hut, and knew nothing about tramping, so after much hero worship for saving them a long walk (and a cheeky spot!), I returned to meet the trampers. 

They were parked up just before the slip, and because I was late I had to change out of my work clothes and pack properly all in a couple of minutes. We began tramping with head torches a little before eight, and it was very hard to communicate to the trampers what I had heard from the people I had picked up due to the mild conditions and the fact that there was only one slip. Once I managed to tell them them what had been said, there was much laughter about us 'needing spikes' on the hill. Our party consisted of a dour Scotsman named Pete, (who comes from somewhere that sounds more like a cough than a placename) ; Mike from Treasury (somewhat reminiscent of the character Choo Choo from the cartoon Top Cat), and Craig McGregor, who was tramping for "red lines on the map". The first night's walk felt like little more than a walk in the park, yet we reached Field hut after eleven due to the elemental chaos that had been unleashed on the hill in the days before. Spectacular scenes abounded... At one point, more than forty trees had fallen onto the trail, which was blocked in several places. Mike and I appointed ourselves pathfinders, and used night tramping experience to find the best ways to follow the track. The other party of trampers that had gone ahead of us had become disoriented and walked half an hour in the wrong direction, meeting me coming up the hill. It seemed they had accidentally turned around only a minute or two away from the hut. In some places around Field Hut, the earth and trees looked as if a giant hand had crushed everything together, creating a huge mess of earth and trees. Everyone bedded down at Field hut that night, keen for a good night's rest. 

On the next day and after the two trampers who were going mountaineering had left, we decided that the best destination would be Penn Creek Hut to see if the river was too swollen for us to cross into the mountains. We set out Penn Creek Hut. Craig decided the river was too swollen to cross, and we were too lazy to tramp to Kime hut (also known as the freezer) so we spent the rest of the day hanging out at the hut playing cards and generally joking around. We pondered such philosophical statements as 

"You know, those who know enough to be able ignore D.O.C signs are usually competent enough to handle ignoring D.O.C signs... While there are those who are insane enough to think that they know enough to ignore D.O.C signs... They're weeded out by a process of natural selection." - Mike McGavin

I cut apart an awful feminist paperback novel to make a deck of very interesting cards, which provided such hilarious quotes as "The doctor opened his surgical bag, removed a scalpel, and began to cut away the man's pants". We ate well (Craig made Tiramisu!)  and slept for twelve hours while heavy rain pounded on the roof.

On the third day, one of the small streams we had crossed to get to the hut had been replaced by a raging torrent of white water and doubled in depth. We decided it would be best to climb through the dense bush to tabletop using compasses and maps to navigate our way. I led the way up the hill, and came upon a 'tramper's superhighway' which turned out to be pig tracks, and took us up to six hundred meters in a little more than an hour. After this, the forest gave way to dense Tararua leatherwood, which we forged a path through taking ridiculous amounts of time. We came to the trig of Tabletop in high winds and very thick fog, and quickly found the track to Field hut at around two thirty. The track after Field Hut was spectacular in daylight. Two hundred year old trees had been uprooted and blown by the winds.The track was covered in foliage, and Mike and I split off from Craig and Pete to move at a 'fast pace' to meet the other party back at the van, getting overtaken and beaten to the van by half an hour : }. The fog had cleared, and the way back to Otaki forks had some really good views. You guys missed a really good tramp. 

We tramped for about nine hours today, and I'm feeling pretty relaxed and good. Don't know about next week. I recommend tramping in the western Tararuas due to the changes in the forest from the storms. Very exciting stuff!

-Thanks for the awesome tramp guys,
-Fraser

Tararua Forest Park: Northern Crossing

24-27 April 2008 - Northern Crossing

The trip plan declared:

One big day and two half-days - Thursday night, camp near the confluence of the Ohau and Blackwater Stream. Friday, up the South Ohau, Yeates, Arete and Waiohine Pinnacles to Tarn Ridge Hut.....

Punter responds:

Getting from there (campsite) to Tarn Ridge in a day at this time of year is a pipe dream in all but perfect weather - but I think perfect weather justifies the push

After a train journey and taxi we were soon at at the Ohau road-end where we discovered that Murray's torch did not work. Murray being from a tramping club named after such a fine range of mountains would have been perfectly fine without the sense of sight I'm sure. Regardless of this our efforts began to repair his torch. Somehow a shred of paper had managed to get jammed deep within its barrel, and as paper does not conduct electricity prevented the batteries from touching the contact points to power the torch. After trying various objects to remove the paper from keys to twigs to walking poles, a loose piece of No.8 wire was found and did the trick, genuine kiwi style. Meanwhile, on behalf of Placemakers Alistair was busy marketing his $9.95 head torch. After an amazing 25 minutes of faffing we began walking our way along the track up the Ohau river and quickly found out way to a brillant campsite in a little under an hour. It was a beautiful night so there was no need to pitch our flys and we slept under the trees to avoid any dew.


Come 5:30am, Craig instantly arose to fulfill his duty as trip leader and get the brew. We were on our way up the Ohau river by 6:30am. Our feet were wet well before 7am as we followed this scenic route up to the site of the new South Ohau Hut (currently under construction). We spent a small amount of time talking to the builders and began our ascent up the steep Yeates 500 with a startled look "Tarn Ridge tonight? You're keen".

Following a steep 500ft ascent up the Yeates track it soon "flattened" out to be merely undulating as we made our way to Te Matawai Hut and a well earned early lunch. Debate ensued as to how long it would take us from Arete to Tarn Ridge via the Waiohine Pinnacles. Estimates varied between and optimistic 2.5 hours (Alistair), we'll be there at 5pm (Sarah) and a pessimistic 3.5 hours (Craig). Meanwhile, Murray remained non-committal.

Our stomachs fully laden we made our way up the relentless climb to Pukematawai, over Arete and dropped down to the brand spanking new Arete Bivouac, which appears to have been moved a few hundred metres further south. Times for the sweepstake for the travel time from here to Tarn Ridge Hut continued to be discussed. Murray finally became committal and agreed with Alistair. Regardless of the banter we managed to make our way past Lancaster and to the Waiohine Pinnacles. In the excellent conditions we were walking in, these "Pinnacles" were only in principal as they were easily traversed with only one point which required an uncomfortably long stretch. If only each other landmark of XYZ Pinnacles were so easily traversed. As we stopped for a slight pause Alistair stopped his stopwatch and declared,

"You can only count time on the shoe".

Craig responds,

"Only if your name is Maui and you can slow the sun"

As we approached Tarn Ridge Hut the beard of Huey began to roll in. Still no sign of Huey flapping his broad, wind generating wings so all was good. And the time we arrived at Tarn Ridge Hut? 5pm. Must have been perfect weather!!

At Tarn Ridge Hut we arrived to a bench stacked full of apparently abandoned food. After some short debate about whether to have rice or fresh potatoes with our Spiced Lamb for dinner, the fresh potatoes naturally won over, especially for Alistair and Murray who set about preparing the mashed potatoes to go with the meal. With so much food around, we had no choice but to help clean up the hut so we had a few tins of allegedly spicy baked-beans for as additional sustenance while we preparing the meal. As we sat down to eat our fine meal two torches began to shine outside the hut, as Alistair received the glare from wife Sarah as she said, "I told you!!" and Alistair being left with no choice but to respond "Yes, you told me" to avoid the otherwise inevitable repetition. All was quiet as Murray, removed the three LPG cannisters that he had "borrowed" from his pack and returned them to the bench. As Alistair was ready to apologise profusely, and offer our rice he quickly realised these were not hunters back to enjoy a huge meal at all. In fact, it was his mathematics lecturer from his varsity days and his partner. Stress was over as we continued to eat our meal as were heard about the travel down to the hut from Mitre in the dark.

Not having a lot of distance to cover, we had a slight sleep in before Craig fulfilled his duty as trip leader and got the brew on. Our plan for the day was to walk over Girdlestone, up to Brockett. Drop our packs so that Craig & Murray could bag Mitre and Peggys Peaks and head down Table Ridge to Cow Creek. As a beautiful day had dawned Alistair proposed that we split. Craig and Murray would go over Brockett, Mitre and Peggy Peak with Alistair and Sarah heading over Adkin, the Three Kings and Baldy with us all arriving at Mitre Flats, by which time Craig & Alistair would have both completed bagging each of the peaks over 1500m in the fine Tararua Range.
Sarah & Alistair had a bit more ground to cover so Craig & Murray gave them a short head start while they swept out the hut. It also gave Murray the chance to once again fill his pack with free LPG cannisters. Taking in the views it was an easy two hours up to Mitre, and about the same down to Mitre Flats Hut. Coming down from Peggy Peak was like SH1 with party after party on their way up the hill to bag Mitre Peak before dropping back down to the hut. Surprisingly, with all these groups walking past not one of them was completing a Northern Crossing in the reverse direction to ourselves. With plenty of time to burn as we were taking the shorter route, we took the time to speak to each party on their way through. Some appeared incredibly surprised at our distance traveled but we were happy to take the accolades whether deserved or not. I think these same people would be surprised how much ground they would cover themselves if they tramped a little more regularly.
We arrived to a packed Mitre Flats Hut, with the best of the surrounding campsites already occupied. I told people our friends we arriving around 3pm and we'd probably head up to, or on the way to Cow Creek tonight. Come 3:30pm, with people asking me where my friends were I consulted the map briefly before remembering that Alistair wouldn't have left anytime for lunch. He can stop his watch, but not the sun after all. About 4:30pm, Sarah & Alistair emerged. Clearly too nackered to go any further, and a mere hour of daylight remaining we pitched a fly, and set about preparing another fantastic meal.
Having personally mixed the spices prior to the trip himself, Craig was sure not to disappoint as the beans did on the preceding evening. Shortly before the meal was ready to serve, Alistair inspected Craig's cooking and said "Thats going to have some kick to it". Craig just smiled. Sarah instantly declared herself a curry wiss, and asked for extra cucumber riata to help wash it down. A sizable Kumara chickpea curry was served. Not only was Murray from a tramping club named after this fine mountain range but, he was our guest so we could not send him away hungry. We continued to load his plate up until he was ready to pop.

Following our meal we talked to a few other trampers in the hut. Alistair saw someone-else wearing the head torch as he, and said "Hey, you got your headtorch from $9.95 from Placemakers like me". "It was Christmas present from my father". "Good value for ten bucks" said Alistair. We eventually noted this other headtorch had a couple of features Alistair was missing. Must have been at least $14.95, mate. Alistair mentioned the great value of his $9.95 Placemakers headtorch approximately another 237 times before we had, had enough and went to sleep.

As is Tongue & Meat custom, trip leader stretched a good 40cm to start the brew and by 7am we were on our way on the track up the true right of the Waingawa River. It was fairly fast travel until three of us were attacked by wasps. Meat eaters those wasps, so all three of us fine Tongue and Meats were stung, while Murray was left alone. Following a quick break with an intake of antihistamines and sugar we soon picked up Peggys Stream, and followed it away from the track back into the Waingawa River. A scramble up the bank on the other side and we were on our way up the Donald Spur to Te Mara. It seemed as though Murray has done the least compass work prior to this trip. We loaned him a map and compass and designated him as chief navigator as we we made our up to join the Blue Range Track. It was good and quick travel even without a marked route up this bush covered spur, although near Te Mara there is a lot of plastic tape and some old permalats leading back to the Blue Range Track.

The Blue Range track was broad and easy. We had a bite to eat and waited for our taxi at Kiriwhakapapa. And waited. And waited. Uh oh! We asked some campers if they could give us a lift, "Sorry, we've been drinking too much to drive" and some others said sure we're just packing up. Our observations were, perhaps by midnight. We started walking in search of phone. Every property seemed unoccupied and for sale. Thankfully we found someone working on their lifestyle block. "We haven't moved in yet so we do not have a landline". We were offered a ride which we naturally accepted. Once back into Masterton, and cell phone coverage Craig discovered he had three voice messages from the taxi company which were of little use from the valleys of Mitre Flats and Kiriwhakapapa. Still, it was a fine trip and we found our way back to Masterton rail without too much difficulty.

Approximate travel times:

• Ohau road-end -> Campsite: 1 hour
• Campsite -> South Ohau Hut site: 1.5 hours
• South Ohau Hut site -> Te Matawai Hut: 2 hours
• Te Matawai Hut -> Arete Biv: 2 hours
• Arete Biv -> Tarn Ridge Hut: 3 hours
• Tarn Ridge Hut -> Mitre Flats Hut (via Mitre): 3.5 hours
• Tarn Ridge Hut -> Mitre Flats Hut (via The Three Kings): 7.5 hours
• Mitre Flats Hut -> Kiriwhakapapa (via Donald Spur): 4.5 hours