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Trip Reports
Andrew McLellan
very top secret stealth mission left town around 4pm on Friday, bound for Putara. Some clues had been leaked but the full import of the weekend’s plans were relatively unknown, even by one of the participants who somewhat belatedly tried to work out how many hours walking might be involved. The plan: a weekend Putara—Kaitoke, taking in all the 1500m-plus peaks of the Tararuas (16 pks by our reckoning). The inspiration: Allen Higgins’ story of a weekend 5000ft-plus attempt back in the Middle Ages (12- 13 peaks). The instigator: Jonathan Kennett, I just tagged along for the ride as 1 thought it would be fun. We headed off for Cattle Ridge Hut around 7pm, each stoked full with an ice cream container worth of pasta and bravado. Clearing skies caused some indecision at the Herepai turnoff but we opted for the redline of Cattle Ridge to soothe JK’s ego. We puzzled a hunter at Roaring Stag Lodge before grinding up to Cattle Ridge Hut just on dusk.
JK’s attempt at sleeping between two NZFS mattresses was brought to a thankful end with a 4am departure for Waingawa. The early morning was kind to us with the first 1500m+ spot-height (1513m) followed by Bannister (No. 2) just after sunrise. Shortly afterwards the clag rolled in and the breeze picked up. By 7.20am we were on the main range heading back to Dundas (No. 3) and Logan (No. 4), then doubling back to Arete (No. 5), often only the altimeter and compass to confirm that we were where we thought we were. The incessant wind was taking its toll so after a hesitant knocking-off of Lancaster (No. 6) in the mist, the straightforward wander along Tarn Ridge to Tarn Ridge Hut was arduous. The wind mercifully dropped and the skies cleared as we headed for Girdlestone (No. 7) around 2pm, then Brockett (No. 8), Mitre (No. 9), and Peggys Peak (No. 10) before returning to Girdlestone. By this time it was 4pm with a target of Powell for the evening. We met a Tararua party who had taken 9hrs to get from Powell to between Girdlestone and Adkin — we hoped not to emulate this! We wombled on taking in North (No. 11), Middle (No. 12) and South King (No. 13). By now I was starting to imagine McGregor (No. 14) was a gentle looking rounded bump nearby and Jumbo just beyond. I'd overlooked Broken Axe Pinnacles, which by now we’d worked out was a 1425m peak masquerading as a 1525m peak — at least reducing the count by one. After McGregor, Angle Knob (No. 15) completed the count for the day. The home-straight dragged on as we crawled into Powell by torchlight at around 10.20pm. I lay dead on my back, very lightheaded, as Jonathan busied himself with the meal. I mumbled something about “The hardest day of my life” before facing the stark reality of a bowl full of couscous that my body and mind had severe doubts concerning the edibility thereof. I nibbled, drifting off to sleep on the floor as Powell was predictably full —
Jonathan crawled into a coal sack mumbling something about “bring a sleeping bag next time”. Sunday’s objective was quite simple — take the path of least resistance to Hector (No. 16) and then go home via Kaitoke. A late departure at 6am didn’t help our cause. The rest of the day remains a bit of a blur, dropping down Totara Creek, up Cone Ridge only stopping to talk to some friends atop Cone Ridge. They asked a sensible question in response to our plan, “So what do you get if you do it?” Neither of us had a particularly good answer to that. I lagged behind most of the day, a slow pace frustrated by the endless false summits leading up to Hector.
Trip Reports way through the day. Around the Dress Circle the wind picked up slightly, a pesky north-wester. Alpha by 6pm for water and a discussion on the route from there. We opted for Quoin Ridge as neither of us could mentally face the Marchant. Our last water stop was on top of Quoin around 8pm with poor visibility and a cooling wind. We started blundering our way down using the failing light. The Eastern Hutt was briefly considered as an option, but dismissed. As darkness fell we found ourselves trackless on an indistinct broad ridge. We stumbled and scouted around for a track, to no avail. My tired logic convinced Jonathan that we wouldn’t make the midnight deadline anyway so we may as well bivvy out. An unpleasant night
— Jonathan could be heard mumbling something about a sleeping bag between his fits of shivering.
We recommenced around 7am on Monday dropping down to Hutt Forks after once again missing the track, before the grind up over the 4WD track to arrive out around 10.30am.
VITAL STATISTICS Weight before trip: AM = 80kg, pack = 7kg JK = 73 kg, pack = 6kg Weight after trip: AM = 75kg, pack = 5kg JK = 74kg, pack = 5kg Total travel time : 18% + 16 + 3% = 38 hrs We reached Hector at 4pm — pho- I was spent wrapped in the fly witha I Punters: Jonathan Kennett tos all round but we were only half- I blustery NW blowing drizzle through Andrew McLellan
[Photo captions and page text that interrupted the story:]
Jonathan Kennett On No. 16 — Mt Hector