This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Main Range F tramp, 8-10 September By Amanda Wells
Trampers: Amanda Wells, Simon Ward", Jenny Cossey
Left: the author descends the ladder. Photo by Simon*
As I made my way to the station, I reflected that for the first time I would have pulled out of this trip if I hadn’t been leading it. Work was going through an incredibly intense phase and I felt like I'd been run over by a bus.
But it was good to get on our way and out of town, even if this was slowed slightly by the customary giant traffic jam in the vicinity of Pukerua Bay. A rapid dinner in Waikanae meant we were at Otaki Forks carpark and setting off by 7.30pm. It was a speedy ascent (a little too speedy, Simon* and I later decided, post Saturday crash) and we were at Kime by 11.30, with Jenny close on our heels. A brew helped diffuse any possible future resentment by the MFs, also at Kime that night, for our 5.30am get-up time.
The next day dawned not too bad and we were off into the mist, heading down the spine of the Main Range for several uneventful hours. I had been feeling a bit nervous about the Tararua Peaks for a while. An inexplicable fit of bravado had prompted me to volunteer to lead this trip the first official club fit trip I had done. Not the world’s smartest move, I thought more than once that day. As we approached the peaks, I kept my eyes peeled for vertiginous sections. But you couldn’t see them till you were on them.
There were two bits I particularly remember out of the fairly traumatic time (maybe an hour? Maybe less?) of the traverse: a clamber up a short rock face in which the main hold was wiggly, prompting dangerous indecision about whether to stand on it. And then having to slither over a big rock that hung out from the wall just before we got to the head of the ladder. Not easy when you're scared of heights. Jenny's previous experience was useful to the two less confident members of the party, as she could guide us on where to step next.
It was a relief to get into Maungahuka for an early lunch. But a big lunch proved a bit of a mistake after the trauma of the morning, and both Simon and I were pretty broken by the time we started up Aokap. I don’t think I’ve ever found it so difficult just to keep moving. A couple of hours later I started to perk up and we eventually made it to Andersons late afternoon — nine and a half hours from Kime, not a particularly flash time for a fit trip, as Jenny pointed out.
After plentiful entrees appearing out of nowhere, we enjoyed dinner, or at least the other two did while I disappeared to bed during the middle of it. Not feeling much like a fit tamper at this point!
Sunday started with poor visibility and moderate winds, and we slid around on the icy frost as we made our way up to Junction Knob. Back below the bushline, it was a pretty speedy descent towards WTYY, recently abandoned by the easys. Jenny and Simon were keen to have a bet on how long it would take to get out from there. Slavish adherence to this meant no one was willing to give permission to stop for lunch for longer than 3 minutes. But we all felt so much better than yesterday and enjoyed the speedy pace. Simon even ran for five minutes to the swing bridge, to the easys’ astonishment. But Jenny claims she won in the end.