This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
by Sharron Came
Labour weekend. The AB's crashed out of the world cup weeks ago. The weather forecast features high winds and rain. A key ford on the Rainbow Road is washed out. Our route is altered to take in several unnamed peaks. These events are troubling but I know we will have a great trip because I'd done the math. 4 desserts divided by 2 nights = loads of sugar consumption opportunities.
1.30am Saturday we pitch our tents near the washed out ford. We take a couple of hours sleep. We are keen to keep our feet dry. A bit of teamwork sees us haul a make shift bridge across the river. Geoff tries it out to applause. We follow enormous pylons for an hour then cross the swing bridge over the Wairau river and head up Lees creek. The track from the bridge to Lees
Creek hut takes about 3 hours. It is a nice interesting scramble with a bit of walking thrown in. The weather gradually deteriorates. We eat lunch in drizzle and by the time we reach the hut it is chilly and the rain is steady. The rain turns to sleet as we sit in the hut considering our options. Doing nothing is strongly favoured. Fortunately the sleet stops, the sun makes an appearance and we elect to head further up the valley to our designated campsite. From the hut the Lees valley opens out to reveal a yummy club sandwich of snowy mountains, tawny tussock flats and busy creek. Thanks to our extended indoor afternoon tea break we don't reach our camp till 6pm. The campsite is sheltered which is a good thing as the sleet decides to stage a comeback as we pitch our tents and cook dinner. I retreat into my sleeping bag and order room service. Later the sleet departs and ! emerge for a spot of shivering and a dessert or two.
Sunday is fine and warm. We are up and away by 7.15am heading through bush following the eastern branch of the creek towards the designated unnamed peak. We make excellent progress considering we have an unnamed peak as motivation. Bush soon gives way to more open country and boulder hopping. Walking on soft snow we follow the creek and then wind our way up a large basin. The great unnamed peaks of the Raglan Range are stretched before us. Three quarters of the way up the basin those of us who haven't already done so attach our crampons.
The view from the top of the basin is excellent even if all we could see is loads of unnamed peaks. We push on up the final 80 metres to where we think the summit of the designated unnamed peak is. We pause again because we can see the true summit slightly further on past a tricky looking rock section. There are two potential routes — over the rock section or traverse around it ignoring the exposure. After much debate Alison leads on the traverse and is followed by Geoff and Andrew. Spencer has a go at the rock section but eventually heeds the impassioned pleas from his colleagues and retreats. At approximately 11am the summit is gained by the most intrepid half of the party. Those of us embracing the do nothing option, lets call it the third way, decide to name the unnamed peak Mt Keey (2107m). Back on less exposed ground and in far better spirits having named our peak, we enjoy an early lunch. We decide to pass up the opportunity to climb other unnamed peaks and head back down the valley stopping near the camp to admire various waterfalls. Back at camp we have afternoon tea, pack up and head down to the flats closer to the hut. The idea being that we will perhaps take on another unnamed peak on Monday.
Alison, Andrew and myself form the advance party. Camp is well established by the time Dave and Spencer arrive. They were not sure what has happened to Geoff. The theory is that he has succumbed to snow blindness. He must have staged a good recovery though because he arrives at about 5pm to inquire whether anyone has his ice hammer. It transpires that Geoff's ice hammer had been misplaced on its first outing. After some discussion it is decided that it has probably been left near one of the waterfalls and that it would be worth going back tomorrow to try and find it. We cook our dehydrated meals and consume the strawberry instant pudding with chocolate chips. I’m not sure what happened to the other desserts but we have a big, carbon emitting fire and it is about 20 degrees warmer than the previous night. No need for room service.
During the night it rains but this eases off towards dawn. There is no alpine start. Nobody stirs at 7.15am. The nearest unclimbed peak does not beckon. Eventually some of us get up and Geoff visits the tent on the other side of the valley returning with some real coffee. After coffee Geoff, Dave and Spencer head back up the valley to look for the ice hammer. The rest of us pack and head down to the hut. At the hut we have a brew and generally muck around. At noon Geoff arrives to say that Dave has stopped to look for Spencer who has become separated from the group. The theory is that Spencer has fallen into the creek and drowned. Spencer and Dave soon arrive so I guess Spencer staged a miraculous recovery. The ice hammer has been located near one of the waterfalls but Spencer loses a piece of one of his walking sticks on the walk back down to the hut. On the whole, I would have to say we are a fairly intrepid, resourceful, courageous and resilient bunch.
By now the sun is beating down and we have a pleasant afternoon ramble back down the valley until we hit the road again. The last hour along the road to the ford and under the enormous pylons with the sun beating down on us and no desserts left is the longest and most testing of the entire trip. It is good to relax in the sun and wait for the shuttle to take us back to the ferry.
Big thanks to Geoff for introducing us to the Lees Valley and the unnamed peaks. This is a gorgeous place even if the peaks are unnamed. If you go there look out for Mt Keey. The secret is to take plenty of desserts. The punters were Geoff Keey, Alison Stevenson, Spencer Clubb, Dave Bergin, Andrew Hinder and Sharron Came.