I was working by way up the West coast. It was raining hard. I stopped at couple places on the main drag to hike. The first was called the “blue pools.” You were supposed to see some of the bluest water and trout swimming along the bottom. Not this time.
Another hike was to a waterfall. The storms had actually covered the path and I had to bushwhack around.
There are 2 main glaciers in NZ that everyone talks about because they are highly commercialized. You can hire helicopters to fly you onto the ice and climb through the cracks. The weather was crappy so I just drove to one viewing platform at Franz Joseph glacier. It was nothing compared to the glaciers I had already hiked to.
I found a place to sleep for the night and carried on in the am.
I came to the town of Hokitika. It is supposed to specialize in art, specifically greenstone and bone carvings. Nothing special. I walked the coast and then kept going to Arthur’s Pass
I came into Arthur’s Pass
I found a place to park and packed a day bag for the hike. The hike today was called Arthur’s Peak Here is what I found out about the hike…after the fact. “This tramping track/route is steep and exposed to the weather, with sheer drops in some places. It should not be attempted in poor visibility or high winds. In winter and spring, the route to the peak is prone to avalanches. During heavy snow conditions, we advise visitors not to travel this route unless sufficiently equipped and experienced enough to assess the conditions and choose a safe path through avalanche terrain.”
I thought it was a straightforward up and down. I was wrong
I knew it was a challenge, that is why I wanted to attack it. It was hand over hand right from the start as there were no switchbacks, rather straight up.
Eventually I started seeing snow. I thought, “oh, isn’t that cool” not realizing I was about to head first into the beast. As I emerged from the tree line it was pure white.
I was wondering where to go next. The peak was way way in front of me and looked like something you needed climbing gear for. I figured the trail would go up a bit then circle back down on another trail. I saw boot prints in the snow, so I followed.
I mean I figured since there was no prints coming back my way there must be another trail, not thinking that maybe the person who made these tracks was just slightly in front of me and maybe had not reached the turn around point.
It started to get harder, where I was sliding back on ice and had to be real deliberate about my steps. The snow was getting deeper. I looked up towards the peak and kept saying, “This cant be going up there, that’s crazy.” The footprints kept going so I did as well. If I did not have these footprints I would have not known where I was going
The below picture shows the footprints dropping down and then heading right up this last stretch to the summit. What the hell was I doing
It was at this point that I saw someone on the peak. That reassured me but also made me nervous that he was gunna come back my way. I did not think I could descend the same way I came up without sliding off the side of the mountain.
I should also mention something about my outfit. I was wearing shorts and a windbreaker.
Oh well, I pushed on up this face
I finally reached the top of this section. The peak was about 20 minutes to my right and I found that there was indeed a calmer trail down to my right. I was moving through 2 foot snow drifts at this point but I decided I made it this far, I needed to push on. It was a tough final climb and I stopped briefly to take some shots
Now, on the above selfie, it was not till after I took this shot that I noticed the storm clouds moving in towards me. I needed to get off this exposed summit. I was feeling a bit less nervous than I was 30 minutes ago when I did not know how this story would end, but I still needed to get down quickly without breaking a leg.
I looked like a skier disappearing and reappearing, bounding through fresh powder.
Looking back up at what I had covered in last 15 minutes
I made the treeline and I was hiking through a stream. It made no difference as my feet were already soaking wet.
I finally caught up with the climber I saw at the peak. He had on a snow jacket, pants, helmet, ice axe, and crampons! He told me that the mountain got hit with a storm last night and it was the first snow of the season. I thanked him for the tracks and made my way back to the car after a tough 5 hour climb
Here is a map of the two trails that converged at the peak
I thought the below photo showed just how steep the ascent to Avalanche Peak really was.
I drove back towards Greymouth and up to pancake rocks.
I Wasn’t expecting much after the round boulders but it was cool. When the waves came crashing in, spray came shooting out of vents in the rocks.
I got into Wesport, bought some beer and crashed for the night
Until Tomorrow
Darren
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