Hanging out in the Hopkins wishing I had a helicopter…

lord range not3 Easter/Anzac weather featured a cyclone, extensive flooding, high winds and bad Kiwi driving so I was more relieved than surprised when our Thursday night ferry was cancelled. We rebooked for Easter Saturday and enjoyed a warm, sunny Good Friday in Wellington prior to heading south. With our trip shortened by a couple of days and the West Coast cut off due to flooding we abandoned the idea of heading to the Lord Range opting instead to attempt some peaks from a base in the Hopkins Valley in the Ruataniwha Conservation Park. DJ, Mike and I had been up the neighbouring Huxley Valley at Anzac weekend the year before so we knew we would be in for some stunning scenery.

Easter Sunday saw us start our slog up the Hopkins weighed down by heavy climbing packs after a short back track on my part to retrieve a camelbak left in the car and deposit a camera rendered useless due to my failure to charge its battery. Little did I know, neither piece of equipment nor the fuel I’d forgotten to bring would be of much use on this trip. Cursing my forgetfulness I thought wistfully about how a four wheel drive would have been nice, enabling us to avoid the first couple of hours of walking and a helicopter would be even better!

On the other hand the sunshine was lovely and the Hopkins is a gorgeous valley. The Dasler Pinnacles, still on my epic “to do” list looked sublime lightly dusted in snow. The dour brown of the Matagouri bushes were dramatically offset by the brilliant orange and red rose hips on the wild rose bushes. We’d learnt from our mistake of the previous year too and stuck to the four wheel drive track rather than attempt any prickly shortcuts! By nightfall we were happily ensconced in Elcho Hut, chatting with Carl a Twizel resident who has been coming back to the valley for thirty years.

Easter Monday we shouldered our heavy packs again and trudged up to Erceg Hut. This took us longer than we anticipated due to some forays into the bush where, in retrospect, the direct route beside the river presented much easier travel. Harry’s experience really showed through, he took the river route and had plenty of time to soak up the sunshine while he waited for the rest of us to catch up. He didn’t even gloat much.

We enjoyed an early lunch at Dodgers hut with nice views across to Mt Ward. This all seems too good to be true I thought. Sure enough in the afternoon the weather started to deteriorate along with our tolerance for our heavy packs. Several party members were administered doses of Vitamin I and C*. For reasons that are a mystery to me neither of these medications feature in the Club first aid kits. By the time we staggered into Erceg Hut the day resembled a frumpy, dog chewed, wet, grey blanket. Morale was at sock level. We decided it was time to get the mountain radio out to check if the promised fine weather was still coming. We failed to get the radio working.

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Tuesday we woke to the sound of rain on the hut roof and the sight of clag on the tops.  After we’d all slept in for a bit Mike decided to have a go at scaling the peak directly behind the hut. The rest of us decided that as there was no prospect of a view and a good prospect of getting cold and wet we’d stay put with the idea that we might all shift up to Richardson Biv at the head of the valley later in the day if conditions improved. Shortly after Mike left we heard voices. A group of three musterers and fifteen dogs had turned up. They proceeded to mooch around in a small clearing near the hut seemingly oblivious to the drizzle and low temperatures. Their plan was to wait till 1pm to see if the clag would lift off the tops so they could go in search of their 600 sheep. The weather never did clear and they eventually headed back to their base at Dodgers Hut. They had come up the valley on horseback but felt that the owner of Hopkins Station would get better value for money if he deployed a helicopter. Not just the station owner, I thought ruefully gazing up at the grey sky.

After lunch DJ and I braved the cold southerly to head up to Richardson Biv for a look. We got truncated views of the bottom two thirds of the glaciers at the head of the Hopkins thanks to the low cloud and drizzle that kept threatening to bust through the grey skies. It was great to be outdoors and Richardson Biv looked like it would be a good place to stay for a party of two, anymore would need to camp. Back at Erceg we found Mike warming up with a brew after abandoning his summit bid somewhere near the top. He’d been hampered by poor visibility and route selection but he’d gotten close. He could have done with us along as well to help with route selection he mentioned pointedly. We promised him that with an appropriate dose of Vitamin C and a bit of counselling we’d all think about heading back up with him tomorrow.

Despite our assurances we were starting to think that perhaps we had used up our weather window on the walk in. Wednesday seemed to confirm this when we again awoke to the sound of rain falling on the hut roof. Visibility was better than the previous day but it didn’t look like it would be sustained. Mike, DJ and Harry decided to go and take a look at Richardson Biv. It was my turn to play hut sloth. When everyone returned we decided we would pack up and head down to Dodgers Hut so we could do some climbing from there if the weather improved and still be close enough to walk out. We made this plan thinking the musterers would have headed home.

We arrived at Dodgers at about 3pm to find the musterers horses quietly grazing nearby and gear strewn throughout the hut. We did not fancy camping under the trees in the wind and rain with only fifteen dogs for company so we decided to push on to Elcho Hut resigned to the fact our trip was turning into a valley trudge rather than a climbing  extravaganza we had hoped for.

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We made good progress on the trip down with lighter packs and better route selection. This was just as well as the light rain steadily increased til we did the last hour of walking in a torrential downpour. Undeterred Mike took a detour to bag Colours Hut. Arriving at Elcho Harry did an excellent job of getting the fire going and we were able to warm up, dry out our wet gear and eat the remainder of our Easter treats in relative comfort. It will be clear and sunny tomorrow Mike predicted. Harry and I selflessly resolved to let him and DJ beat us at 500 to cheer him up. It was the least we could do after making rather large inroads into his Vitamin C supply.

Thursday dawned clear and sunny as Mike predicted. If he ever wishes to leave Transpower there are at least three people who can give him a reference that will help him get a job with Met VUW or Met Service for sure. We walked down the valley into a very cold mist and out the other side to the road end. I checked the hut book at Memorial Hut and sure enough a TTC climbing party had headed up the Huxley after leaving their four wheel drive outside the hut (we found out later that on the day Mike went in search of a summit behind Erceg they managed to climb through the murk to summit Mt MacKenzie  at the head of the Huxley). Mike’s luck finally changed at this point and he scored a ride from Memorial Hut to the car. This seemed a fair reward for the fact he had lugged the vast bulk of the heavy climbing gear up and down the valley and unlike his more defeatist companions he had tried hard to climb something other than the top bunk at Erceg.

In bright sunshine we started our journey north reflecting on the fact that for three of us this trip had been a little too similar to our trip up the neighbouring Huxley Valley in 2013. Despite our bad luck with the weather to date which tested both our emotional resilience and our vitamin supplies, I’m definitely keen to return to the Huxley and Hopkins Valleys. They are stunningly beautiful and there are many climbing objectives within relatively easy reach of the many huts and great campsites that dominate the valleys. Of course a helicopter would be nice for getting ones kit in there…

Thanks to DJ for organising the trip. The other trip members were Harry Smith, Mike Phethean and myself. If anyone ever needs a good place to stay in Geraldine contact us! *vitamin I = ibuprofen, vitamin C = chocolate.

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