Having had my West Coast dreams crushed by the wet weather over the Christmas break, I was waiting for a fine spell to do something local but interesting, which presented itself in the form of a Carkeek SK (Schormann’s-Kaitoke) with a twist in the first week of January. Several people in the club had been … Read more
A Bannister crossing had been on the to-do list for both Anne and I for a while. The Bannister Ridge, with its dramatic and imposing profile, had captured our imaginations on previous trips. Anne had planned a Cattle Ridge-Bannister-Dundas loop in autumn last year, however we didn’t get the weather window to do that trip. … Read more
Up the hill we went in the dark – not an inky dark, lit by a huge oculus-moon highlighting the jagged terrain amid fragmenting cloud. Not a breath of wind and a landscape bathed in ivory light made for a glorious hour up to Longview Hut for the night. Jessie’s headlamp threatened to add to … Read more
Contemplating our wounds during lunch half way through the scrub bash back to the tops of the Douglas Range, someone remarked that this was like childbirth: we’d forget the pain and do it all again. That certainly rang true for three of us. Sharron, who’d laboured here with David and me five years before, had … Read more
We just can’t pass up the chance to walk Sawtooth Ridge on such a fine day Awfully long way back to the car at Rangiwhahia but! It will be ok says Mike So decision made, we turned and headed North along Sawtooth Ridge on Sunday morning. It wasn’t supposed to work out this way, but … Read more
There were three, or maybe four, punters signed up for the Mt Luna fit trip. At the last moment two punters signed up for the med–fit trip. Hence the fit group heading over Luna divided back into a fit and med-fit party, who then re-molded together as one group made up of two separate groups, … Read more
As I passed Wellington airport with the orange needle horizontal on Cobham Drive, and the radio informing me that wind gusts of up to 140km/h were being recorded, I was beginning to wonder why I was heading into the hills. The horizontal hailstorms announced that summer had ended and autumn had begun. Buses were crashing … Read more
We began with a beautiful morning on Friday 2nd April, clear blue skies & no wind at all. Heading up Brown Cow Ridge we eventually reached the bush edge & then sidled across to where the track drops to Boulder Lake. Here wonderful views of Boulder Lake, Green Saddle, Dragons Teeth etc opened up in … Read more