The original plan for this trip was to head into Atiwhakatu Hut on Friday night, climb Baldy Peak and then go on to the Broken Axe Pinnacles and McGregor Biv on Saturday and then back to Holdsworth Lodge via Angle Knob and Jumbo on Sunday. While Saturday’s weather looked pretty good, Sunday’s forecast was for for 80km/h gusts – not conditions I would feel comfortable being on the tops in.
I already had a Baldy-Mitre Flats Hut Plan B in mind. But after some advice from fellow Club members, I decided we would make the final call about the route on Saturday – once we had the most up to date forecast (there is reception on the tops on Baldy Peak).
Friday
On Friday night we got dropped off at Holdsworth Lodge just after 7pm, and had a leisurely 1h 45 min walk to Atiwhakatu Hut. There was just one family at the Hut and we all headed to bed early, eager for the weekend ahead.
Saturday
The next morning we had a chat about route options and then left the Hut at 8am, heading towards Baldy Peak. After a steady climb we emerged from the bush and were greeted with sunny skies and barely any breeze. We arrived at the top of Baldy Peak 2.5 hours after leaving Atiwhakatu Hut. The views were epic, made all the more beautiful by the layer of cloud that was drifting slowly across the Kings (Peaks on the Tararua Range) to the North – a sign of what was to come. We also met a group of guys who had arrived at the Baldy summit at midnight and had camped there overnight. Apparently it was a gorgeous evening, until 2am when the gusts picked up and shook them all awake!
I pulled out my phone to check the latest forecast for Sunday, but sadly it had not improved. In fact it looked marginally worse. We had another group kōrero and agreed that McGregor (a peak on the Tararua Range) was off the cards this weekend. However, we were still keen to spend some more time on the tops, so we decided we’d push on to South King (a peak on the Tararua Range) and then turn around and head down to Mitre Flats Hut for the night. By this point the winds had picked up a notch, and the layer of white cloud to the North was thickening.
Francis confidently led us up into the clouds, towards South King. As we climbed it got progressively colder and windier. About a third of the way up, it became clear that we weren’t going to see anything when we got to the top. However, after putting on gloves and more layers, we decided to push on for, to quote Ethan “the bragging rights.” We made a mental note of the metal sign about 300m from the South King summit to help us navigate on the way down. It took about 1 hour to reach the top of South King, and after a quick photo, we turned around and headed back down, quite pleased that we weren’t carrying on to the Pinnacles in the clag.
I really enjoyed watching the clouds swirl and shift during the second half of the descent, especially when they parted like a curtain to reveal the Wairarapa landscape behind them.
We stopped at the Baldy summit again for lunch (which was significantly windier than when we had left) and then began the downhill trek towards Barton Track. The sign at the Baldy junction says 1hr 45min to Mitre Flats Hut, but don’t be fooled, it’s more like 2hr 45min (which someone had helpfully handwritten on the sign).
Some people may describe Barton Track as tedious. I like to think of it as “interesting”. It’s rooty and undulating, but nothing too crazy. Calum took the role of reliable Tail End Charlie, providing regular updates on our progress (“Do you want the good news, or the bad news?”).
We arrived at Mitre Flats Hut at around 6pm and it was packed. So we pitched tents, had dinner and then crawled into our sleeping bags.
Sunday
The next morning we retraced our route along Barton Track back to Atiwhakatu Hut. This took us just under 4 hours and although it’s all below the bushline, there were sections where it was obvious the wind was a lot stronger. After lunch at Atiwhakatu Hut, we made it back to Holdsworth Lodge just ahead of our 2.30pm pickup time (by the EM group). We then had plenty of time for a real fruit ice cream stop at Pinehaven Orchards on the way home.
This trip was a good reminder of how variable the weather conditions can be from one peak to the next. Although we couldn’t do our original plan, we still had some stunning views, and a good mix of time above and below the bushline.
Thanks Calum, Francis and Ethan for your positivity and for being an awesome tramping crew!