Friday
After a quick drive over the Remutakas and some of Carterton’s finest fried chicken, we drove to The Pines carpark and were at the head of the Barra Track at 7.30 pm.
Ethan, sporting the elite tramping look of gaiters and shorts, was leading 9 of us to the mighty Mitre Peak in the Tararuas.
The weather was gorgeous, but with a sign at the start stating it would take 4 hours to reach Mitre Flats Hut, it would mean a decent stretch of tramping in the dark.
A nice wide farm track gave way to a narrow, undulating track that hugged the contour line. It was almost pitch black when we encountered the first major tree-fall looming large in our headlamp beams. It had taken out a large part of the track, meaning we’d have to scramble into and out of a gully. While navigating this obstacle our group separated in half. One group carried on along the track past a part which had them mantling a steep rocky section. When the second group met this obstacle, we instead followed the contour line into the bush, rapidly losing any semblance of a track.
After referring to the map and trying to work out where the track was didn’t work, Ethan decided to backtrack. Fortunately the other group had the same idea and we had a happy reunion at the spot where we had left the track. Thereafter we resolved to stay together as one group, given that nightfall made losing someone far riskier than if it had been daytime.
Sufficiently humbled, we pushed on through the muggy night. Our progress was hampered by two major tree falls along the track, and countless minor ones, which were a pain to navigate with our heavy packs and tired legs. Eventually we arrived at Mitre Flats Hut at 11.30pm – only 30 minutes later than had been indicated by the signage at the start of the track.
There were enough spots for all of us at the Hut, and we eagerly went straight to bed, as there would be a lot of climbing the next day.
Saturday
We woke the next morning at 6.30 am. Ethan’s snoring proved to be compelling night time entertainment. Not all of us slept as well as we would have liked, but we still managed to get our ascent of Mitre Peak under way at 7.40 am.
Starting early meant there would be no rush to get to the top, as we would have plenty of daylight to burn. Climbing through the green foothills was straightforward, with little tree-fall, which was easy to navigate in the daylight.
We arrived at the tree line at 10 am and were greeted with gorgeous views of the Wairarapa – not a cloud in the sky and a stiff breeze to keep us cool. We pushed on up through the tussock and arrived at the top of Peggys Peak (1545 m elevation) at 11 am. Here the lack of cover meant a huge increase in windspeed and a big drop in temperature.
As we pushed on along the narrow spur towards the summit, the wind increased in ferocity, requiring frequent stops and stumbles.
At about 50 m from the top, Ethan made the call to turn around. This was agonising as the summit was within touching distance. However the risk of a potential fall was too great, given the elevation and the strength of the wind.
After descending a little to get out of the wind, we had lunch on the southern side of the mountain. Afterwards our descent was speedy and straight forward.
We came across another WTMC group who were doing a medium grade trip in the area. They had attempted to make it to Cow Creek Hut, but faced similar challenging conditions to our group and therefore had also decided to turn back. We got back to Mitre Flats Hut at 3 pm – it had been a 7 hour (approx) round trip.
After a well earned afternoon of relaxation we had an early night.
Sunday
We left the Hut at 7.30 am, and our hike back out was relatively uneventful.
Obstacles that had been tough going on the first night were made easier with the daylight and learnings from our previous experience. We arrived back at the Pines carpark at 10.30 am, exhausted but content.