This weekend was scheduled as an Alp 1 trip to Bounds Peak in the Raglan Ranges. It’s proving a very elusive objective, with a growing number of thwarted attempts over the past few years. The weather was definitely not good enough for alpine climbing, so we settled on an overnighter to Powell Hut, to play in the forecasted snow and to boost our tramping souls.
We left Wellington mid-Saturday afternoon, and walked up the Gentle Annie track from Holdsworth carpark, laden with our alpine gear. Just beyond Mountain House Shelter, we entered the winter wonderland that is Tararua Forest Park, laden with snow. We also experienced the odd hail shower.
We popped out at the bushline arriving in perfect time to witness a fiery sunset from the helipad at Powell Hut.
It was chilly, and we’d seen the DoC notice on the website stating that there was no firewood at the hut, so we were hoping there’d be enough people overnighting to warm the place up a bit. We were very lucky to find a group celebrating a birthday, who had carried up enough logs to keep the fire going all evening.
Hot drinks were followed by a tasty dinner, which was then followed by chocolate and slices of birthday cake from the same lovely group that carried up the logs.
Now for a restful sleep, or so we thought. As we all settled into our bunks, it became apparent that the light switch (yes, Powell Hut has electric lighting!) was faulty and failed to turn off at the pre-scheduled time . Numerous attempts were made to switch the light off, which only served to further extend the timer. It was 2am before a nighttime toilet-tripper put us all out of our misery, managing to finally get it to switch off.
We planned for an early start the next day to see the sunrise and to then attempt the tops travel to Jumbo Hut. Although we knew the wind was likely to be too strong. Sunrise was beautiful and reminded us all that it’s well worth getting out even if your plan A isn’t possible.
Given we’d carried them up, we put crampons on at Powell Hut and headed up towards Mt Holdsworth. Within only 10-15 mins it was clear that it was too cold and windy to attempt to travel along the tops. So we did some spins in the snow and promptly headed back down to Powell Hut.
Rather than repeating the Gentle Annie Track on the way out, we explored the older, but still easily navigable track, from just past the Totara Flats junction. We went along the first part of Carrington Ridge, then over Gentle Annie Saddle and popped out at the top of the Lookout track. This added extra satisfaction to this mini adventure.
To finish off the trip, we called into the French bakery in Greytown for an early afternoon pastry.