I saw this trip on the schedule and thought ‘that could be fun’. I know of several people who have done this trip before – both heading up High Ridge and going down High Ridge – and I was keen to give it a go too.
The following report outlines Saturday’s adventure, as Sunday was a straightforward walk out to the car park via Gentle Annie Track.
The five of us started the walk from Holdsworth carpark before 9am on Saturday. We headed straight up to Powell Hut, with a quick stop at Mountain House Shelter on the way.
At about 1100 m elevation, we encountered some snow – much to our delight! However this quickly turned into slippery ice, which slowed us down just metres from Powell Hut. Hiking poles came in handy here, as well as lots of steps (who would’ve thought!)
We made it to Powell Hut at 11.30am and enjoyed the view out to the Wairarapa while having an early lunch in the sun. Then it was onwards to High Ridge. Beyond the Hut, the snow turned out to be less icy with a layer of crunchy stuff on top, making for much better footing. This continued up to the turnoff and all the way down High Ridge, much to our relief.
We wandered down High Ridge enjoying the sun, snow and low wind conditions.
Some clouds gathering in the south had us wondering if it would rain later. Sure enough, once we were in the bush, the skies clouded over and some rain/not-quite-snow/small sleety stuff started to fall. Luckily this was only in brief passing bursts, so we managed to remain pretty dry.
We followed the occasional tape along the ridge and checked the GPS often, which came in handy on a couple of occasions. There is often a good ground trail to follow, however, it just as easily disappears. At Flaxy Knob we had a quick break before heading down a spur. There is an old sign pointing down to Totara Hut, so we knew we were starting off in the right direction!
Navigation down the spur was a little more difficult. Sporadic tape and a few old trail markers (big orange discs) gave us some confidence that we were heading the right way as we descended, but then we would lose the trail multiple times, only to miraculously pick up the trail again a bit further down. Having lots of eyes definitely helped us spot the next sign of where to go next. The light faded when we had about 1 hour to go, so the head torches came out.
Nearer the bottom, around the 500m contour line, we picked up a track that led down to Totara Creek. We managed to follow this rack for a short while before losing it again on flatter ground. At this point we were close enough to the main track to make a beeline straight for it, and despite some supple jack to weave through, we managed to pop out on the Totara Creek Track about 5 minutes from the main swing bridge just before Totara Flats Hut.
All up, a great day and with a great group of people. And a fun alternative way to get to Totara Flats Hut.
Timings
Saturday
8.50am Pass Holdsworth Lodge
10.23am: Mountain House Shelter
11.29am: Powell Hut – stop for early lunch
12.00pm: Depart Powell Hut
12.16pm: Angle Knob junction
3.09pm: Flaxy Knob
5.57pm: Totara Flats Hut
Sunday
9.20am: Depart Totara Flats Hut
12.53pm: Back at carpark