Spencer said bring ice axes, crampons and helmets because we are doing an alpine trip in the Raglan Range. As a trip leader he was pleased with the uniformly high level of fitness and experience of the punters on his trip; quite uncharacteristic for a medium trip.
However, there was a reason for this, said punters had in fact signed up for a medium-fit trip, a fact adamantly denied by the trip leader till he was shown the trip schedule.
The ferry crossing was smooth, the night on Kowhai DOC campground frigging cold. At 8:30am we picked up the keys for the gate. The famer said the valley was quite busy; two other people went in yesterday! Spencer heroically drove the van through the many fords on the road. Water splashed.
In crispy cold conditions and not a cloud in the sky we crossed the swing bridge over the Wairau River. Carrying on along Lees Creek, grass covered in hoar frost crunched under our boots. It was cold! The sun never reached the valley floor, nor our faces, until we arrived at Lees Creek Hut after 3h. The hut was occupied but empty. Matching sleeping bags on two of the four bunks raised a few eye brows. We enjoyed 15 minutes of lunch in the sun before the fast approaching shadow line chased us further and further uphill. The sun finally disappeared at 1:15pm and blue light filled the valley. It got even colder. We hurried on to the upper forks in the river, where patches of sun beckoned, and finally met the two occupants of the hut who were just returning. The female sported a pair of artificial boobs, also called Aarn Pack. They came from Ngatinaughty they said, which might have been Ngatimoti.
Going with the medium-without-fit theme of the tramp we called it a day after only 5h of tramping, as the campsite under the beech trees at the forks looked so inviting. Simon got a fire roaring. It was warm! We stayed up late till 7:05pm!!! It was cold in the tents.
After a short sleep of 12h, tea in bed was served by Stuart. What a treat, uncharacteristic for a medium trip (unheard of on a medium-fit trip).
Unencumbered by heavy packs we skipped up the true left branch of Lees Creek, destination: a few tarns at 1860m. It started sleeting. If sleet is classified as rain (disputed, appeal pending) Paul lost his bet. We clambered up snow grass slopes, tried walking in a frozen river gully and finally climbed up a rocky gut to reach the tarns. They were frozen. We played a round of rock curling, but nobody volunteered to be the sweeper. Probably a sensible decision when rocks thrown by some eco vandals punctured the thin ice and ruined the pristine lake surface forever. It was cold and sleeting when we reached the highest point of our trip, Coldwater Creek Saddle.
Simon’s attempt at peak 2169m was aborted after rebellion by the clearly just medium punters. (In fairness it has to be said that sleet had turned to rain and visibility was low). Running down the scree slope was fun and by 12pm we were back at our campsite for some lunch in the drizzle. We packed up and headed down to Lees Creek Hut. Since Stuart and Katja graciously pitched their tent outside there was room for everyone else to pile into the hut. The former occupants had dried some firewood for us and were therefore forgiven their matching sleeping bags. The fire roared, the kettle boiled, and Illona’s knitting needles made click clack – ah domestic bliss. Outside it got dark and the full moon lit up some low hanging clouds, transforming them into mystic veils.
We had an early night in anticipation of the big day tomorrow. The walk out took us a full 2.5h! The track was well formed, the sun was up and we debated downgrading the trip to easy –medium. But once we got out we put some serious effort in at Villa Maria and Allan Scott vinery which gave us the good feeling that we were carrying our name with full right: Tongues and (M)eat!
PS: Needless to say that we never used ice axe or crampons, they stayed in the van the whole weekend!
For a Lees Creek and Bounds of Hades trip go to Lees-Misery-Hellfire Circuit