Windy Tops

Category: tramping

  • Trip: Snowy walk from Holdsworth to Mitre Flats

    Queen’s Birthday Weekend in the Tararuas didn’t quite work out. There was snow back home in central Wellington, nearly to sea-level for the first time since about 1995, and there was easily snow down to 200 metres in the Tararuas. None of this began until Sunday morning, however. As we set out late on Friday afternoon, we were still planning for the possibility of our original intent.

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    Dave getting snowed on.

    Dates: 29th – 31st May, 2009
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Holdsworth Road-end.
    People: Dave, Marie S, Marie H and me.
    Huts visited: Holdsworth Lodge (0 nights), Atiwhakatu Hut (0 nights), Mitre Flats Hut (1 night).
    Route: From Holdsworth road-end to somewhere past Atiwhakatu to camp on Friday night, Mitre Flats and up then down Mitre on Saturday, back to Holdsworth road-end on Sunday.
    [Photos and movies]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    After starting out at Holdsworth Lodge, plan A would be to climb up Baldy, then get over Three Kings and Girdlestone to spend a night at Tarn Ridge Hut, drop down over Mitre to Mitre Flats on the following day (possibly with a very early start if we had to fit into a weather window), and walk back to Holdsworth on the Monday.
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  • Trip: Kiriwhakapapa to Cow Creek, Mitre Flats and Holdsworth Lodge

    There’s a certain feeling one can sometimes get when looking at a weather forecast the day before going tramping, to realise the entire country is be converged on by unavoidable freezing heavy rainfall from all directions. It’s a feeling that corresponds with thoughts of wanting to avoid river travel, and thus I was very surprised last Saturday to be happily wading down the Waingawa River in the Tararuas. But then, you can’t really beat the Tararuas on a rainy weekend. As is generally known, the Tararuas and rain are like two magnets with poles reversed. Yep, the Tararuas are awesome.

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    Crossing the Waingawa under Cow Creek.

    It seems weird going back to somewhere where I’ve been as recently as a week earlier, but that’s what I did last weekend. This time it was with the trampey club, and it wasn’t quite the same place. Instead of just walking from Holdsworth to Mitre Flats and back, we began further north at Kiriwhakapapa, then walked back to Mitre Flats before coming out at Holdsworth.

    Dates: 8th – 10th May, 2009
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Kiriwhakapapa to Holdsworth Road-ends.
    People: Steve, Daniel, Andrew, Justin and me.
    Huts visited: Blue Range Hut (1 night), Cow Creek Hut (0 nights), Mitre Flats Hut (1 night), Atiwhakatu Hut (0 nights), Holdsworth Lodge (0 nights).
    Route: Kiriwhakapapa to Blue Range Hut (Friday night), down to Cow Creek Hut via an old track to Cow Saddle, then to Mitre Flats Hut for Saturday night. Out to Holdsworth road-end on Sunday.
    [Photos]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

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  • Trip: Holdsworth Lodge to Mitre Flats and back

    I had a free weekend and I realised that I hadn’t been to the Tararuas for about six months! Don’t ask me how this happened because it’s my favourite mountain range. Since I had the time, I made up my mind to get back and visit them again. The weather forecast was changing every hour leading up to my leaving home on Saturday morning, which was probably because the Met service forecasters weren’t very certain about exactly where a particular system was going to hit. It looked as if it might get very rainy, but I guess you can’t really beat the Tararuas when it’s raining. They’re fantastic.

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    Between Atiwhakatu Hut
    and Mitre Flats.

    Dates: 2nd – 3rd May, 2009
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Holdsworth road-end.
    People: Just me.
    Huts visited: Holdsworth Lodge (0 nights), Atiwhakatu Hut (0 nights), Mitre Flats Hut (1 night).
    Route: Start at Holdsworth Lodge, walk straight to Mitre Flats (via the track), then walk back.
    [Photos]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

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  • Trip: Four days of D’Urville, Moss Pass, Sabine, and an ice axe

    Having an ice axe attached to your pack makes you look cool. Therefore, what better way to spend Easter than four days in Nelson Lakes National Park with an ice axe, and also with people who are friends? Well, there are possibly other things that could be at least as good, but the ice axe and other people in Nelson Lakes thing is what I did… despite having begun the trip without an ice axe.

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    Bernie in front of Lake Constance.

    Dates: 9th – 13th April, 2009
    Location: Nelson Lakes National Park, Lake Rotoroa.
    People: Hans, Mika, Marie, Jen, Matthew, Bernie, Paul, and me.
    Huts visited: D’Urville Hut (0 nights), Morgan Hut (0 nights), George Lyon Hut [formerly Ella Hut] (1 night), Blue Lake Hut (1 night), West Sabine Hut (1 night), Sabine Hut (0 nights).
    Route: Water taxi to D’Urville Hut, south past Morgan Hut to George Lyon Hut for Friday night. Climb over Moss Pass and down the other side on Saturday, to Blue Lake Hut. Roam around and explore on Sunday morning, then continue north up Sabine to West Sabine Hut in afternoon. Continue to Sabine Hut (and return water taxi) on Monday.
    [Photos and movies]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    Our trip had been carefully planned by Steve, who sadly had to withdraw at the last minute over a foot he injured during the Oxfam 100 km Trailwalker the previous weekend. Having hired a cheap rental van and taken it onto the Interislander from Wellington on Thursday night, we arrived at the end of Lake Rotoroa some time well after midnight. I don’t know exactly what time it was, but I do know that after setting up some tents and flies, we were drifting off to sleep some time after 1.30am. We discovered at late notice that we’d almost mis-calculated how much shelter to bring and were short by a small fly or so. Thankfully, however, enough people had brought their own anti-social tents beyond the need of the organised plan. Marie crunched into Hans and Mika’s tent, Jen and Paul set up their small one-person tents, while Bernie, Matthew and I slid under my Huntech two-person fly, which can easily and comfortably accommodate three people despite the name.

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  • Trip: Waterfall Hut via Tussock Creek, and Te Atuaoparapara

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    Bernie in front of the sunrise
    behind Rangi Saddle.

    Last weekend we visited the Ruahines, and I was finally able to see Sunrise Hut, which I’ve heard so much about. It was only a brief part of a much larger weekend, though.

    Dates: 20th – 22nd March, 2009
    Location: Ruahine Forest Park, Triplex road-end.
    People: Glynne, Paul, Tim, Mike P, Bernie, Harry and me.
    Huts visited: Triplex Hut (1 night), Waterfall Hut (1 night), Waikamaka Hut (0 nights), Sunrise Hut (0 nights).
    Route: From Triplex Hut to Waipawa Forks, up to Waipawa Saddle then climb the south-eastern side up to Three Johns (1569). South-west to Rangioteatua (1704), south to 1715 then south-west to Paemutu (1682). Down scree to Tussock Creek, and to Waterfall Hut for the night. Then up Rangi Creek, over Rangi Saddle to Waikamaka Hut, back to Waipawa Saddle, up the northern side to 1625, north to Te Atuaoparapara (1687), north-east to Armstrong Saddle, then back to Triplex road-end via Sunrise Hut.
    [Photos and movies]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    We begin at the TripleX road-end, in the rain and standing in the muddy road preparing to leave. Sometimes I have concerns that I won’t look as if I’ve actually been somewhere by the end of a weekend, but these concerns are now unwarranted as I realise that half of my pack is already covered in mud. Better yet, it’s splashy mud which has a fantastic transitive quality, and it quickly asserts itself on my trampey clothes. Now I look as if I’ve been somewhere!
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  • Trip: Lake Dive to North Egmont

    I visited Eggie between Christmas and New Year, and stayed a couple of nights on the mountain. More specifically, I started around Lake Dive and Dawson Falls on the southern side, and made my way around to North Egmont via the eastern side. If you’re after a remote wilderness experience then Egmont National Park isn’t the easiest place to get one. It’s quite small, and very few parts of it (if any) are out of reach of daywalks, especially during the long days of summer. On the other hand, I think it’s definitely worth visiting. Egmont National Park is an isolated circle, literally. It’s as if someone took a compass on a flat topographical map, and drew a circle around the centre of the mountain to define the national park. Trees and native bush outside this line have been removed, and generally converted to farm-land.

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    Lake Dive in front of Egmont
    and Fanthams Peak.

    Dates: 28th – 30th December, 2008
    Location: Egmont National Park, Dawson Falls to North Egmont.
    People: Just me.
    Huts visited: Lake Dive Hut (1 night), Kapuni Lodge (0 nights), Hooker Shelter (0 nights), Waingongoro Hut (0 nights), Maketawa Hut (1 night).
    Route: Lake Dive Loop from Dawson’s Falls (lower track then upper track), then around the eastern side of Egmont from Dawson Falls to Maketawa Hut on the lower track, and out via North Egmont.
    [Photos]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.
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    Mt Egmont seen from New Plymouth,
    with the Pouakai Range to the right.

    As with most parks in New Zealand, Egmont has its own colour and character; this park is sharply defined by a solo cone-shaped volcanic mountain in the middle. There is actually a mountain range going through Mount Taranaki/Egmont, which is the consequence of a slowly moving volcanic centre of which remnants can still be seen poking out of the sea off the coast of New Plymouth, then climbing to the south into the Pouakai Range, continuing through Egmont’s discrete 2518 metre peak, and finishing at Fanthams Peak on the southern slope, which is the consequence of the most recent volcanic action. Although it’s been relatively dormant in the past few hundred years, the park is dotted all over with massive domes and bluffs, all of which are symptomatic of the mountain’s violent and continuing volcanic history.

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  • Trip: Rangiwahia, Te Hekenga, Howletts and Heritage

    We finally managed to get around this scenic loop in the Ruahines, which is almost entirely made up of tops travel. It was a weekend of very nice weather, even though a light easterly in the Ruahines meant walking through some clag. For me personally, it was the first time I’ve connected the dots between two different sides in the Ruahines, having reached the same place from two different sides, and this felt quite rewarding.

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    Alistair collects water from one of the
    tarns on the way up Te Hekenga.

    Dates: 5th – 7th December, 2008
    Location: Ruahine Forest Park, Rangiwahia road-end to Heritage road-end.
    People: Alistair, Dirk, Paul, Amanda, Harry, Steve, Roger, Bernie and me.
    Huts visited: Rangiwahia Hut (1 night), Howletts Hut (1 night), Heritage Hut (0 nights).
    Route: Up to Rangiwahia on Friday night. On Saturday, walk past Maungamahue, around the back of Te Hekenga, then to Taumataomekura and Tiraha, and down Daphne Ridge to Howletts Hut for Saturday night. On Sunday, continue to Taumatataua, Otumore, and Tunupo, then descend to Heritage Lodge and out at the Heritage road-end.
    [Photos]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    Levin is a good place to stop for dinner when driving north of Wellington up SH1 on Friday night. People often want to stop at Bulls because it has a kebab shop which some people like, but this time everyone agreed on Levin, and that suits me because I think there’s a wider variety of choices. There’s also a supermarket, which suited Alistair who was last back to the van, carting a 12-pack of toilet paper after he’d realised he never packed any.

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  • Trip: Rangiwahia to Heritage via Triangle and Iron Gates

    Honestly, who would have thought it’d be rainy fogged-in weather on Labour Weekend? Apparently not us, because we had a fairly intensive tramp planned that would have gone from Rangiwahia over to Howletts, then back via Iron Gates. Unfortunately it rained and it snowed and it didn’t really work so well, but it was still worthwhile and from a personal perspective, I was still able to see places I hadn’t seen before.

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    Steve, Amanda and Paul
    north-west of Mangahuia.

    Dates: 24th – 26th October, 2008 (one day shorter than intended)
    Location: Ruahine Forest Park, Rangiwahia to Heritage Road-end.
    People: Steve, Amanda, Paul and me.
    Huts visited: Rangiwahia Hut (1 night), Triangle Hut (0 nights), Iron Gates Hut (1 night), Heritage Hut (0 nights).
    Intended Route: Walk to Rangiwahia, then around Maungamahue and the back of Te Hekenga , over to Taumataomekura, Teraha and to Howletts Hut for Saturday night. Then via Daphne Ridge, Otumore and down to Iron Gates Hut (or possibly Triangle Hut) for Sunday night, before heading back up to Rangiwahia Hut and out again on Monday.
    Actual Route: Due to weather issues we went straight down to Triangle Hut and Iron Gates Hut on Saturday, before continuing to the Heritage road-end on Sunday and getting out a day early.
    [Photos and movies]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    After dinner from that Kebab shop at Bulls, we reached the Rangiwahia road-end at around 9.30’ish, I guess. At the very least, after the walk up the hill (which from past experience seems to take about 90 minutes), we were settling down at around 11pm on Friday night. The weather forecast was already dismal, without much suggestion that things would clear up until about Monday. Although we’d made plans to sleep in, Steve was still up and about at 6.30, and everyone followed.

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  • Trip: Cone Peak, towards Neill and back

    We began the weekend with an ambitious plan to start from Cone Saddle, and walk to Alpha Hut during Saturday via Neill, Winchcombe and Hector. It didn’t quite work out, but we still had a good time.

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    A Tararua Rainbow, looking
    south from near Neill Peak (1158).

    Dates: 12th – 14th September, 2008
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Walls Whare Road-end.
    People: Alistair, Sarah, Illona, Amanda, Bernie and me.
    Huts visited: Cone Hut (1 night).
    Intended Route: Walk to Cone Saddle and camp on Friday night. From Saturday morning head up to Cone, over to Neill via Neill Saddle, across to Winchcombe Peak, continue to Hector, then follow the Southern Crossing track to Alpha Hut for Saturday night. Out via Marchant Ridge on Sunday.
    Actual Route: We got to about point 1055 below Winchcombe Peak, then decided to turn around and head back to Cone Hut for the night and head back to Walls Whare on Sunday.
    [Photos and movies]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    We arrived at Walls Whare in coordination with another club group that was indirectly aiming for Totara Flats, with both groups planning to walk the first leg of their trip on Friday night. The others intended to spend the night at Cone Hut, whereas we thought we might just camp up the hill at Cone Saddle, which was marginally closer to where we planned to go.
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