Southern Alps Traverse – Mt Cook to Haast

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I reached Mt Cook from Mesopotamia on 4^th December with Reece McKenzie. It was the hardest section of my traverse of the Southern Alps that I’d completed to date but I had a suspicion worse was to come and indeed that was the case. On 2 occasions in January, we had to postpone the next section due to bad weather forecasts.  I was very fortunate to have Penny Webster and Bruce Farmer as my companions. Penny of course is one of NZ great climbers and a renowned multisport athlete. Bruce too is a formidable climber, a veteran of 2 Everest expeditions and first ascent of Molamenking in Tibet and Cerro Stokes in Patagonia. Not only are both great mountain climbers but also more importantly are enthusiastic, kind and considerate and wonderful companions on a difficult enterprise.

Logistics were a bit of a headache and we decided that I would drive up to Glenorchy, stay with Bruce and on 6^th February, we’d drive over to Haast, drop off a vehicle and then carry on to Mt Cook in the other car. Penny would arrive in the afternoon at Unwin and then we’d set off up the Sealy Range.

It was a pleasant drive up to Glenorchy where I found Bruce and Rosemarie in their lovely house. This was my first meeting with them and I was immediately treated like royalty. After a nice dinner and pack, we bedded down early. We were up by 5:00am and away shortly afterwards. 3 hours later we had arrived at Pleasant Flat where we drove in on the 4WD track towards the old Landsborough homestead. After a kilometre, we left my car, transferred my gear over to Bruce’s, and set off for Mt Cook. It was another 3 hours to Unwin Hut at Mt Cook where we arrived at lunchtime. Penny arrived mid-afternoon. After a sort out we drove over to White Horse hill where we left Bruce’s car and set off up the hill.

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We had a pleasant camp on the Sealy Range but during the night it started to sleet and it was rather white and miserable next morning. We packed up early and set off on a GPS bearing for Barron Saddle Hut. We were relieved to have Penny navigating as she had ski toured here before and was familiar with most of the route. We took the high level route crossing the Annette Plateau, the Metelille Glacier, the Sladden Glacier and the ledge around the NW Ridge of Mt Darby. Most of this was in the murk, which only cleared once across Sladden Saddle. Once past Darby we climbed up a snowfield and then across some rocky hillocks for a view of the toilet of the Barron Saddle hut. That was a welcome sight even if it was just a toilet! Penny raced ahead to get the forecast at 7.00pm.

 
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Barron Saddle Hut is a giant barrel situated just below Barron Saddle. It replaced the 3 Johns Hut that was blown away in a storm in 1977 killing 4 members of the Wanganui Tramping club. No one else was there when we arrived, just as the weather forecast was coming through. This promised good weather for the next day, so we were very relieved. The ranger station at Mt Cook was surprised that we were there and more so when we told them we were crossing over to the Landsborough. I gave them a trip time of 7 days and a panic date on day 9. Penny produced a gourmet dinner for us. 

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Next morning there was cloud in the valleys and it was clear overhead, promising a fine day. We got underway climbing up to the saddle where we could see the torn stays of the 3 Johns hut. I shuddered when I saw the very steep drop off into the Dobson valley. We climbed along the ridge up to a prominent snow dome and then sidled left onto steep snow slopes. Further along we headed straight up a snow face that became increasingly steeper and icy. We took out the rope and Penny lead off on a belay, and then Bruce and I followed. I took over the lead for the next pitch and then it was a short pitch to the ridge. The view was spectacular, back towards Mt Cook and to the right, the Sealy range and then the Dobson valley. To the left were the Mueller Glacier and the mountains on the left side of that. To the west of Scissors, slabs dropped away into the Spence Valley. It was difficult to tell how steep the slabs were and we could see a line of weakness cutting diagonally right.

 
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Penny went off on a recce and said it was fine. We used the rope as a handrail on a vertical step. I put in a cam as an anchor and then decided I did not like the look of it so put in a second cam. When one of us was down climbing, a slip loaded the rope and the primary anchor popped out but the backup held, causing some palpitations.  Penny came last and she lowered her pack and then carefully descended. We continued along the line of ledges heading right. Between them there were some cracks, we slid down, the friction of our packs slowing our descent. On one section I rigged the rope up as a handrail and this was just as well as the slab was very steep and as smooth as glass. Finally we came to near the end of the slabs and here we did one awkward sideways abseil to the ice.

By now it was afternoon and cloud was pouring over the divide and rain was in the offing. We set off down the stone pock-marked ice till it ran into moraine and then down this alternating with leads of ice to a shelf on the mountainside with glacier to the left and rock ribs on the right. We guessed correctly the best route was down the remnant Spence Glacier on the left. This was an easy, straightforward descent and soon we were cruising done to Spence Lake. Walking around this we climbed up to a terrace and walked down the ablation valley and ancient lateral moraine to above Rubicon Lake. Here we dropped down to lake level and following the outflow river, we took a compass bearing on the Rubicon Bivvy rock, which led us directly to it. By now it was drizzling and it was a relief to find the bivvy. It was a huge rock with rock walls that had been built around it. The floor was grassy so it obviously got wet at times. However it was heaven to us and we got ourselves set up, had dinner and a pleasant night in it.

--> The following day was dreary with drizzle and heavy overcast clouds pressing down on the mountains. We packed up and set off hoping to reach Zora Canyon where we planned to camp. I had on my parka and overpants but Bruce said he would get too hot in this and opted for just shorts and shirt. In no time he was soaked but he did not seem to mind and happily carried on. My memory of this day is a blur of crashing through scrub, clambering around huge rocks, wading across streams, an interminable succession of twists and turns of the upper Landsborough Valley. A milestone was seeing the bush appear near Baffle Ravine opposite Whitcombe Creek. We struck trouble just before Arthur Creek in the form of a huge bluff that we knew we had to climb. But where was the route? Penny forged ahead and up and up we went for a long way, across slips, up cliffs and into more bush till I was wondering if this was correct. But I should never have doubted Penny, as she is a master navigator and guided us safely through and down to an open creek bed past Arthur Creek where we found a delightful mossy bench on which to pitch our tent. Soon Bruce and Penny had a fire going and dinner on. The rain had cleared and we had a pleasant evening there. 

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The 10^th dawned fine and we set off dropping down to Humphries Creek. There was more of the scrambling across huge boulders till we reached Zora Canyon where the valley widened and the travel became easier. Up till here we’d been only loosing height painfully slowly due to the difficult terrain but from here on, we picked up some speed. A large flat appeared and yes, I thought this must be Kea Flat but alas our GPS said otherwise. Further on we came to a bush terrace and on top was the start of Kea Flat. We’d had enough punishment for the day so decided to camp next to a lone beech tree on the flat. Bruce soon had a fire on as I pitched our tent.

I’d been to Kea Flat once before in the late 1970s with Jock and Pat. We’d come over the Solution Range from the Lower Otoko Pass and had a food cache here on this flat. Our plan was to reach Mt Cook over Scissors but looking at the terrain now I doubt we’d have succeeded, considering our inexperience then. The weather broke when we were here before and we had retreated over Broderick Pass to the Huxley and Hopkins. My recollection of travelling on down to Creswicke Flat was of easy travel but this was not borne out this time.

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The 11^th was a grey morning with showers on the tops. We cruised down Kea Flat and then found trappers tracks in the bush marked with pink triangles. These were a big help. The forest was fairly open and moss grew on the trees. One in particular has a woody mushroom like growths on the trunk. Penny gave it a big huge which was sweet. Our track then headed up hill and ended on a near vertical slip. Penny forged ahead across this as I carefully followed. Looking down it was maybe 100m straight into the flooded Landsborough, definitely no place to slip. Just at that moment Penny shouted, “Don’t look Stanley” just as I swivelled my gaze across towards her perched behind a tree, sans brassière. She was in the act of changing her sodden top. I reassured I had other things in my mind . . . like my tenuous grip on the mountain! Meanwhile Bruce was trying to maintain some adhesion to this near vertical slope behind me.

 
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But this was only the beginning of our difficulties following this errant track. Shortly after this, it dived down to river level into as bind corner. We were completely flummoxed as to where it went. A rock wall prevented boulder hopping at river level and above us we were ringed with cliffs. Back and forth we ran searching high a low till I noticed something written on a track marker by the river. This is what was written, “I agree! F@*k this!! (back to the creek and up)”. Yes, now it became clear . . .this was a dead end and we were not the first to discover this. So back along the creek we went, till we picked up a faint trail heading upwards. This eventually dropped back to river level and Creswicke Flat. Then we were trudging across the flats through sodden knee-high grass to the new Creswicke Flat Hut. 

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Creswicke Flat Hut was built last year from the $124,000.00 bequest of the late Barry Smith, a hunter who loved this place. It replaced the old dilapidated Creswicke flat hut that I stayed in, so many years ago. It’s got 4 bunks, a great little pot bellied stove and a wide veranda out front. Amazingly Penny knew Barry and in fact he took her on her first tramp. He was a teacher in Christchurch. It sounds like he was a super person and keen to help young people into the outdoors. We settled in and got the fire going and started drying out clothes. Although it was early afternoon I was keen to stay the night and enjoy a comfortable place to stay. It did not take the others long to see the logic of this. We were most impressed by this very well made and welcome hut with a fabulous view across the flats to Solution range, covered in a cloud layer. I’d scratched my eye earlier in the day when a branch flicked into my eye from the side so Bruce put in an eye pad but this was too uncomfortable after a while so we took it off.

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We were away early next day. My eye was feeling better which was a relief. It was overcast and drizzling and the river was in flood as we plodded along river flats and through the bush on the trapper tracks. There was none of the drama of the previous day’s slips and blind alleys. There was a steep climb on a track over Harper Bluff and then an easy descent to Harper Flat. I’d been here some weeks previous on a tunnel tracking job for a few days so was familiar with the area. We set up camp in my old camping spot at the bush edge near the old airstrip. Again this proved a delectable spot. Penny found her new jacket was leaking and made a waterproof layer under it with a rubbish bag. I was chilled from damp clothes and hastily got on some dry gear to warm up. I think this was the start of a respiratory infection, I subsequently developed.

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It was now day 8, as we set off down the flats. Sadly lots of ragwort and blackberry were growing here. We were looking for more track markers but none were evident. Once the flat ran out it was boulder hopping beside the river, till this was no longer practical and then, into the bush. It was damp and not the most pleasant. We came to an eroded cliff and Penny climbed down and then me. As Bruce took off his pack, we found the 2 ice axes had been pulled off somewhere back in the scrub, so he went off searching for half an hour and thankfully found them. Then it was down more flats to Strutt Bluff. The 2013 edition of Moir’s Guide describes a “good marked track” over the bluff but this is no longer the case. We found old footprints in the sand leading to the right just before the river cut in and in the bush some orange markers heading left. Higher up there was some flagging tape but then nothing in the steep bush. We climbed up 80m and there was what appeared to be an old track but it lead nowhere and horizontally to our right a vertical vegetated cliff barred further progress. We then descended back down to the river flats for a rethink. On our second sortie we regained the ledge and then decided to climb straight up to point 384m which although steep was straightforward. At the top a rock ledge slanted diagonally to the right. I think this was the original route noted in old editions of Moir’s. We could see the lower Landsborough Flats and we made our way down to them. What should have taken us less then an hour had consumed at least 5 hours.

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I thought we’d make the old homestead and camp there so once on the old 4WD track we sped along. But something was wrong, as there was no sign of the house. I’d been here only several years previous and I remembered the track going right by the house and impossible to miss. Penny did a great job navigating using her GPS as the track disappeared on the gravel outwashes. It was now dusk and in the fading light we spotted a light up ahead. “Yes, it must be the homestead and someone is camping there” I thought. We entered some bush on the track skipping around pools of water in the dark when suddenly bright lights spotlighted us like possums caught in the open. Then a Toyota Landcruiser stopped and the driver, a young guy asked if we were alright. They were the advance party of a team getting ready to do a bird count on the tops next day. They asked if we wanted to use their satellite phone and I took them up on the offer . . .calling Belinda and asking her to call the rangers at Mt Cook next day to forestall a likely S&R mission, as we would be 2 days overdue. They gave us some chocolate biscuits and wanted to know who we were. They also told us DOC had bulldozed down the old homestead the year before hence the reason I could not find it. Then they were gone and we set up camp in the drizzle on the next flat.

On the final day it was only a 2.5 hours walk out to my car, thankfully untouched. We then drove back to Mt Cook to collect the other cars. That night had a very pleasant dinner at the Mountaineers café with Jane Morris, a good friend of Penny. I was feeling quite ill so I drove back to Invercargill next day and went to bed.

Acknowledgment: Mt Cook to Pleasant Flat 6-14^th February 2017. This has been the hardest section of my trip down the Alps to date and I’m so grateful to Penny and Bruce for their company, enthusiasm and good humour.

Stanley Mulvany

Invercargill