Third Year Tramp of Mystery

This... is where we're going...

Bush
Aoraki Polytech
Instructors: Andy Fullerton and Rob Dunn
Group: Me, Lana, Emma, Quintin, Pete, Parfitt, Brad and Tim
Total Distance: 65km
Description: Third year mystery tramp... We don't know where we are going till we get there, then we are given some maps, which have X's on them and we can take any route we want to get to those points. No cookers (but we did take some as back up as we were told we would be in alpine area's), no tents (just flys) and to prepackaged food. 
Location: Ohau
Days: 5


7/5
Route: Quailburn to Lake 1514m via East Ahuriri
Conditions: Sunny, light NW
Time: 5 hours
Started walking at about midday, followed a track for the first half hour and then we were off in the tussocks and up the ... river to lake... where we spent the first night. Had to use our cookers as we were up in the alpine area. Moonlight was AMAZING.

Crew on the first pass (Photo: Rob Dunn)

8/5
Route: Lake 1514m to Maitland via Lake Dumbbell
Conditions: Sunny, becoming cloudy and drizzly,strong winds about the tops
Time: 9 hours
7am start up and over ... and along the ridge to Lake Dumbell and our first X. Fun scree slide on the way down and then followed the creek to... where we found a nice camping spot in the bush. We decided to make camp early (3pm) as Emma was having a lot of trouble with her legs. After much discussion Emma decided that she was going to walk out and we would continue on our planned route the next day. Cooked over the fire.

Loving life on the spur (Photo: Rob Dunn)

9/5
Route: Maitland to the Watson then up the Ahuriri to near Hagens Hut
Conditions: Light rain on the valley floor, 50kmh SE winds on the tops, low visibility, snowing
Time: 11 hours
Another 7am start, we left Emma at the camp site where she would walk out the valley later on. The ridge we had chosen turned out to be a lot gnarlier than we anticipated, very steep, climbing on moss and rotten trees, bluffed out in a few areas, needed the bush ropes a couple of times. The ridge became more walkable, but steep and we broke the bush line where we climbed tussock and scree. The visibility became low as we climbed higher and we navigated along the narrow rocky ridge. Found the saddle where we dropped down the steep (and super fun) scree on the other side, onto the Watson River then through the bush to Ahuri Valley. Walked up the valley and camped opposite the ... Hut. Very wet, got a fire going, discovered the flys are rather leaky. Due to the weather forecast we decided that we would not be able to go over V Notch Pass, our planned route, instead we would go over the pass next to it and into the South Temple Valley

Starting up the Pass
(Photo: Tim Shaw)

10/5
Route: Hagens Hut to South Temple
Conditions: Raining, poor visibility, 30kmh SE winds about the tops
Time: 10 hours

Over night it had snowed down 1200m and there was a lot of cloud hanging about the tops. We were unsure of whether we would be able to get over the pass in the conditions, so we walked up the valley in hope of a window of visibility and we got it. The sun came out about a kilometer from the pass and we had enough visibility to make our way up the pass and over. Good scree covered in very powdery snow, but pretty easy going. Interesting nav down the other side as the cloud closed in again. Walked down the valley until we got to the Beech forest for a camp spot. Massive day.


11/5
Route: Out down the South Temple Valley
Conditions: Low cloud
Time: 4 hours
Easy walk out to the car park. Epic trip!