A last minute change of plans saw us driving back to Tekapo after work on Friday night in the hopes of finding some good ski touring for the weekend. After making it to the road end in the snow, we packed up our kit and set off up the farm track at 10pm under the world heritage starry skies of a crisp and clear night.
Helen modelling the required kit -one very heavy and well packed rucksack complete with crampons, axe, shovel, skis, boots and down jacket strapped to the outside!
After a short while, the snow cover was sufficient to don the skis and skins and we made fairly good progress until we lost the track and encountered vast maze of matagauri bushes and streams. In the dark it was near impossible to see a route through so we decided to bed down for the night and wait for daylight.
Our bivvy spot at sunrise on Saturday.
Red skies over the distant hills.
Tim makes Helen breakfast in bed!
Heaving the heavy pack on for another day.
Perfecting the art of river crossing on skis.
Higher up the snow cover improved and made for excellent touring.
The powder in the basins was awesome.
Tim on the final slope up to the col.
We decided to set up high camp just below the col. We dug a platform in the snow and built up a bit of a wall for a wind break before skiing off into the powder.
The wide valley of camp stream made excellent touring terrain. On Saturday we skied down into the bottom of the valley enjoying the sunshine before skinning back up-valley to the ridge north of our camp. Then on Sunday in poor to zero visibility we followed the ridge (on the left in the photo above) to just before the summit at the head of the valley before dropping down the powder covered slopes and returning along the valley floor.
Skinning up valley as the sun drops.
If in doubt, follow the rabbit!
Watching the sunset from the ridge above camp.
The last of the sun for the weekend.
Tim skiing back to our lonely tent.
Sunday morning dawned cold and cloudy.
Biccie break on the ridge between wet snow showers. At times we had to ski a little left, then a little right using the angle of the slope as a guide for following the ridgeline.
Parting clouds permit a glimpse up the valley as we descend.
Down in the valley the snow turned to rain and we were looking pretty wet as we filled up our water bottles to save the slow task of melting snow back at camp.
Back at camp, someone came up with the great idea to build a snowman. Unfortunately that was just as it started to pour with freezing rain and we were soaked!
Still, he was a pretty cool snowman!
Drying off in the tent...
...and enjoying hot drinks and chocolate whilst the rain continued.
Helen modelling the required kit -one very heavy and well packed rucksack complete with crampons, axe, shovel, skis, boots and down jacket strapped to the outside!After a short while, the snow cover was sufficient to don the skis and skins and we made fairly good progress until we lost the track and encountered vast maze of matagauri bushes and streams. In the dark it was near impossible to see a route through so we decided to bed down for the night and wait for daylight.
Our bivvy spot at sunrise on Saturday.
Red skies over the distant hills.
Tim makes Helen breakfast in bed!
Heaving the heavy pack on for another day.
Perfecting the art of river crossing on skis.
Higher up the snow cover improved and made for excellent touring.
The powder in the basins was awesome.
Tim on the final slope up to the col.
We decided to set up high camp just below the col. We dug a platform in the snow and built up a bit of a wall for a wind break before skiing off into the powder.
The wide valley of camp stream made excellent touring terrain. On Saturday we skied down into the bottom of the valley enjoying the sunshine before skinning back up-valley to the ridge north of our camp. Then on Sunday in poor to zero visibility we followed the ridge (on the left in the photo above) to just before the summit at the head of the valley before dropping down the powder covered slopes and returning along the valley floor.
Skinning up valley as the sun drops.
If in doubt, follow the rabbit!
Watching the sunset from the ridge above camp.
The last of the sun for the weekend.
Tim skiing back to our lonely tent.
Sunday morning dawned cold and cloudy.
Biccie break on the ridge between wet snow showers. At times we had to ski a little left, then a little right using the angle of the slope as a guide for following the ridgeline.
Parting clouds permit a glimpse up the valley as we descend.
Down in the valley the snow turned to rain and we were looking pretty wet as we filled up our water bottles to save the slow task of melting snow back at camp.
Back at camp, someone came up with the great idea to build a snowman. Unfortunately that was just as it started to pour with freezing rain and we were soaked!
Still, he was a pretty cool snowman!
Drying off in the tent...
...and enjoying hot drinks and chocolate whilst the rain continued.
During a break in the showers we managed to pop out in an attempt to dry off and warm up by marching up to the ridge to spot mountains between the clouds as light dimmed and digging a snow fort around our tent to protect it from the pending weather. It was cold and only really had the result of freezing our wet outer layers and we were soon back in the tent for dinner as the rain returned as sleet and later snow.
The tent at midnight! At first we thought the snow had stopped, then we realised the tent was covered in snow and once we shook it off the pitta-patta of snow flakes on the fly sheet returned. We woke again at 3.30am to the tent just inches away from our faces under the weight of another load of snow. Twice Helen dug the snow away from the edges tent so that we could continue to shake the snow off from the inside but in the morning it still looked like this...
Tim digging the tent out after recovering the skis from the snow. Apparently there was over 30cm of snow over night!
Finally the car!
The tent at midnight! At first we thought the snow had stopped, then we realised the tent was covered in snow and once we shook it off the pitta-patta of snow flakes on the fly sheet returned. We woke again at 3.30am to the tent just inches away from our faces under the weight of another load of snow. Twice Helen dug the snow away from the edges tent so that we could continue to shake the snow off from the inside but in the morning it still looked like this...
Tim digging the tent out after recovering the skis from the snow. Apparently there was over 30cm of snow over night!
As it finally got light on Monday morning we were disappointed to see that it was still snowing and visibility was pretty much zero. Undeterred, we packed up all the wet gear, dug ourselves out and trudged in thigh deep powder up to the col. Using the GPS to pick a line we descended slowly on skis -everything was white. Eventually we came to a fence line as visibility improved and were able to follow this to the poled route through the now almost covered matagauri maze.
We were making good progress until we stopped to pick up our boots and trainers (that we had stashed in a bush near a route marker on the way up and carefully marked with the GPS). Unfortunately it seems the GPS is only accurate to within 10m (if that) and the snow overnight had left the area unrecognisable so we started digging and digging and digging... Several hours later we struck gold and were happy to make the final descent all the way to the car (almost) on skis just before it got dark.
Finally the car!
Thanks to a concerned friend who was only a short distance ahead on the descent prior to the 'treasure hunt' we met a friendly policeman as we were packing everything into the car who'd come to check on us! Chains were required to get the car and us safely out and back to civilisation for hot food and a shower.
1 comment:
Helen, these photos are absolutely awesome. It seems that your Bank holiday weekend was decidedly more successful than mine!!! But we finally went Skydiving today! Yeah
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