Richmond Range - Easter 71

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Richmond Range - Easter 71 "How are you feeling?" queried the and vertical zig-zags which are the ridges chopper pilot. in that area. "Fine thanks". Most of us elected for boulder-hopping "You're not supposed to say that" on the Sunday. With its slow pools joked Pete. and rock scrambling the Pelorus was Awkwardly I followed Brian into the hanga. pleasantly Unhappily reminiscent three of of the us Ruama- missed cockpit and we were soon nosing our the Nelson turn-off; there way over the Dun Mountain towards a quick track back; happily was Nelson. unhappily its sharp stones heid designs on my What legwere we doing up there? From there events moved with com- It had all begun on Good Friday mendable efficiency. Malcolm provided in Timms creek near the Wairau. A warm clothes, Brian first aid and four friendly farmer, a billy full of mush- and a half hours later the two Pauls rooms and a splendid day had sent were alerting the Police in Nelson. Reus singing towards the hills. Unfortu- galed with trout, chestnuts, and politics nately on the tops confusion reigned, a la Reid, there was little chance to after the map was forced to fit the think on the leg. All was peaceful that countryside. Fortunately three school- night. Not so next morning. Brian was boys were able to sort out the scenery calmly preparing a brew, I was still for us. Unfortunately said scenery was in the pit when a sound of buzzing rapidly disappearing into the murk. alarmed the air. Gear scrambled together In fact next morning it was snowing. and I was half carried down to the Yet, it held promise of clearing-an river and piggy-backed across to the essential condition for our traverse from squatting chopper. Mt. Richmond. Hopefully, we waited For Brian and I the trip was over. on the summit. Paul tried to dispel Many thanks to all who helped after the mist by fire but to no avail. Frus- the accident-in particular all the trip trated we turned back. members, Paul Gazley, Paul Milson, Peter Reid, Kevin Max However there was an alternative ley, Dave Forbes, Malcolm Thompson, Buckroute out over Mt. Fell. Apart from Cox, and the guy responsible Fisher, for Owen a 150ft. discontinuity it provided an the "wise decisions" Brian Hunt. all express way to the Pelorus. It also provided grand views of the horizontal Andy Haines One Fine February Day A weekend at home offered the open valley which took us upwards possibility of a Sunday trip so one fine at an easy grade for half-an-hour. Many day in February Barry Biggs and I ar- were the comments concerning the inexrived alongside the Ngatiawa Stream. plicable absence of club trips in such Our plan was to follow the stream a magnificent area. We were soon to and its tributaries to as near the top find out why. Just after sighting a family of Kapakapanui as possible and then of goats, who seemed rather more inscale that fabled mountain and return terested in us than we were in them, via the track. the open valley petered out and the creek became rather more acrobatic in The stream proved to be good travel nature. After about thirty minutes of with sufficient variation to provide in- balancing on greasy boulders; turning, terest, supplemented by botanical investi- twisting, bending, crawling, straddling, gations. After an hour or so we started ducking and weaving under over and glancing up to our left but saw nothing around typical creek-bed vegetation at very appealing in the way of a route about 2500 feet on the western side until we came to the major forks. Here of the Tararua Ranges and clambering we took the left-hand (northern) branch up occasional miniature waterfalls-we and after a bit of scrambling around arrived at a patch of sun at a fork rubble from old slips found a delightful in the creek.

Insta-fiz and a biscuit helped us to ing upright, the vegetation gradually make the decision to take the more changed into mature beech forest and easterly branch (you didn't actually have then into leatherwood and sub-alpine to crawl to get through the low, tangled scrub where we picked up the track bush) and fortified us for the next from Renata and followed it for the episode. This consisted of leaving the last few hundred yards to the top. creek and climbing twenty feet or so Time had sort of slipped away so of grassy bank to the spur leading up after a quick late lunch we followed from the forks we had just left. On the track back down to the the Ngatiawa spur we found very healthy vege- Stream. It wasn't too easy to follow tation-not a lot of trees but plenty through the elephant grass at the top of scrub and second growth and acres and in mist could be quite confusing, of lawyer-in some places forming mats but once back in the bush we made three feet deep, in other places hanging fair time down and arrived at Dr. in dense, impenetrable curtains-and al- Langer's grave in about an hour. Halfways there were those vicious animated an-hour later we were in the car and whip-like strands waiting till you weren't heading for home, somewhat tattered looking and then wrapping themselves and torn and dreading the effect of round legs, arms, necks. hot bath-water on innumerable cuts, As we climbed up, down and round, scratches, abrasions, grazes and other sometimes like monkeys from tree to minor wounds. tree; sometimes like spiders on vertical, All in all a mighty trip highly rebut lawyer-free slip faces; sometimes commended if you have an odd (or like moles, burrowing through the under- even an even) day to spare. growth and occasionally actually walk- Nick Jennings.