High Ridge

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HIGH RIDGE Although by no means a "tough" trip this appears to be one which is seldom tackled, probnbly because it seems so easy and indeed oould be, providing one knew the snngs involveds This account may therefore be of interest to some who may wis sh to try it and my help them to avoid the pitfalls. Brian and I left Mountain House on Sunday of Labour week end about mid-day. We had spent a lazy Saturday owing to bad weather and now that it was fine our conscionces were probably troubling ust We were sure of reaching Totara Flats that night - proably in five hours we thought : and if we felt energetic could come up the track bnck to Mountain House by torch if necessary.

24 1 As we startéd on the ridge, the stunted Beech ahead seemed impenotrable, but we found a well used deer track on the Eastern side which was as good as many cut traoks in the Tararuas and gave us quito good going. We reached Flaxy Knob in just over two hours and here experienced our first set back. A short while previously we-had a grand view of Aokaparangi on the Main Range and then found ourselves staring at footprints in the mud going in the opposite direction!!! As I hnd been leading at the time this rather shook my ego but the compass showed we had definitely turned ourselves around. Brian took over the lead and following the well defined ridge we shortly found ourselves once more admiring Aoknporangill! I on our loft, 11! We had turned round again. This time the compass stayed out and it was studied most assiduously. iie havo come to the conclusion that the ridge must form a cirque around Flaxy Knob which could be very confusing if one was not too careful. We did not discover where we had gone wrong but were soon in new territory and came at last to a cairn nt the edge of a smll burn. This was obviously the start of tho spur leading doyn to Totara Flast but not seeing any sign of a route we decided to drop off and bx. a series of zig-zags hoped to strike the spur - we did NOT. Insteadiwe struok 0. creek the worst I'have ever seen and progress was terribly slow so that we finally decided to climbion our left and hoped we may be lucky enough to come right - but imogine our surprise when two hours after leaving it we came again to the cairn!' Realising that we were being too slap happy in our decisions we W ent back along the Main Ridge to where we could view the clusive spur and study it. Brian felt that we must have kept too far to the right after dropping off the Main Ridge, since we were obviously starting off at the right place it seemed the logical answer so we tried again weaving well to our left and before long were at last on a clear deer track on a. well defined ridgo. Darkness caught us about an hour later but we pushed on hoping and expecting to see Totara Flats any minute but the waybecame steeper and it was obvious thot we were off the ridge, while a rushing roar below indicated that we were hending down to.tho,river. In disgust we oamped for the night which luckily was mild and calm and dining on tinned mandarins and.biscuits made us confident we would soon be out. Away at six next morning and in ten minutes we reached the river to find to our dismay that part of the gorge still lay between us and the Flats, so it Wo.S upwards again into the bush - very slowly and laboriously as there were many smnll slips and the slopes were almost vertical, Eventually WG were able to traverse but made the mi stake of trying to get down too soon and found the way again becoming straight up and down. So back up we went and travorsed again until we were praotiéally opposite the hut.

Hearing a small creek to our left we went down into it and tien minutes" later we came to Totarb. Creck. : - We arrived at Bannister with two hours to sparo and feel that we learned much from our experiences. To others who may try this trip two things-are,woll worth when dropping off Flaxy Knob bear hard left andik keep up. until you rememboring"- hit the spur and sécondly keep well above the gorge even if.you.lose theispur and if necéssary traverse with the river on your right. Party - Ted Dakin Brion Cropp.