Mount Marchant

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MOUNT MARCHANT piness and also a good start at 11.15 a.m.! The weather, near perfect, was South Face a joy to see. Sparkling winter sun- Other titles could have been, Walk- light etching the distant bush, overing Near Block XVI' or Hiking in topping cloud-filled valleys. The Morthe Tararuas'. Whatever the name, ris wit never flagged, and most of the fact remains that this was an us were physical wrecks even before ideal occupation with humour unlim- the journey began. Following our ited. Those who were lucky enough heroes along the track towards the to be there thanked Dudley for the misty Marchant, one would never dauntless way he carried on, even at have suspected the arduous nature of great personal risk! At 9 p.m. from their mission, with numerous stops Kaitoke base camp emerged the first to look for dises, sit down, admire advance party of 12 porters. By 11 the magnificent views, etc., a little p.m. establishment was attained at progress was occasionally made. A Dobsons Camp 2, N. Whiteside pro- lengthy stop at the burn used up viding a rapid spearhead. A delight- over an hour, but time was so inciful period of refreshment lasted until dental on this trip that it may not about 12.30 p.m. The weather appear- be referred to again. ed set fair with a starry sky and a As we left our brew-spot, convulssuggestion of frost. At bedtime, it ed with laughter, the ascent of Mt. was decidedly cool in spite of the Marchant began. It was achieved by efforts of a magnificent fire! Dudley's a long succession of piton stops, suplast orders, faithfully carried out by ported by exceptional fortitude. Furhis fellow-climbers, caused no emerg- ther along, the ridge provided woneney until half-past eight (except for derful views of the Neil-Winchcombe, a very slight earlier disturbance due Holdsworth, and later, Hector, Alpha, to a large H.V.T.C. type hunting ele- Tauherenikau, Reeves, etc. phants!) This caused the utmost hap- The highest peaks being snow-clad, AUDIENCE ON RUAPEHU provided an ideal backdrop for the rived and before it could stop, we photographers. were back in the 'sacks'. Eventually Block XVI saw a large campfire, we woke up at about 10 a.m. to find ard due to the imminent approach of weather conditions still the same, so right, this was most encouraging! we congratulated ourselves on a wise Departure was duly made to Alloway- decision. The rest of the day was Dixon, 12 weary adventurers resting spent pottering about the hut cooktheir tortured limbs after a harrow- ing eating and spine bashing. At ing day. (It's just as well that you about 5 p.m. the weather cleared, and are also a member of the Tararuas, someone in jest suggested doing the Dave, or they might think the T&M's trip on Sunday. The others jokingly are getting soft.-Ed.) agreed. Then, horror of horrors, we The recuperation took along time. suddenly found we were serious and In the morning, Hank had caught a committed-so back to the 'sacks' 'possum. Inside was another 'possum, immediately in preparation for an and one wonders if they went on ad early start. This time the alarm rang infinitum. The weather, quite breath- at 2 a.m. and it was still unpopular, taking, seemed almost unreal, and even though it was only trying to advance was delightfully slow, whilst help. However, we managed to turn the Tauherenikau River provided a out half an hour later, had breakfast sequence of idyllic glades and close and after a lot of packing up, comviews of its blue depths. The winter plicated by innumerable plastic bags sunlight danced everywhere and fil- and rubber bands, we left at 4.30 tered through the trees; here was a.m. The only problem was the phytramping in its finest form and the sical persuasion necessary to convince direct opposite to the 'suffering' type. Jefferies that he wanted to come. Drifting through Smith's Creek, and Holdsworth we crossed in the false over the Whiteside-Jefferies bridge, dawn, and then saw the sun rising then over the Puffer, brought this over it from Isabell soon after. Then epic to an end. The sky remained down into the Waiohine, swinging filled with blue and the large solar south off the ridge, instead of going object sailed on majestically. Too into Francis Creek. This deviation many trips like this would be a led us on to some uneasy slopes and strain, for it was far too near to dirty little creeks, but by 8 a.m. we Paradise. Roll-call: J. Pemberton, K. were eating our second breakfast to Griffiths, N. Whiteside, H. Berthulet, the music of the river rolling by. An D. Capper D. Low, and Dan's friend, hour's travel brought us to our first Ross Annabell, Meg. Annabelle, L. pool; ;so on with the tubes', and Sondej, A. Butler, and the leader, D. then we realised that the music of Morris. the river's bell-like tinkling was an By DAVE CAPPER. echo of icicles falling in the head- * * * waters-brrrr! Two hours further down, after peroidical swims, we