Arawata - Olivine Christmas Trip

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Arawata = Olivine Christmas Trip Mike Hollis I sit under a coconut tree in Raratonga the last time we will see it? A massive as I try to put pen to paper. The lazy slip threatens the hut but man's efforts tropical sun warms me and the trade wind to divert the encroaching shingle uncools. Try, try to think back five months assisted by a dozer are puny. to a different world. Ice, snow, storm, frostbite, dehy and sandflies. Do they The track to Liverpool Bivy is steep but exist? But write I must. short. We catch a glimpse of the approach to Arawata Saddle, our route for the The taxi stopped at the washout, five morrow, or so we planned. Liverpool Bivy kilometres from the road end and we pile is 3m x 3m, perhaps, but it is a haven out - Paul, Ian and Mike. Ahead is the for eight weatherbound trampers for three Matukituki Valley, green and sombre. We nights. Christmas Day is spent in the are closer to Cascade Hut than to Wanaka. pit on short rations, until Ian brings Three heavy packs are lifted with a grunt. out the goodies. The call of the hills captures us. Boxing Day is cloudy no sun, no wind, Mark, Mark, Dave, Clinton and Warren are or rain, just perfect for us as it turns at Cascade Hut. The party of eight is out. Progress up the lateral moraine complete. Pickles, our leader (known as to the foot of Arawata Saddle is good. Mark when only one Mark present) gets out Out come the ropes, a quick lesson in the menu. He knows the food for tea, belaying, then the first pitch. Two ropes but no-one knows what he is carrying. and eight guys makes slow going. We Later in the trip the boys learn. He who tried throwing the rope down to the next knows what's in his pack gets his food two, but the slope wasn't steep enough. eaten. Result - a lighter pack. After 4 pitches Paul and Mike decided to go the top of the snow gut. The idea is Next day we call at Aspiring Hut. Is this that Paul will return and take the next

Mt Tutoko and the Donne Glacier from Park Pass through a saddle on the Bryneira Range person up. It looks about 6 pitches. cover of the club's 21st publication had It is nearer 26. At the top of the gut drawn us to Williamson Flat. It is a they cross a rock rib then a snowslope, place to explore and admire, a place of and finallya short drop to the saddle. perfect peace - wilderness at its best. It is one o'clock and seven hours since they left the bivy. The Arawata is swelled and dirtied by the glacier-fed Joe. Williamson Flat The others are far below, making good to McArthur Flat is a half day sidle on progress mainly on rock. They have found the left. In the middle of the gorge an easier route. Just as well as they is a big terrace making that part easy. have one rope amongst six. At last all We can see McArthur Flat not too far make Arawata Saddle, for 3 o'clock lunch. away but well below. A very deep gully ends the terrace. More gullies slow us Moir says go right, up the Arawata rather down. Lunch is taken beside a tame than straight to the bivy rock we can see. Arawata. The flats are only 500 metres This we do and avoid the scrub, well most away but the next part of the gorge is of it. Liverpool to Arawata bivy has impenetrable. A long climb, a sidle taken 13 hours, a long day. A brew, dehy, and a longer descent takes us to another brew and the pit. McArthur Flat. We find a beautiful campsite beside the Williamson River. Parkas are donned next morning but soon The sun is now shining in a cloudless discarded. The waterfall off the Snow sky, and will stay for another four days. White Glacier thunders down in spectacular In the distance we can see our next fashion. It is easy going across flats objective, Trinity Col. for about a kilometre. The river goes into a gorge forcing us to sidle on the true right. Old blazes are a help but The rough travel is starting to show. the going is slow, especially across Mike has four frostbitten toes, the windfalls. After three hours there is result of damp SOX on Arawata Saddle. another flat. Time for lunch and a Mark has a blister the size of a twenty snooze. Another slow sidle follows then cent piece. It isn't getting any wider at last the expanse of Williamson Flat just deeper. Dave has one knee in a opens before us. We cross both the bandage. Clinton who had a crook knee Arawata and the Joe. Unfortunately the before the trip is thriving on the best campsites are on the other side of exercise. the Joe. Eventually we found a site previously used by Tongue and Meats. The route leaves the Arawata to follow good deer trails up the true right of the Pickles had planned a rest day here at Williamson River. Ian drops his ice-axe. Williamson Flat, but two days wasted in An hour is lost in looking for it in Liverpool Bivy causes the plan to be 1 - 2 metres of murky water. No luck. abandoned. This is the disappointment By. 11 o'clock we reach the point where of the trip. Hunty's photograph on the Moir says start climbing on the other side. (There is some confusion between retreating and is much lower than in the map and Moirs here. See FMC Bulletin photos taken on previous trips. There are 61). One attempt to cross the river is no hurdles to a passage on the left of the abandoned. Lunch is taken the usual lake. The descent to Trinity Flats is 3 Tararua biscuits with spreads, one down a long dry rock gut. A couple of piece of cheese and one of salami, tea. times packs have to be lowered. Mike After lunch Mike spends an hour looking panics when a large rock wobbles. It for a crossing point. There is one possidoesn't fall. The party gets strung out bility. The current is even all the way crossing the flats. Eight tired bods across. But the water is so dirty we make the campsite. This was our best day have no idea of the depth. There is - a good tramp, a fine day, fantastic only one way to find out. Try. Paul scenery, eight friends, and by now light and Mike link up and very slowly cross. packs. Paul takes the bow wave and is waist deep. Mike just gets his shorts wet. Eventually The next morning we begin our sixth conwe all get across. It is now 2 o'clock secutive day of travel. Pickles is keeping three hours to cross a river. us to the task. Neil Woodrow's flies are spotted at Pikes Camp, 5 kilometres away. Camp is pitched on a small grassy flat. The route sidles above the bushline then We sunbathe and relax. Dave is turning descends to the Pyke. Mike is in the a beautiful bronze. Is it natural, or lead but goes too far up the Pyke. We the dye in the sun oil? We are buzzed go back a little way and climb out on the by a helicopter. Are we okay, says true left. The going to Stag Pass is the pilot. Of course, we reply. obvious. Pickles, Warren, Paul and Ian descend the right way. Mike leads Dave, That night we sleep under flies. Paul Clinton and Mark away to the left, past wakes with a start. Was that kea pecking a series of tarns. They spend time or kissing his face? At 6 a.m. we start finding a route down. Our camp is across our second 13 hour day. The climb through the Barrier River. Pickles and Warren the bush is steep in places, over, under have already found the food drop. Food and around boulders. The scrub band is and a rest day. The cans are used to thick. Eventually we reach a rocky heat water for an all over wash of man stream bed which gives easy access to and clothes. Bliss. the snowgrass. We climb too high and have to drop down. Trinity Col is away In the night of 1st January 1980 the to the left. The way is across easy weather changes. Rain on the fly wakes snowgrass slopes. The final pitch is us. Breakfast is a race between cooking over snow then rock. Trinity Col at last. and the fireplace being flooded. Snow The view is magnificent - Aspiring, the falls but stops before we move. The Olivine Ice Plateau and the Joe Icefall. approach to Beresford Pass is on snow. The Trinity Glacier is fast retreating. Dave has fingers so cold he cannot open There is a 70m drop from the col. The his pack. The wind on the pass is strong melt lake of the glacier is also fast and cold, and we descend quickly. A Rockburn Valley flats sheltered campsite is found in the Diorite. It is a steep climb to Park Pass where we It rains off and on. The tents and flies re-cross the Main Divide. A long lunch take ages to get exactly right but the break and sunbathing until the cloud comes. effort pays. Pickles produces a meal We camp on the first large flat and call eaten from the pit. Four Brothers Pass it Theatre Flats but it isn't. is the next obstacle. The sky is clear except for a huge butterfly shaped cloud Next day we haven't far to go = just to formed by the strong wind. From the pass the bottom of Sugar Loaf Pass. We leave we can see the whole of the Olivine, the at noon. Ian goes his own way to save bench, Fiery Col and Alabaster Pass. a big climb but gets behind. Mike goes The tops still have a sprinkling of fresh to look for him. They pass either side snow. of a patch of bush. Ian arrives but no Mike. All together again. We wonder how The campsite beside the pool in the Forfar down the Beans Burn we should go. gotten is the objective. Somewhere we By luck we stop at the last good campsite. loose Clinton and Ian. They turn up a couple of hours later. The pool is Our last day is over Sugar Loaf Pass. beautiful and inviting but so cold. On top we have a brew. Mike out in front as usual makes the last of several navi- Everyone explores the moraine through gation errors. Pickles finds the track. which the Forgotten passes. The sun The Routeburn and civilisation. We leaves us all too early. It is cool. have done it. No wind penetrates into this haven. The bellbirds' clear notes and the river Mark's blister is really nasty. He is make all the background music we need. glad to get his boots off. Ian's pack is Olivine River - cataract cold - a shambles as are the contents. Don't impassible - uncrossable - banks - scrub - give Mac Tararua biscuits. Dave has both rock deertrails? FE country. Word knees enshrouded, but is a greenhorn no pictures conjured up by the thoughts of more. Mike's toes only hurt at night. the day ahead. The objective is to camp He challenges the others to repeat the in Hidden Falls Creek. To get there the trip when they are 45. Paul has a beard whole of the upper Olivine must be transhe is thinking of keeping. Clinton has versed. Meet obstacles head on. So we become a little contrary-wise which try straight up the gorge. It is bitterly enlivens some conversations. Warren cold. Pickles really feels it. Nothing has been stopped by nothing. Pickles is stops us. At first the river is easy as so stuffed he sees a female sunbathing we cross at will. A few scrambles along in the altogether and is unaroused. the bank are needed. Next comes a narrow gorge. Long legged Paul and Mike We are a bunch of fit types, not FE except have no trouble. Clinton likes the deep Paul. All except Dave have plenty of slow-moving water. Dave hasn't seen experience. It is easy for seven to anything like this before but operates teach one, so long as he is willing to on the principle that if they can do it learn. No one admits that the trip was so can I. Warren has the strength to a struggle. The weather was kind. battle the water. Ian bumbles along but Pickles planned the trip well and kept always makes it with a smile. Mark us to our schedule. Thanks Mark. grunts occasionally. He says nothing but that blister is obviously sore. Those on the trip: Mark Pickering Pickles gradually warms up. (leader), Mark Thomas, Clinton Hayes, Ian McLean, Paul Cooper, Dave Noble, By early lunchtime we are at Fiery Creek Warren Thorburn and Mike Hollis. and the greater part of the river is behind us. Straight up the middle has paid off but it was only possible because the river was low. A waterfall forces us on to the left bank - the wrong side. We cross, climb above the bushline and sidle to the upper Olivine flats. Warren leads to the left (true right), Mike goes The Campfire up the centre. Warren is right at first. All except Ian follow Warren over a terminal moraine with rocks as big as The fire burns, houses. Wrong way. The river is And faces filled with laughter quicker. Those in front stop and the And chatter rest straggle in. Ian is crook and lags Cluster around the warmth way behind. Pickles gets cranky and lets off steam. Mike gets cranky and The fire glows, shuts up. Ian comes right and catches up. And people quiet in each others friendship Talk in hushed tones Down from Cow Saddle into Hidden Falls And understand themselves Creek Mike gets behind - unusual for him. And others He curses Pickles and Paul for going past In deep compassion obvious campsites. They haven't - Mike is deluded. What from afar appears to The fire dies, be a flat isn't. Eventually a campsite And the last man turns away, I is found. Objective reached, camp Content and troubled. pitched and bellies filled. Spirits revive.