"Showers Clearing"

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"Showers Clearing" Matthew Grainger After an unsuccessful attempt to reach the Olivine Ice Plateau in the summer of 1995/96, our resolve to get there some day was only strengthened. And so, a little over a year later, after monthsofpreparation and planning we were again in Glenorchy, about to set off on another attempt. Solution Col Shane Connolly he team was Andrew McLellan, Shane Connolly credit card) was elected to go to Queenstown in the and Matthew Grainger. Our plan was to travel up morning to try to sort out some kind of solution to our the Beans Burn, over Fohn Saddle and down the problem. While he was gone, Andrew and Matthew Olivine River to Olivine Flats, then up thel Forgotten River lazed in the perfect sunny weather, knowing that we, to the Ice Plateau, across the Plateau and down to the were using up one of our valuable spare days. Joe River via Solution Col. From there, out to the Matukituki via the Joe, the Arawhata and Arawhata Shane returned several hours later with a rental tent, and Saddle. We had learned a few lessons from the year finally, we were on our way. That afternoon we stumbled before, and decided to go later in the summer, in Feb- into the Rock Burn Hut under the weight of our 12-day ruary, when the weather is generally settled. We figured packs. We checked out the spectacular chasm just upthat 12 days should be enough to complete the trip, al- stream from the hut, then settled in for an early night. lowing around 3 days for hold-ups due to bad weather, or if we were lucky, a couple of days on the Plateau. It The next day the weather was perfect again. Still in fawas all worked out, nothing would stop us now. Or SO miliar terrain from last year, we made good progress we thought.. the Beans Burn to the rock biv near thel head of the val ley. The reception on the mountain radio was good We arrived in Glenorchy at nightfall on the 5th February enough for us to be able to talk to Roger and Co. on their 1997. Fortunately, Matthew had connections in this Waitangi Weekend trip in the Kahurangi National Park. town, and we were able to camp on his workmate's daughter's flatmate's front lawn. The forecast was for the weather to pack in some time during the next day so we made sure we got an early Unfortunately, as we unpacked the tent, it dawned on us start, and were just on the other side of Fohn Saddle that we had the wrongi poles.. Aaargh. So much for all our when the mist and rain rolled in. The route down onto careful planning and preparation. We ended up crashing the Olivine Ledge was straightforward, and we had lunch on Karl's living room floor. Shane (being the one with the under the shelter of one of the rock bivvies. Tramping and Mountaineering 1997

Looking down the Joe Valley towards Williamson Flats and Cilicia Peak Matthew Grainger We dropped into thel bush and sidled for a while, before There werel huge waterfalls tumbling down the slopes at dropping down a spur into the Olivine River. The river the head of the valley, and off the face of the Forgotten was relatively low, so we decided to opt for cold butt fast River Col. The forecast for the next day was grotty sO we travel down the riverbed, rather than bashing through settled in for a long stay. thel bush, as Moirs suggested. The only impediment was a large rock which almost blocks the riverj just before it Sure enough, the next day was still grotty, with heavy breaks out onto the Olivine Flats. We sidled around most rain ands strong wind sO we had no option but to stay put of this, but still ended with one waist-deep ford before we could venture up onto thel Ice Plateau. Andrew (chest-deep for Shane!). Yher river was crystal clear, but broke out his mini Chinese Checkers kit that day, which extremely cold, SO itwas with great relief that we arrived provided some entertainment to pass the day. The other at Olivine Flats. We found a campsite, overlooking the highlight of the day for me was opening a packet of deep green pool where the Forgotten emerges from a "Wildberry Kick Start" - this was a major discovery - chasm. Just after we arrived it started raining quite I may have finished my long quest for the ultimate heavily, and we were anxious about our hire tent. It was tramping cereal. I was truly excited. better than we thought, which was a relief, as we ended up staying there for two nights as the storm raged. The rain eased late in the afternoon, So we took the opportunity to stretch our legs and went for a wander up The next day was no better, but we decided to keep mov- the hill to look for the upper rock biv mentioned in ing or we would run out of time to complete the trip. The Moirs. We didn't find it, buti it gave us an opportunity to forecast was for "showers clearing". There was a reason- suss out part of the route to the Plateau, sidling unable sidle track above the Forgotten Gorge which was der the bluffs. The forecast stiore the next day was "showmarked with a few blazes and cairns. Thel Forgotten was ers clearing". Shane was getting a bit sick of this forenow a seething brown torrent. We found a rock to shel- cast as the showers never cleared. Periodically, he would ter under for lunch, during which Andrew exclaimed that raise from his sleeping bag, look out at the dismal it was "so wet that when I fart it makes bubbles". Ah, weather, and shout at the top ofl his lungs "showers clearthat's a little more than we needed to know, Andrew. ing", hoping the weather would take notice. The river was still raging by the time we could see the It must have worked. The next day, the weather was still rock biv high on the other side, and it took us a while claggy when we left, but as we climbed towards the Col to find a section where the river was braided enough to it cleared, revealing a beautiful clear, calm, sunny day. cross. From here it was just a steady plod up to the wel- Luckily, the snow bridge onto the Plateau was still there, come shelter of the bivy. The biwy is superb nice but onlyjust. We arrived at the Col at 11 am. The views and dry, with a large sleeping area and plenty of room were superb it was great to finally reach the spectacuto spread wet gear around. It even had a stream which lar Olivine Ice Plateau that we had heard so much about. you could reach without going out in the rain. Unfortunately, we had used up too many of our spare Tramping and Mountaineering 1997

Williamson Flats Matthew Grainger days to be able to stay a night up here, which was a a second day doing this after camping about halfway shame as the weather was perfect. Still, we were elated down the Joe overnight. That night we passed a message just to be there. over the mountain radio to JG Base in Wellington to ring Brian Hunt and tell him of our progress we knew he'd Cameras clicked as we wandered across the Plateau to be trying to work out our progress. We also had a at ther northern end of thel Memorial Icefall. We climbed up fixing my right boot which was developing a large nole and traversed the head of the icefall to Solution Col. The in thei instep - was hoping it would hold out for a few views in all directions were superb, especially the Oliv- more days. inel Range to the north, and the Snowdrift Range to the east. From the Col, we sidled under the southern slopes The second day in thej Joe we sidled fairly low and actuof Daedelus and Destiny Peak before picking a promi- ally managed to follow the true right bank of the river for nent spur down to the Joe. There were lots of big cre- a couple of hours a nice change compared to bashvasses, and we had to pick our route through them care- ing through the bush and scrub higher up the banks. fully. The spur down to the Joe was relatively easy-going, After finding a deer trail through the bluffs, we eventuexcept for a large rocky outcrop, surrounded by a ally arrived at Williamson Flats. The relief at reaching flat, schrund. It took a while to find a route around this, open country was immense after spending two days which involved zigzagging our way around several cre- thrashing through the bush and scrub. My diary notes, vasses, descending a steep snow slope, and climbing up "very tired - long hot day, tiring terrain and thick bush. a narrow: snow bridge to regain the spur. Wer reached the I'm not planning on travelling down the Joe again in a Joe just after 8pm and camped opposite impressive hurry". bluffs. My diary from that time reads, "the end of a successful, exciting, extremely scenic, but very tiring day". We were greeted with more fine weather the next day as we crossed the vast Williamson Flats and headed up Thel big challenge for the next day was crossing thej Joe. the true right of the Arawhata River. The Williamson Flats Despite wasting a lot of time looking for it, we didn't arel huge - Icouldn't help feeling likel was coming out manage to find the natural bridge mentioned in Moirs, on thet farmland at the end of a tramp in the Tararuas and but eventually found a spot up from the Victor Creek that there would be a roadend carpark around there confluence where we managed to cross byl boulder-hop- somewhere. Fortunately there isn't, for the area is truly ping. After bashing through the horrendous scrub and isolated and the scenery of the Olivines outstanding. negotiating Victor Creek, we were ready for lunch. The afternoon was not much better, sidling through unrelent- Travel up the Arawhata was slow as we tried to sidle ing scrub in and out of several creeks. Ifv we were still on above the large rapid section of the river. Thel bush had al high from the day before, this brought us crashing back suffered a lot of windfalls in recent years and it was hard to earth again. There's nothing more real than a day of going clambering over fallen logs and through re-growth scrub-bashing in the Joe. Just to confirm this, we spent on the steep slopes. Eventually my Tararua tramper in- Tramping and Mountaineering 1997

Mid Arawhata Flats, Mt lonia in the background Matthew Grainger stincts got thel better of me and I suggested we tried the The next day we decided to avoid another jungle boogie river bank again I it had worked quite well for a while (scrub-bash) by following the riverbed up to above the the day before. We had heard from Hunty that the only scrub-line and sidling back towards Arawhata Saddle. It reason Moirs always suggests the sidling routes is be- proved a good move and we reached the saddle around cause it's written by South Island trampers who tradi- lunch time. The weather was starting to deteriorate with tionally avoid rivers, unlike us Tararua trampers. a strong cold wind blowing through the saddle. We roped up for the descent of the steep snow slope below Sure enough, it worked well, and apart from one bit it the saddle which led down to a moraine wall, providing was ag good option, and we were: soon basking in the sun good travel down towards Liverpool Biv. It was spectacuon the mid Arawhata Flats. We had lunch at the top of lar through here with large chunks of snow andi ice tumthe Flats before being forced to bash through more bling off the slopes of Mt. Liverpool as we descended. dense bush to avoid the upper gorge. The opposite (true After another longish day, we were glad to settle into the left) bank looked to offer tantalisingly good travel boul- comfort of Liverpool Biv that night. der-hopping up the river bank, but unfortunately we were on the wrong side and there was no way of getting The last day was a relaxing stroll out down the across we'll have to remember that for next time. Matukituki a nice way to unwind and reflect on the trip. Continuing our tradition from the year before we We managed to avoid the worst of the scrub at the up- raided the free food cupboard at Aspiring Hut - nice to per Flats by sticking close to the river, although the last have some fresh bread for a change. We got a shuttle few hundred metres to the Arawhata rock biv was an ride from the roadend out to Wanaka where we indulged awful scrub-bash to end the day. The bivi is an island in in a few luxuries hot showers at the campground, and as sea of scrub the entries in the logbook provide some stuffing ourselves senseless on pizza and afghan biscuits amusing stories of past visitors' efforts to take "short at the Kai Whaka Pai Café highly recommended. And cuts" to get there. One obviously disgruntled tramper so began the journey home, the end of a truly awesome suggested that where Moirs says "follow the trail..." it trip. should be re-written "bring a machete.. - There certainly aren't too many deer trails in there anymore. By this time On reflection we were lucky with the weather, and we we were starting to see the funny side of it, with cho- were fortunate enough to visit some outstanding counruses from the song "Jungle Boogie" frequently echoing try a true wilderness area. The trip was challenging through the bush. at times, but the scenery was superb and the team pulled together well through some long, hard days. It's easy to We arrived at the rock biv around 7.45 pm, another 12- see why people speak so highly oftrips to the Olivines. hour day. We were soon revived by dinner and Andrew's It's a truly magic area, and for me, this was the trip of a chocolate cheesecake which he'd managed to keep a lifetime. So far. I expect I'll be back there again before secret till then. too long.. Tramping and Mountaineering 1997