Sixteen Hours

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Sixteen Hours John Collier The Marchant roadend is well known to most readers and this is where Howard and I found ourselves prepping up for a Southern (solstice) Crossing. What, another one you say? We said the same thing and decided to make it a little different. "het full moon was beaming through high overcast cloud as we followed its light up to the old Dobson Hut sitel before the small grunt onto Marchant ESERVED Ridge. The view from the ridge was superb with the shimmering lights of the Hutt Valley and reflections of Wellington off Port Nicholson making the trip worthwhile at this point. From here to the top of Marchant Ridge we stopped often to treasure the "nightscape"! behind us, thinking that after this point we would need to travel a few hours until we got another view. That would be above Alpha Hut, and with that thought in mind we hurried on. The top of Omega is always a nice waypoint as it signifies the end of the and MAT Marchant the descent into Hells Gate. I consider the approach to Alpha Hut to be the worst part as it seems to McDonalds for breakfast at Kime Hut John Collier drag on and tonight was no exception. But the lack of wind and glimpses of silhouetted tops we had no gear for that. Again thel lack ofl hut occupants beyond the Dress Circle spurred us on. showed little interest in our venture and the preparation Our arrival at Alpha Hut caused no one to stir in their ofl breakfast, which was orange drink and muesli bars, pits as the hut was empty strange, where was every- topped with chocolate. one at the start of this marvellous weekend? Our inter- It was all downhill now and alongside Dennan we nal and external tanks were topped up and legs rested. passed a guide and two monks on a pilgrimage to the This stop didn't last long as the coolness of the night Wairarapa. As usual theyhad the barest of clothing, sanmade us hurry on to complete the next stage, to Mt dals on their feet, heads shaven, no hat - andl thought Alpha. After that the going was better due to continuous we were light in that aspect how do they do it? As moonlight and the views of sleeping cities below. This anticipated there was no hot brew on the stove for us - time Wellington and the Hutt Valley were spectacular, very disappointing. Itl looked as ifwe were the only ones but there were more the lights of Nelson, Otaki, out enjoying the fine weather, but faith was restored as Wanganui, Palmerston North, the Wairarapa, and we stopped and chatted to some "normals" " heading up Kaikoura reflecting off thel high cloud made it even more Judd Ridge. impressive. At 2pm on Saturday afternoon we arrived at Otaki Not a drop (or flake?) of snow was to be seen only Forks and that was a journeylwill forever remember. It frosty pencils of ice glued to the grass indicated that it was celebrated with a proud handshake and leftover was winter. At this time of the morning it was just cool food. The final details saw us drive from Otaki Forks enough to wear a windbreaker to keep out the gentle (we hadl left a car here on Friday night) back to Te Marua northwester and although the sun was making an im- to collect my car, a hot brew-up at my uncle's, and then pression, we occasionally lost our footing in the ruts home to hit the sack at 5pm on Saturday. between Aston and Atkinson. The gear we carried included survival bags; torches, We seemed to slow down during this part of thej jour- three layers of polyprop (we only used one layer, such ney, probably because of the uphill bits and tiredness was the weather), a windbreaker, heaps of energy food, due to the fact that at this point we hadn't slept for 24 and a cellphone. We carried two litres of water each, hours. The next waypoint was Mt Hector and thoughts reasoning that little rain had fallen recently and indeed of a celebratory drink spurred us on. itwas correct, especially up to and along! Marchant where Only one major hill to go up over Field to Kime the usual watering holes were dry. Was this the middle Hut and thoughts of a little shut-eye would be nice but of winter? Tramping and Mountaineering 1998