The S-K

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The S -K Phil Kendon This one was not my idea. One breezy, foggy day in August as we were trotting across the Southern Crossing, Lisa suggested that I join her on her next bid to traverse the Tararuas from north to south along the Main Range. This is the crazy challenge that is known as the S-K; "S" because you used to start at Schormanns, but as that access has become difficult, you now begin the ordeal at Putara; and "K" because you (hopefully) finish at Kaitoke. So it should really be called the P-K. felt distinctly cool towards the idea. That day the Nine-thirty saw us on top of Dundas. Excellent views Southern Crossing was quite enough for a day's walk greeted us out to the west but to the east, the southand the thought of doing roughly half of it again and easterly was dragging cloud over the summits. We were repeating the whole exercise the next day seemed noth- going well, we felt, to have done this stretch in 5 hours. ing short of completely potty. I declined to make any Onwards, refolding the map with satisfying frequency firm commitment. as we progressed quickly south. Lisa and I had decided As the months rolled by the effects of time began to to take 2-5 minutes religiously every hour for a quick stir more positive thoughts. "Is'pose it would be okay," bite to eat. So far this was working well; we both felt Ibegan to think to myself, as Lisa continued to convince fresh and glad of the newly purchased Camelbaks to me with her endless enthusiasm. So, having done a few maintain fluid levels. Shortly after Arête we bumped into lengthy trips in the preceding months, things clicked Harriette and Jenny, to our surprise. Thereafter, as it into place. The Club trip to Putara would provide trans- turned out, our pace would be remarkably similar. port, which merely left a car to be dropped at Kaitoke. The stretch from Arête to Nichols Hut was a real chore. By Friday night (13th November not for the super- Mind over matter stuff. In fact, this was the first section stitious) our plans were well-known. Once people know where I really began to wonder what the hell I was doyou're being dropped off at Putara on a "transport only" ing. Cutty grass and leatherwood, amongst other scrubby trip and you've left your car at Kaitoke to be collected delights, covered the track in great swathes, hampering on Sunday, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to suss out progress. Dracophyllum Biv was a welcome sight by what you have in mind. Harriette and Jenny, as a sepa- 2pm. Water by the truck-load helped to soothe whinging rate party, hoped to complete the route too as an all- bodies and we felt glad to be in the bush at this stage female pair there having been no previous documen- while the sun was at its highest. tation ofa a female-only party to achieve the feat. From Nichols Hut we crawled up Crawford, ambled At the roadend we left the "normal people" (those down to Anderson Hut, and ached our way towards planning a pleasant weekend's amble around the north- Aokaparangi. By this stage darkness had set in and we ern Tararuas) and headed off to Herepai Hut. Having were all a little concerned about departing Anderson at donned a pair of running shoes, I was a little surprised 6.45 pm. ETA at Maungahuka would not be before midthat everyone else was in tramping boots, including night, we thought. Harriette and Jenny, who I had assumed, would be run- As it turned out, once the sun had done a stunning ning most of the way. As it turned out, no one ran even job of hanging over the Tasman Sea before finally giving two paces the whole way! I was suddenly a little con- up, obscured from our view by a thickening bank offog, cerned that my feet would last the distance. we got into a spot of bother. Slightly geographically At 11.10 pm (having departed at 9.41) we reached embarrassed descending off Aokap, we couldn'tfind the Herepai and sorted ourselves out quietly SO as to gain route and after a certain amount of fluffing around, opted as much sleep as possible. That depressing sound of to bivvy. Lisa was not a happy bunny with this decision, alarms ringing at 3.45 am had us defying the wishes of as she didn't have a sleeping bag. Unfortunately for her our bodies, hoisting them off the comfort of their bunks she was outvoted after all, it was 10.45 pm. and into action. The four of us had agreed to join forces once it got There was only an hour of darkness to contend with dark for safety reasons, SO we now headed for a shelbefore a grey dawn and a chilly breeze welcomed us tered spot to the west of the offending slope and someonto the tops. Harriette and Jenny had set off well be- how found an ideal, flattish spot where we crawled in fore us andl had a feeling we wouldn't be seeing them under the leatherwood. We rustled up a small quantity for some time. of semi-cooked Continental Pasta Carbonara and laughed An ominous bank of cloud covered the peaks ahead at Harriette and Jenny tightly stuffed into one bivy bag and a thin veil of "dew" now covered the vegetation. unable to move and with their feet nestled, unintention- "It's frosty," called out Lisa from behind. "Ner," ut- ally, inside their billy! tered in reply, "only dew, surely." After another hour or Lisa had collected a large amount of "hay" and ended SO I took that back. We had virtually all our clothes on up with quite a comfortable spot. A second sleepless as the wind picked up and the ground became plastered night on the trot was to come for her though, with merely in hoarfrost. A tad unexpected! a thin fleece liner and bivvy bag for warmth. Meanwhile, Tramping and Mountaineering 1998

The team on Mt Alpha Paul Milsom my lightweight down bag provided ample warmth and I was glad to be on familiar territory. The Southern five glorious hours of sleep were enjoyed! Crossing stretch was the only part of the route I had Wel hadl been fortunate to have a clear cloud-free night. done before. Lisa, however, had covered all the ground We had expected this, however, which had assisted in previously - in bits. The rest now felt do-able. After a the decision to bivy in the first place. Lisa shook me brief rest we headed over Hector, enjoying outstanding several times and eventually got a reaction. It was 5am views in all directions. A gentle breeze cooled us pleasand time to be on the move again. By not making antly and the trip across to Alpha was a quick one. Maungahuka Hut, we had left ourselves with another Once again a big water refill helped us along the way long day to follow yesterday's 18-hour effort. at Alpha. Throughout the length of the route you can The stretch to the hut before breakfast had some manage on the water available at huts - was carrying awkward sections and for one was extremely glad that about 4 litres including the Camelbak, and quite often we had not been attempting it in the dark. The dawn came close to using all of this up. promised an awesome day ahead as brilliant sunshine Marchant Ridge beckoned. Although we would have penetrated a thin bank of cloud to the east. We were been happy to complete the route within "the weekend, treated to a beautiful array of brockenspectres off the with a full day's work on Friday and Monday" deadline, ridge to the west. Maungahuka Hut at 8.15 am was a the prospect of a sub-48 hour start-finish target was to welcome sight and we stripped off the layers in antici- keep the pace going. Hourly stops were now interspersed pation of a hot day ahead. Breakfast and a huge brew with half-hourly gulps of "Leppin Squeezy" or half a were consumed hungrily. Eventually we left, revelling Power Bar. Without these, energy levels would have in the beauty of the surroundings and casting the occa- dropped painfullyl low, l'm sure. sional satisfying glance back towards Crawford, which Mind-over-matter mode took over at this stage and was now a long way off. by dark we were practically home and dry. In the end, The Tararua Peaks provided a few more metres of things got a bit tight and the final stretch dragged on. ascent to add to the tally and we quickly scaled the chain We had to push the pace but eventually got out at 9.34 ladder before marching on southwards. Harriette and pm 47 hours 33 minutes after starting. Harriette and Jenny continued to leapfrog us as we paused for our Jenny were just 2 minutes behind. That was it. There strict hourly rests and before long we had slogged our would be no need to do it again. way up Bridge Peak and headed across to Kime Hut. An hour earlier we had finally passed other human beings A few statistics: two trampers headingi in the other direction who were Distance: approx. 80 km adamant that "there was no way we would get past Al- Height gain: approx. 7,000m pha Hut tonight". We didn't tell them exactly where we Water drunk: approx. 20 litres had come from and felt that they'd probably be quite Food: heaps enough for something e.g. muesli bar, surprised on reading our entry at Maungahuka! sandwich or handful ofs scroggin every hour Tramping and Mountaineering 1998