An Ultimate Timeless S-K

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An Ultimate Timeless S-K Nick Jennings For the sake of the record, which a few people have been badgering me to complete, here is the story of what at the time I anticipated would be my most challenging Schormanns-Kaitoke, and which in the event turned out to be just that. tall happened about twenty years ago. For the usual At the Holdsworth ridge turn-off on Girdlestone, I sorts of reasons this endedi up as a solo trip; think it peered down the three visible metres ofrocky scree slope was because of the lack of company that the trip be- in the swirling cloud and cogitated briefly. Should I cast came quite a strongi personal experience which at the time around and make absolutely certain of the route, or alter- Isaw no need to share through a write-upin the Journal. natively, follow my nose, instinct and memory and plough However, times change, Lindsay Cuthbertson has done straight on, on the basis that if I wasn't on the correct his usual high qualityjob with the S-Kcompilation, and to route would realise soon enough and could do any necround that out here's my account from 20 years ago. essary casting around then. The decision was quickly made That Friday meant a prompt finish at the office, a quick to rely on my sense of direction. trip home, a bite to eat, change and finish packing and This turned out to be sensible as travelled alongi in my then straight down to the station to catch the Wairarapa cocoon ofl limited visibility without once veering off in the workers' train. At Masterton 1 transferred to a taxi which wrong direction. As the wind got up and the atmosphere took me to the Schormanns roadend a bit extravagant became damper, I put on my parka and overtrousers. Apart but the best way to get onto the track and then up to from a couple of quick drinks I travelled straight through Putara Hut by torchlight early enough to get a reasonable, to the wet weather tarn just north of Mt Holdsworth. This iff fairly short, sleep. was the obvious place to have a short refuelling stop in At alarm clock time on Saturday morning the stars were the relative shelter of Holdsworth, particularly as Ihad an out and there was no wind. Breakfast was candlelit, effi- uneasy feeling that might end up havingt to scout around cient, nutritious and marginally appetising. Packing was the bush-edge in the cloud to pick up the track down to methodical and thorough to make sure nothing was left MidWaiohine Hut. While Iwas chewing a biscuit it seemed behind in the pre-dawn shadows of the hut. Then it was sensible to wind up my watch to make sure it didn't run blow out the candle and onto the track through thel last of down. Good ideas should always be acted on promptly - the stunted bush, followed by the snowgrass, where there in this case with the result thatl broke the spring - ouch! was just enough light to see where Iwas putting my feet. Anyway, Istill had the alarm clock better wind that up The climb up to Kareti was scenically magnificent with a and make sure it doesn't run down. No sooner thought brilliant scarlet sunrise developing over the Wairarapa than done - and another broken spring! It gradually plains, and as that faded into a clear fine morning the dawned on me that cold, stiff wet fingers close to the top valleys to the east filled with gradually rising tongues of ofl Holdsworth were not thel best for performing even marmorning mist which were burnt off by the rising sun. ginally delicate tasks. Travel through the saddlel between East andWest Peaks Atthis stage fairly tired muscles explained to me that it was the usual grunt and Dundas Ridge through to Arete was obviously stupidt to carry on with the trip without any was as good as it gets. By the Waiohine Pinnacles cloud sort of watch or clock and - - goodness me Powell was settling down over thel Holdsworth ridge and the wind Hut, on thel bush-edge, was comfortable and not far away was starting to rise as might be expected from the down to the east. My determination and perseverance gene, shepherd's warning sunrise. With the thought ofa a bit of ay yearning to complete the trip, and a reluctance to give wet parka work ahead, Tarn Ridge Hut was the obvious up having got this far, informed me that using the lack of place to pause for a bite to eat and a brew. a watch as an excuse to pike was not an option I should By the time Ileft along Tarn Ridge thirty minutes later take seriously. Thei internal argument raged while the wind the cloud was down around Girdlestone and along the blew and the coud swirled. Reason gradually came to the ridge towards Holdsworth a fairly challenging outlook fore and explained that ifl did go down to Mid Waiohine whichlwas mulling overi in my mindwhen another tramper Hut and failed to wake up early enough on Sunday morncame bursting out of the cloud towards me from ing to complete the trip, there would certainly be more Girdlestone. It was) Jill Tremain with her usual broad and than enough time to go back over Holdsworth to Powell welcoming smile on her way across thel Northern Cross- Hut and then on down to the Holdsworth roadend. ing. We passed the time of day until her male companion Reason won out, SO over the last few metres of came bustling down the ridge out of the cloud to catch Holdsworth went, then over Isabelle and found the Mid up. The conversation continued al little longer and then we Waiohine track without any trouble, and made it down to went our separate ways. That was the last time was to the hutj just before I had to get out my torch. seej Jill - itwasn'tlong: after that meeting that shel left for Smoke was blowing up the ridge as neared thel hut SO the Himalayas and was tragically one of the expedition Iwas reasonably sure someone was there. That someone who was caught in an avalanche and didn't return. turned out to be Lindsay Cuthbertson. There were also Tramping and Mountaineering 1999 several youngsters in their pits whose pale faces in the the tried and true reliable "fingers at arm's length" method. low light as I lentered the hut, looked for all the world like This gave me a bit of a wake-up call as it showed that wide-eyedinquisitive kittens peeringinto the gloom toi iden- there were about twol hours left before thes sun would reach tify the cause oft this intrusion so late in the day! thel horizon onlyf four hours of usable daylight left which Lindsay was his usual welcoming self and we quietly was rather less than l'd expected. discussed the world in general and my lack of a With a fairly strong sense of urgency now, my stop at chronomical resource in particular while got organised Alpha Hut was the bare minimum to have a drink and a with a meal and a pit space on the floor Very, very fortu- nibble and then it was back into the bush, through Hell's nately he had his alarm clock with him and he offered to Gate saddle and down the Marchant Ridge. By the timel set it for the 4.00 am awakening needed for Sunday. reached thel burn, the nigglei in my right kneel had returned. Icould have done with more sleep butl I couldn'tinsult I pondered the option of taking it slowly and with care Lindsay's kindness when his alarm sounded, SO although down the steepish, sidling descent to Dobsons Hut and Ididn't exactly bound out of my pit, did crawl out pretty have it get dark before I got out to the roadend. With a promptly and left thel hut in good timel by torchlight. Asl virtually useless torch that would take up to four hours to crossed the swingbridge over the Waiohine River, a bit of get out. Alternatively, could grit my teeth and bomb it, in a nigglei in my right knee made itself felt but soon faded as which casel should be at the Kaitoke shelter as it got fully the serious business of dlimbing-Aokaparang' started. While dark. Teeth-gritting easily won the day and I went into Iwas packing my torch away a stag roared nearby. Iroared something approaching free-fall with an occasional decelback with a friendly "one early riser to another early riser" eration to check all systems and reset the gyroscope besort of roar. The reply from the stag sounded distinctly forel I spun out of control. Wonder of fwonders, itworked. unfriendly and a lot nearer. I didn't wait to make its ac- The knee niggle gave up trying to influence me and I was quaintance but got straight on with the important effort of at the shelter, and a few minutes later at the farm house, climbing onto the Main Range. just in time. It was pitch black by the time I left the house At the bush-edge it was time to put on the parka and after phoning for a taxi. By the time the taxi arrived from overtrou again. The wind and cloud werel blowing around Upper Huttl l'd changed. My first destination for the driver thes snowgrass slopes with private rustlings and mutterings was the Upper Hutt station to catch a train back to Welcomingt from the chimerical, insubstantial and ever-chang- lington. But the taxi was SO comfortable. The decision ing shapes and shadows in the early morning light. The to take the taxi straight home was easy! top of Aokaparangi was easy to identify so it was signal a So there it was a phenomenally memorable trip. For left turn and then along the Main Range via Wright and the record: 2 hours on the Friday night, 14 hours on the Simpson to Maungahuka and its hut for a few minutes' Saturday, 16 hours on the Sunday and every minute shelter, a quick snack and a drink from the tarn. worthwhile. Times include 1 hour for photographs a From the hut it didn't take long to reach the Tararua 20-exposure film times 3 minutes per exposure. Using Peaks and their ladder a huge improvement over the this route the total distance coveredi lis about 80 kilomeold chain it replaced. A few precise steps from the top of tres, the total vertical height gained (and, yes, later lost!) thel ladder along the short knife-edge ridge, and then the in the order of 8,000 metres, and the number of named sidle of the northern peak, with its precipitous drop off, summits traversed 42. and the Peaks were behind me. Iwas soon on Yeates where Post Scripts: Icame out of the cloud and into a clear sunny day with the 1. Iwas surprised at the next Club night that the schedwind rapidly dying away one oft fthosel hugely delightful uled tops trips had decided that the weather was too bad weather phenomena the Tararuas can occasionally produce. and stayed in the valleys for the weekend. The climb up to Vosseler Hut was its usual grind andl 2. After work on Mondayl kept an appointment with my decidedi it was time for a serious pause with some lunch acupuncturist. As usual, when / arrived he asked howl I and a brew. The position ofthe sun suggested that it was was. Isuggested he should tell me. He proceeded to take around midday butl couldn'tl be too sure without a watch. my pulses. His first question was had I had a bad dose of It was al brief stop just time to crank up a brew and the flu?When lasked him why, he explained that everycell drinki itwith somel lunch and then off and around the South- in my body seemed to be working overtime to rebuild shatern Crossing. This was one of the most impressive few tered tissue. explained about S-Ks. His next question was, hours l've spent in the Tararuas late enough in the day did I have something wrong with my stomach? Again I for everyone else to be well on their way out oft the hills asked why, and he said that organ was churning around and there was lall by myself on a perfect afternoon on the something awful - which figured, as l'd eaten a largesteak open tops with views for everi in all directions and at peace for lunch to provide the protein for the necessary tissue with the world. But - - itwould be nice to know the time. rebuilding. Myfaith in acupuncture was reinforced. It occurred to me that with the sun and a watch I could 3. The next time I visited my doctor Itold him the tale of work out where north is. So, as I knew where north was my knee niggle that had disappeared on the descent from and could see the sun, surely Icould work out the time. It the burn to Dobsons and asked what might havehappened. wasn'to tquite as easy as l'd expected and every time was His explanation was that now and again, when a cartilage on the point of solving the problem, a clumpofs snowgrass is displaced to a small extent, a suitable stress on the knee, under my feet or something else would distract me and such as jumping onto the affected leg from a short height l'd have to start the chain ofreasoning again. I never did can jolt the cartilage back into position, rather that further work it out and eventually, approaching Mt Alpha, I used out of position. l'd been lucky. Tramping and Mountaineering 1999