Tararuas on Four Legs

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Tararuas on Four Legs Ferrida Curwood The conversation for planning my Labour Weekend tramping trip went something like this: Let's go tramping near Wellington to an area with a safe carpark. I would prefer to go on a relatively easy trip, walking about six hours per day, keeping to marked tracks and staying in huts. Fitness could be better but should be okay if we keep our packs light. I o where could we go that we have not been before? I wind strong enough to blow me over. Perhaps ith had been want to geti intol Maungahuka some time, what doy you unexpectedlyl blown over the ridge and was tryingt to getl back thinka about goingt there? Can'tbe too hard over three home. I was not confident that it would survive the flight days and we could go to Field on Friday night. We should withoutl breakinga wing. haver plenty oftimet to get there overt thelong weekend. Surely Att thel base ofMclntosh wel had a rest and discussed our we can makei it on our first attempt. options. The open face of Mclntosh above looked very ex- So therel was on Friday night at Otaki Forks all packed posed with no possibility ofavoiding the eversincreasingwind up and ready for the trip. First goal was to get up to Field The Tararua Peaks remained the great unknown out ofview Hut Iwasl keenly anticipating the weekend ahead, glad tobe due to ther mist that blew past at phenomenal speed. Despite getting awayt tramping. the urge to keep going and get to Maungahuka on our first Itwas a dark night andl was not keen to: stumble my way attempt we decided to turn back and head down to Penn across ther river terraces sol had my torch on right from the Creek via Vosseler. We stayed below the ridge out of the start. I like tramping at night as long as the track is easily wind as much as possible and made reasonable progress. I navigable becauset the dlimbs don'tfeel as steep. We reached was relieved to reach thel bush-edge and anticipated an easy Field Hut at 11.30pm. After little sleep it was hard to get up walk down the ridge through the bush, and across the river butt the other hut occupants were noisy enough to destroy to mellow out at Penn Creek Hutt for the night. anyo chanced of going! backt tosleep. Thet track through theb bush hadt four generations of mark- We walked up to Bridge Peaki in the wind and rain and ers and was overgrown and difficult to follow. After repeatturned northeast towards Boyd Wilson Knob. It was hard edlyl losing and Isearchingf for the track we decided to follow going in the wind which was coming from the north and the ridge down. As the ridge got steeper wel had to move off surprisingly cold. We took frequent rest stops to catch our ittot finds Isafer footing. Finallywer werejust 100 metres above breath ande eat snacks ast the wind was making what would the river but annoyingly, wel had to retrace our steps, as we otherwise be an easy trip, into a mammoth effort. By the could not get down thes slip face to the streambed. time we got over Vosseler the wind conditions were decid- Wel headedbackupandweres again frustrated byt the dense edly difficult. Iwas struggling to keep moving when each bush. On our wayt back up ther ridge we came across a small wind gust camet through. adopted a crabl like walk, walking andrelatively flat clearing closet to a stream. We decided to sideways facing the wind and relying heavily on my walking make camp for the night as we were both exhausted andi it poles to assist myl balance. As each gust camel I tensed up was getting dark. Wes scraped out a flat area, pitched the fly, and leaned further into the wind trying to stay on my feet, cooked dinner and crawledi into our pits. too: scaredi tot taket ther next step. Definitely a new "Silly Walk" Some hoursi into ther night the previously gentle rain turned fort thet famous Monty Python Department ofSilly Walks. into pouring rain, which lasted all night. Next morning there Theg gullies were the worsta as thewind seemedi tol be chan- was no need tot hurry to get up as we only planned to walk to nelling through them andt thet track typically was righta along Penn Creek Hut that day. Thankfully the rain cleared. thet top of the ridge. The wind was over 80 km/h with gusts We took about an hour to find the track and follow it much higher and getting worse. Due to thei icy air tempera- down towhere itj joined up with the first stream andwes sat turel had myj jacket and hood fullyfastened. The sound dof by the swollen streamin the sunl having lunch. Thel hut was the wind in myl hood was what Iwould imagine ittol bel like empty except for a decomposing rat in the warden's cuptol look into thet face of a roaring! lion at closer range. Conver- board. We enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing. sation was almosti impossible. OnMonday morning wer woke early to glorious sunshine. As we approached Yeates it became dangerous to con- Wej packed up andh headed up the 800 metres to Table Top. tinue walking along the ridge top. I was seriously afraid of Although steep, the track was well marked. being blown off my feet and was not happy to watch Nick We really enjoyed sitting in the sun on Table Top eating ahead of me clinging onto a bush as his feet left theg ground. lunch and watching a couple of gliders catching thermals Wel literally crawled on hands andl knees over the ridge top abover us. Wel looked alongt towards ther now visible Tararua andi instead pushed our way through leatherwoodjustl below Peaks in disgust, thinking that if the weather on Saturday the ridgeline on thel leewards side. Progress was slow, as the had been anything like it was today, we could have got to alpinel bush was very dense. Maungahuka with ease. In amazement we watched a single wood pigeon strug- Despite not reachingour destination wel had exploredangling against the wind tot fly over ther ridgei intot thet full force other part oft the Tararuas. Going to Maungahuka will have oft the wind. I could not believe that it was trying to fly into to wait for another time. Tramping and Mountaineering 1999