Howletts Hut

July 2007

Andy was the leader for this trip and “advertised” it at the previous Wednesday’s club meeting as going ahead whatever the weather… and the forecast was not good! Crampons and Ice axes were required to be taken. For me, as a prospective club member this shook me a wee bit. I had been looking forward to signing up for the trip and getting out with some club members and also to doing the kind of trip that I wouldn’t contemplate doing solo. Crampons and Ice axes were things I had never used before. A quick chat to Andy during a break in the meeting put me at ease and I put my name down.

Suprisingly, the weather on the Saturday morning looked good – cold but fine, with the forecast southerly having passed through the night before. After picking out our crampons and ice axes, we set off from the club truck at the end of Kashmir Road at about 8:30am or so and began the climb up to Pohangina Saddle. The further up we got the better the views were. It also got colder, and the snow got deeper… thigh deep if you were unlucky enough to hit a soft spot, so out came the ice axes. A quick “how to” for me on self-arrest and we carried on our way with turns being taken in the front for the rest of the day. The wind was quite strong and bitterly cold in places as we neared Otumore, with snow stinging as it hit your face. From there we turned more northwards and headed along the main ridge with a final steep climb up to Taumatataua and a well deserved rest. The last part of the journey on Saturday involved collecting firewood to carry to the hut. This was a good sign in that it mean that we must be really near the hut! We were. Once inside it was time to get the fire going and warm the place up

Sunday breakfast the decision was to head down from the ridge and hike back to the truck via Daphne Hut. Yay for downhill hiking! It didn’t seem to be long and the snow underfoot disappeared and we were on a good downhill bush track to the river near Daphne Hut. A short break there then time to push on…making a few river crossings until we picked up the next section of the track. Time to go uphill again! We were making good time so far and along with that came further discussion and debate as to the best of two route options from here. One would take us along a more sheltered path to Kashmir road a few KM north of the truck. The other was more exposed but would lead us past Longview hut down to the truck along the same track that we used yesterday. We chose the latter route. After a late lunch cooped up in a small thicket for shelter we headed back out from the bush and into the open. We had a 200m climb and a couple of KM to cover before hooking up with the track down to the truck. It was windy!! Some debate as to whether it was 80KPH or 100KPH… but either way there was plenty of it and it reaffirmed the wiseness of staying off the tops on the return from the hut. .