Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand and is conveniently located on the South Island. This is the mountain that James Cook practiced for his climb to the summit of Mount Everest which he was the first person to do! Yet another accomplishment for the Kiwi’s! Nearby, in the park, is Mt. Olivier. Not quite to the summit of Mt. Oliver is the famous and historical Mueller hut. Some of my friends climbed to Mueller Hut the day before my birthday and hearing their stories only made me want to go even more. But every time I tried to plan a trip, something came up (specifically weather). So when I heard the Tramping club would be leading a trip, I was excited. Going with them would be heaps cheaper.
So the day of the meeting came. A bunch of my friends came because we had all wanted to do Mueller for some time as I had said. But when it came to sign up, it was revealed that no one had yet stepped up to lead this trip. Megan being the darling she is remembered that I was there president of my ‘outdoors’ club at school and had lead a bunch of trips and thus thought it a good idea to volunteer me! So here I am, half day dreaming about some other thing when I get a piece of paper shoved in my hand with words of praise, ‘thank you so much for helping!’
Here I am, hardly familiar with tramping club policy (I had only done one tramp with the club) yet alone tramping in New Zealand well enough to lead 15 odd people. Get phone numbers, check cards, get supplies, get maps, first aid kits, gear list, weather, medications, rent the van and trailer, meeting time and place... the list went on. What did I get myself into? Ugh. But somehow I managed to do it all and even rent a car that was a good 15 minute drive away without a car. I have to point out at this point that I did have help and this would never ever have happened without them.
The weather for the weekend though was not looking good. Snow, lots of it. People started dropping out and soon it was just my group of friends with Fridriec the German fellow from across the lawn. But we were holding out! To come this far and not go through with it!? INSANITY!
That morning went well, a short 4 hour drive in a 12 passenger van with trailer, no biggie. When we got to the park, I’ll admit that I was nervous. The peak wasn’t visible and it looked much more intimidating than I imagined. But luckily we got to leave the tents and stoves behind because we got a coveted spot in the Mueller Hut! Now we could use their long drop toilet, sleep inside AND there were stoves and gas available. Awesome.
And thus began the hike. Or should I say stair-a-thon 2010?
Group shot!
There were a lot of stairs. And when I say a lot of stairs I don’t think you understand exactly how many stairs there were. There were about 2 ½ hours of stairs. And they were nasty uneven stairs that ranged from a few awkward inches to a bit taller than my waist. But after a while you kind of forgot that there were stairs and you didn’t think about how many you had climbed or how many left there were. I did well though. Not like Fyffe where I thought that these may be my last days of life, but there were times I pulled out my inner gazelle and skipped up a bunch in rapid succession. Overall, the hut was at 1800 meters elevation. Here's the description.
Mt. Cook with typical Cloud Formation
The views were incredible. Like any summit in New Zealand and any sort of wine they only get better with time. Mueller was out of the tree line rather quickly and the valley opened out before you. Mt. Cook was in the near distance with its distinctive clouds peeling over with the glaciers beside the great mountain. The glaciers were amazing. Until now, Crow Glacier was the only one I had seen. But now I was literally surrounded. And they are beautiful. Ribbons of blues, whites and greys marking thousands of years piled on top of one another. The discarded rubble of the nearby behemoth littering the top and water pouring out from under that settled into the most amazing turquoise blue you can imagine. Then the valley was amazingly flat in comparison to the cragged new mountains all around. The little river that came from the glacier snaked its way past the tiny circle of buildings that made up the DOC and hotel eventually meeting up with Lake Tekapo. And as we climbed higher and higher, everything seemed to spread out more and more like when thick caramel spills on the table. It literally felt like the land was moving away.
One of the Glaciers
After a few hours of hiking we reached Sealy’s Tarn. A tarn is just a little lake that is fed by rain and runoff. It was very dark and reflected the mountains well with the dark snow filled clouds slowly moving in. Then, after a very brief pause, we continued on. Once past the tarn the stairs quickly dissolved into an eroded part littered with rocks of all sizes that seemed to shift instantly under your feet. Then all of a sudden the brush and scruffy grass disappeared and rocks took their place. Some of the boulders were the size of small houses, easily larger than my room for sure. Hopping from boulder to boulder we looked up and saw that the trail disappeared and dissolved into a skree slope; a huge skree slope at that. I was towards the end to make sure we didn’t leave anyone behind, and I watched nervously as people scrambled up on all fours to a ridge. For every step we took, we slid down the equivalent to two if we were lucky. Our packs did not make it easier either. It was as tough as it sounds, but it was a lot of fun and you had a real sense of accomplishment when you looked back down and saw what you just did. The camera did not capture this at all either unfortunately.
Sealy's Tarn
Looking up the Skree Slope
At the ridge we stopped to admire the beauty because now the trail wrapped around a mountain. As I said, it was just as amazing but we were just a little higher now. Then we heard KAAAAAHHHHH and a large shape swooped past us and landed on a rock. It was a Kea! One of the mountain parrots. He wasn’t alone either. There were about 4 or 5. Three were sitting on a boulder chewing on a trail marker. These birds are trouble makers and will chew on anything plastic and steal your sneakers! It was great fun watching them fly, bicker and jump. Alexis got in on the fun and started mimicking them. I must say she did a really good job at the squawking sound.
Kea
I was feeling great at this point, it really was amazing all the things you feel; energized after the climb, the cooling from your shirts drying, the sweet smell of snow, keas soaring over head, the roughness of the rocks as you scramble up, connection of someone grabbing your wrist to pull you up an especially steep part and the whistle of wind from a closing storm. That is why I hike, why I put up with the winded feeling, the burning of my legs, pull of my pack and burn from the sun. Because these are feelings, these are the views you only get from hiking and all the work makes them so much sweeter.
Hut Halfway up the Summit
Then the barn red hut peaked into view and this gave us the extra push to go a bit quicker. Soon enough we were in the large hut dropping off packs, claiming bunks and meeting the other trampers. I wanted to finish it and summit Oliver, but no one else wanted to. I saw some others had started off only a few minutes prior, so I went off myself.
It was fun jumping up the rocks and the summit wasn’t much higher than Mueller. I ran into a couple enjoying a moment accidentally, but it turns out that the guy was a Butler student as well! The three of us started talking and I found out they were going to school in Dunedin and lived on the East Coast of the US as well. We talked more on the way down and when we got back into the hut we realized that our two groups had met and were all handing out.
Valley from the Summit
WE all sat and played cards while dinner cooked and snow started to fall rather quickly. It was a really enjoyable evening and it went by quickly. Later in the evening, Mikalea and I decided to take a walk in the snow out to the edge of the plateau area the hut was situated on. With the hut’s lights too far to see, and no light from stars or buildings, it was beautifully eerie. So quite. We talked a bit and enjoyed the quite. The only time the silence was broken was when the valley right beside us had an avalanche. There were quite a few avalanches while we were there, what a cool sound. Like a train.
Sound of Music Pose in Front of Mt. Cook at Sunrise
The next morning we woke up to a good foot of snow! We were the first out of the hut, so we were the trail blazers with Damon leading in his normal khaki shorts with an AE button down shirt as if he were doing a model shoot! Gah, I swear. The going was slow because it was hard to see where the gaps in the many rocks were with the thick blanket of snow. I sure didn’t want to deal with the medical copter taking hours to get here to take someone off with a broken leg! But it was hard, I know there were a few times I almost snapped my leg. What a story that would have been. When we got to the skree slope, we were a bit nervous. But after slipping a few times the phrase, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! Came to mind. So we just sat down and slide down! If it would have been near impossible to get back up I think I would have done it a few times just because it was thrilling to fly down on the snow.
Damon in the Snow! Oh So Fashionable!
Glacier in the Background of the Snowy Descent!
Other than that, pretty standard descent. The stairs kicked my butt going down, your legs just get so tired and your knees so strained going down stairs for 1 ½. One girl put it very well ‘I feel like new born Bambi’.
Hut at Sunrise
Mueller Hut overall was one of my favorite tramps. The views of Mt. Cook, the valley and the glaciers were amazing. I feel like I hardly struggled with the trail, I lead the group well and nothing happened plus the snow was incredible! Hiking in the snow is so much fun, plus it was like hiking two totally different trails. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment