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We had a "sleep-in" this morning. It was chilly, but we could see that the sun was on its way. Craig woke up to find Stan still asleep, with the bottom of his sleeping bag tucked into one of our bright yellow plastic pack liners. Stan and Craig ate the leftovers for breakfast, and Craig and I had porridge (rolled oats, milk, brown sugar, and water).
The boys were nice enough to let me leave my pack at camp and they carried the stuff that I needed for the day hike. We left camp at 11:09. Soon afterwards, we were out of the forest and onto some tussocks and rocky bits. Scree slopes and waterfalls surrounded us. It was beautiful. There were small patches of snow here and there, but the sun was beaming down and it was quite warm. We reached the tarn at around 1:00. I was really hot and I poured handfuls of its cold water onto my head. We filled our water bottles from the tarn. As we were getting lunch together, a man with a shovel arrived. His name was David. He told us that DOC maintains the track up to the bush line, but he maintains it the rest of the way past the tarn to the ridge. He was doing some trail maintenance today. He ate lunch with us. Craig and I had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Stan had a peanut butter sandwich (he maintains that peanut butter and jelly together are a U.S. phenomenon). We drank Raro. We had a great talk with David. First he and Stan talked about the tracks in the area, and he showed Stan some trails on the map that Stan wasn't aware of. As we ate, the conversation veered into some really deep territory - technology, the universe, the origin of mankind. Interesting discussion in a beautiful setting. David told us about another route back to our camp that would involve running a scree slope. Stan asked about the quality of the scree. David had never done that route himself, so he wasn't sure. He told Stan "After you guys do it, leave a note on your loo telling me how it was!" We decided to go back down the way we had come, as the day was getting on and we wanted to be sure of what we were getting ourselves into. David hiked up the ridge and was out of sight almost instantly. It was 2:35, and we retraced our steps back to the forest. We made good time and were back at camp by around 4. We grabbed my pack, made a loo stop, and were leaving camp by 4:15. They let me lead again, and it was rather empowering. I was able to go a lot faster in the front. We were able to see a lot of features that we hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. When we emerged from the forest, the sun was setting and there was a beautiful orange glow on Mt. Cook. Everything was so gorgeous, and I was in such better shape than yesterday. We reached the van at 6:15. Under our windshield wiper was a note from David with a brief report of the scree and track (he said it was icy and would be better for summer tramping) along with directions to his bach if Stan wanted to stop in and look at some of his maps. It was only 1 km from the van, so we decided to stop in. It was a cute warm little bach and David was there with his friend Jillie. They were so friendly and kind. They gave Craig a Speight's and me a white wine. They fed us sour cream and chive chippies and had great conversation (Jillie was very interested in Peru). David showed Stan the map. The Kiwi hospitality was incredible. We left around 7:30 and drove to Mt. Cook. We stayed at the Wyn Irwin Hut, a hut owned by the Canterbury Mountaineering Club. The hut wardens Tash and Dagmar let us in and we got settled in the bunkroom. Stan took a shower while Craig and I got organized. There is a generator for most of the power in the hut, but a few lights (including the shower light) run off battery power. It was my turn to take a shower, and when I was in the small shower cubicle trying to get undressed, the light went out. It was pitch black and I couldn't see anything. I poked my head out and said that the light had gone out. Tash hit the reset switch and it came back on. Then about a minute later it went out again. By this time I was naked, couldn't see to put on my clothes, and noone was around. I opened the door a crack and spotted Stan in the lounge. I called to him and he shut off some of the other lights and hit the reset switch. This time the light stayed on. I had a nice shower, and then Craig took his. We sat in the lounge at the table and ate a dinner of corn chips, choc chippies, and alcohol at 10 pm. Then we went to bed. |
 The tarn  Hiking back from the tarn  Mount Cook and the Southern Alps  David and Jillie 
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