Pictures from the Mueller Hut trip

Picasaweb album

Mueller Hut, 9-10 October 2010

In spite of semi-bad weather forecasts, five of us had decided to drive to Mt Cook village and do an overnight tramp to Mueller Hut. Several people had backed out due to the expected weather, and in retrospect we probably should have done so as well. Nevertheless, Janine, Philip and myself set off from Christchurch Friday evening with a car full of skis, snow shoes, crampons, ice axes and the mandatory avalanche safety gear, with high expectations for the following two days.

Reaching Mt Cook Village, we met Monique and Brian at the DoC campground, pitched a couple of tents and went straight to bed. Plans were to get up and sign in with DoC at 8.30am, and then head up the track towards Mueller Hut. In spite of our great plans for an early morning, it was 9.40am before we made our first steps towards Sealy Tarns. Five minutes after the start, I realised that I had forgotten my map and avalanche notes and had to run back to the car to get these – a run that proved valuable on Sunday as the weather and snow packed in.

For those that have never been to Sealy Tarns, the track to get there is steep as! I cannot remember seing as many man made steps on a track this short, and with a fairly narrow track, Brian and I found ourselves struggling a bit with our wide and tall packs carrying up skis that just loved catching on to trees, steps and whatever came close. Brian got the idea that navigating our packs  had to be somewhat similar to driving large trucks around narrow streets in the city; a comparison that seemed quite appropriate (however, we were not quite sure if we were closer to an 18 or 24 wheeler).
Weatherwise, we had a bit of rain that turned into a bit of snow as we climbed towards the tarns, but nothing too major to destroy our high spirits. Reaching the tarns, the clouds cleared for a moment, presenting us with some of the views that make the long drive worth every hour on the road. Lunch was eaten, before we climbed up the last bits of tussock and rocks and found ourselves facing massive amounts of snow. Without skis and snow shoes, we would have had to turn back at this point, but being well prepared we geared up and made our first steps onto the ocean of white ahead of us.
With a considerable avalanche danger, focus was on safe travel practices from the first steps. Route selections were discussed before moving from one island of safety to the next, and we always had someone spotting the people moving across potential avalanche paths and start zones. Arguably the avalanche forecast was a bit high to go to Mueller Hut in the first place, but we made good progress with sensible discussions and decisions being made on the way.
After half an hour in the snow, Monique and Brian decided to turn back as the terrain was too far out of comfort zones to be enjoyable. This proved to be a very sensible decision, as the rest of us found ourselves in some very exposed places further up the mountains – in fact we probably all should have turned back at that stage. Before splitting up, we had a quick rearranging of food and gear, only to find that we were carrying a tent too much up the mountains – so much for morning coordination of gear.

Janine, Philip and I decided to move on, and made steady progress in the reasonably firm snow. Just before reaching the ridge taking us the last bit towards the hut, we faced the choice of taking the ordinary route looking somewhat dodgy due to a massive snowpack on a perfectly sloped angle facing just the right way for avalanches this weekend or to make the ridge at lower elevations and being more exposed to winds. Since avalanches were highly undesirable, we made the ridge and was faced with a bit of a scramble up some rocks and deep snow. I found myself in waist deep snow trying to make my way up the ridge, and had it not been for a helping hand a few times I might still have been stuck in the snow.

Safely on the ridge, we faced half an hour of easy travelling before reaching Mueller Hut. As we were carrying a lot of gear, as well as a wine, cake and other luxuiosities for the hut, the joy of seeing the hut in the distance put big smiles on our faces.

Reaching the hut, we faced a bit of digging before the door could be opened. Luckily it was only matter of 30-40cm of wind drifted snow since the last person had been in the hut a few days earlier, and the toilets had been dug out recently as well (still it took Janine 30 minutes to dig it out for the first visit – I cannot imagine what it would have been like to dig out the 1.5m of snow covering the second toilet). We arrived at 6.15pm, after a fairly cruizy day, but still tired and very ready for some hot food! After receiving the latest weather update on the radio at 7pm, we had our diner, wine, cake and tried to make plans for the following day. For three hours straight we had a cooker going to melt snow for water supplies – Mueller Hut may have water tanks, but when they are buried under two meters of snow, it seems quite a lot easier to spend the time melting snow rather than digging out the taps (probably just to find them frosen anyway).

We hit the hay around 10pm, and at midnight the wind started picking up. The vents in the hut were howling for the entire night, making earplugs an absolute necessity, and some of the gusts made the hut move a little as well. Certainly not the perfect weather for our walk out the next day, but the forecast promised a window with less wind. All we had to do was to find this window, and so we woke up at 6am to make sure we did not miss the opportunity of getting back to the village. However, the wind speeds kept to a solid 100km/h until noon, leaving us with little choice but to stay put and start thinking about the possibility that we might get stuck in the hut for a few days. Monday promised clear and calm weather, but since a substantial amount of snow had fallen overnight (and kept falling throughout Sunday), the avalanche danger would be too high to risk travelling any time before Tuesday or possibly even Wednesday. We took turns being concerned about the prospects of being stuck, while the other two was sleeping. Going to the loo was quite an experience as well, requiring a full suit up in warm clothing, a shovel to dig out the door from wind deposited snow in between visits, and it took a full hour for the three of us to have our first visits in the morning! By the way, Mueller Hut as a really cool toilet system where you are supposed to deliver your liquids in one part of the toilet and solids in another part – apparently this saves a lot of money flying out the human waste, and I was surprised to see how well it seems to work.

At 1pm, the wind had slowed down to a more reasonable speed, and we decided to head out and have a look around to see if it was possible to get out. We had decided not to leave any later than 2.30pm to allow sufficient time to get out before dark, and after experiencing a few gusts and realising that the wind really was slowing down, we went back in, had lunch and radioed DoC to tell them we were coming down. 15-20cm of snow had fallen during the night and morning, requiring even greater care in route selection on the way down than what we faced on the way up, but luckily we had had a good view of the terrain the day before and decided to backtrack our steps from the way up.

The ridge was negotiated in good time, with just a few interesting spots where gusty winds and exposed terrain made us very aware of the seriousness of the situation. The biggest decision was to be made as we left the ridgeline and moved onto the western aspect of the mountains. Here we expected to find moderate amounts of wind deposited snow, and we had to decide whether it was safe to continue or we had to turn back and stay in the hut for another night or two. I made the first move, with Janine and Philip watching out for avalanches. I called them down, and after a quick assessment and discussion, we decided to move on down. We kept a safe distance in case of snowslides, but never moving out of hearing distance. With Janine and Philip on snowshoes, it took a bit of time coming down, but I enjoyed every bit of it, skiing the best powder of the season and cutting first tracks no matter where I went. In fact, the snow was so good that I managed to pull of some very decent skiing in spite of my 15-20kg pack, and this alone made the whole trip worthwile for me. The other two was not quite sharing my love for the descent, but at least they realised how much they need to get touring skis if they are to go on similar trips in the future.

Reaching Sealy Tarns, we had a quick mueslibar break, while taking off skis and snow shoes and getting ready to walk down the track to Mt Cook Village. It had started snowing, and the wind picked up again. I still find it hard to believe that we hit the tiny window to get out safely – if we had started out just half an hour later we might have had to turn back. Avalanche dangers became very present as we came down the last bits of snow, with cracking and slabs coming loose. Luckily, this was on low angle terrain and with good runout zones not too far further down, but it certainly made the risk very real.

The track down from Sealy Tarns was negotiated in reasonable time, with the biggest problems being navigating a pack with 185cm skis attached to the sides. They had a nasty tendency to catch high steps down, as well as any trees or bushes besides the track. Ski poles proved to be a great aid, especially walking down in skiing boots (which was less of an issue than one might think). We reached the car at 6.30pm, stoked to have made it out safely and in reasonable time. After a quick change of clothes and signing out with DoC, we made the long drive back to Christchurch, reaching the city just before midnight. How I managed to sit a test Monday morning is still somewhat mysterious to me, but the trip was certainly well worth it all.

In retrospect, a few key points remain as a very valuable lesson learned from the trip. This being the most serious winter trip for all of us, there is no doubt that we got in just a little too deep. However, through good discussions on the go and constant evaluation of the dangers present, we managed the terrain and got out not only alive, but in good spirits and without pushing our limits. I keep wondering how much I should have foreseen based on the weather and avalanche forecast, since the issues of rising avalanche dangers were very obvious to me as we were sitting in the hut, waiting for the wind to slow down and allow us to get out. Back home, I found the avalanche forecast for Monday begin raised to high, which would have left us no choice but to stay put until Tuesday had we still been in the hut. We would have had enough food to survive, but two or three extra days would not have been particularly pleasant.
Furthermore, the trip was a reminder that being in the snow can be a very serious business. As the missions into the mountains become more interesting, so does the avalanche danger. I have never felt more exposed than on this particular trip, and I am extremely happy that we were a small group of people knowing each other in advance. Small mistakes could have had major consequences, and although it was a truly amazing trip, it is certainly not recommendable for everyone in snowy conditions.

25 years and counting

- And months later I finally got it together to write another post. Things are happening down here, busy days full of studying, research, skiing, more studying, tramping, avalanche courses, research, abstract submissions, more skiing, more research, a visit from Denmark, studying, more skiing and finally some more studying and research. I guess this post will be a brief list of what has happened since May, and first of all let me apologise for the lack of photographic evidence. Unfortunately, my camera went down a mountain to end up in a stream attached to my big tramping pack without being in any sort of waterproof bag, and since then it has had a tiny drop of water stuck on the inside of the lens. Some day I might come around to making an insurance claim and buying a new camera, until then you will have to settle for my words..

In the beginning of June I went tramping in Nelson Lakes National Park on a wonderful trip to Lake Angelus and Angelus hut. The sceneries were amazing, and I am hoping to do exactly the same trip this winter only on skis! There were four of us going, two Germans, an American and myself, and we had a great trip to refuel before the exams kicked in a week later.

On the exam note, I met my usual changing mood during study weeks and exams, but as usual I made my way through with some very decent results (especially considering that I spent no more than one day preparing for my Anatomy and Physiology exam and still made a B+). The whole change of exam procedures turned out to be ok, though I still think that written, closed book exams might not always be the best way of testing if students have learnt whatever was taught in a course.

After exams came a couple of weeks of study break which I used for moving to a new apartment (much, much better than my previous room), chilling for a few days (I guess they call it nesting - basically I just enjoyed doing absolutely nothing), moving on with my research project, skiing and finally I did an introductory Avalanche Awareness Course with the local Mountain Safety Council. In many ways two very productive weeks, and the best part is that I feel so much better in my new home. Thursday in the first week of semester two I got my first visitor from Denmark. Nina stayed with me for a bit more than a week while buying a car, recovering from the worst jetlag and all the other practical stuff that needs to be taken care of when arriving in a new country to stay for 4 months. It has been absolutely wonderful to have a friendly face staying, bringing Toms Kæmpeskildpadder, proper liquorice and good rum, and now that she has moved on and is out living the skiing dream I must admit that it is very quiet being home alone. On the other hand, it is very good for my productivity, and we would probably have ended up killing each other if we were to stay in my (relatively small) place for 4 months, so I guess it serves the greater good that she is doing her thing while I am stuck in Christchurch getting brighter and brighter for each day that goes by (I really just want to go skiing these days!).

The first month of the skiing season has offered some remarkable experiences. Skiing in New Zealand is truly something different than skiing in the European Alps, and I love it here! All of the smaller ski fields are run mainly by volunteers, and the atmosphere is friendly and welcoming. The lift technology is rubbish, but then again it can all be fixed with a can of WD-40, a big hammer and a bit of duct tape. And when this all means that you can just leave your bag (including wallet, mobile phone and everything) in a lodge at the center of the area without worrying about people going through your stuff it is definitely worth it all! I have taken a beating from one of these tow rope lifts when a stitching in my tow belt ripped, but nothing too serious (and don't worry, if it keeps hurting for more than another week I might just get it checked...) - and it was not a faulty design of the lift, but rather a bad model of my personal gear that was to blame.

To do a bit of namedropping of ski fields (for those who might be interested), I have now visited Porters, Mt Cheeseman (yes, that is an actual ski field here), Broken River, Mt Hutt and Mt Olympus. A few words on each:

Mt Hutt wants to be a European ski field. Stop doing that please, it is just too small to be compared to European conditions, and the atmosphere is just as bad as in France (without the crazy ass after skiing). They have three chair lifts and a fancy chip system for the lift passes - which in my opinion is a massive overkill! Everything is groomed slopes.

Porters is semi-commercial, certainly more atmosphere than Hutt, but still not a proper club field. Has a slope with the awesome name "Big Mama", and some pretty sweet skiing (has had some of the best snow of the early season). Mainly groomed slopes, and the ski field closest to Christchurch (about 110 minutes from the time I lock my door until I have my boots on ready to go skiing). T-bars instead of rope tows.

Mt Cheeseman, Broken River and Mt Olympus are "proper" club ski fields close to Christchurch. Fantastic atmosphere, lots of ungroomed skiing and heaps of back basins waiting to be explored once I get my avalanche knowledge going (which is on my to-do list with a 4 day course over two weekends in August). Cheeseman is quite family friendly skiing, has T-bars and a quite new lodge with a decent cafeteria-thingy (sells coffee and food that can be cooked in a sandwich press or a microwave). Broken River and Olympus both have the infamous rope tows, nothing but ungroomed runs and plenty of friendly faces around. In connection to these club fields are different kinds of acommodation on (or just off) the mountain, again with just the right atmosphere and at reasonable prices as well (at least if you go for the self-catered once, 15 minutes drive from the lifts).

Access roads are a story on their own - some very well maintained (Porters and Hutt), some long, windy and quite exposed (Cheeseman), some more or less just a single vehicle track in the forest (Broken River), and finally some which are a single track, long and windy and certainly very exposed (Mt Olympus). Though Olympus seem quite close to Christchurch on a map, the time to get there is quite long because of the 49km gravel road that leads up there...


Status now is sore legs, a bruced rib or two, high spirits regarding studies (with a slight fear that it may all get horribly stressed over the next five weeks up until deadline of the report on my research) and big plans for avalanche education over two weekends in August. I have not yet decided what to do in the coming weekend, I might see if there are a tramper or two keen on some easy ski touring to get into the game before the avalanche course. Otherwise I might just go "normal" skiing or tramping.

Oh, and on the finishing note - thanks to everyone who sent me a greeting and/or a present for my birthday. It is certainly something else to celebrate such a long way from home, but on the other hand this allowed me to turn 25 without being exposed to ridiculous amounts of cinnamon. I spend the day studying and the night eating out with Eva and Nic, and had a qiuet but very good day. Upon my return to Denmark I promise to throw some kind of a massive party to celebrate all the good stuff that I miss out celebrating in style while away!

That'll be all for now, I am off to bed before another long day at the office awaits me tomorrow. But hey, I am now playing around with BlueFern, our local super computing facility, allowing me to run my simulations in up to 16 parallel processes. It still makes me smile every time I submit a job and see it done within minutes (previously I have had stuff running for 8 hours overnight) - and it will look great on my CV! This next few days I better focus on a presentation on medical imaging of ADHD I am giving on Thursday, but there will soon be time to play around with big computers again..

Comeback 18/5

Here I am again – sorry for the minor dropout over the last month or so. Things have been busy at university, in weekends and all over. But I am happy, life is good and my studies are going well.

Over the Easter break I went tramping solo for five days from Lewis Pass to Arthur’s Pass (pictures at picasaweb). A fantastic trip, lots of time for reflection and beautiful sceneries. I shared the first hut with three other people, the other three nights I had to myself (except for the one night where I had company by a mouse – it even dared crawling onto my shoulder). It reminded me that I should not be limited in doing the things I like to just because the people I would normally do these things with are far away, and so I did the day after my return to Christchurch. Sacha Vee played a fantastic double concert with Oval Office in town, which made my first encounter with the New Zealand funk music a very pleasant experience.

A few days went by, procrastinating everything possible. I did buy a car though, a 95 Subaru Legacy Grand Wagon. I ended up getting an automatic, and I am slowly getting used to the lazy driving. My fingers are crossed that it will perform in the snow during winter.

The last week of my Easter break was spent white water kayaking around Murchison. This turned out to be quite an experience, both on and off the water. The instructors were absolutely fantastic, getting us newbies safely down the rapids safely. I even won a prize for having the most faith in the instructors when capsizing – if we could manage to stay in the kayaks under water, an instructor could paddle over and turn us around. And so I did on the very first day. Stayed in my kayak bottom up, probably for 30 seconds or more, while the instructors messed around before turning me around.

In the evenings, a fire was lit and for some odd reason (maybe excessive amounts of alcohol) some of the guys ended up sitting naked around the fire. I learnt that the drinking culture among some Kiwis is worse than anything I have ever seen in Denmark. I blame the goon (bag-in-box wine, which only comes in horrible quality down here). But they did have a quite funny ritual around the goon as it was passed around the fire. Before drinking (straight from the tap), you had to slap it to punish it for the hangovers it was going to give you the following day!

Back again, I had a few days to write up an assignment on “Chernobyl Today” before lectures started after the break. After a few days of frustration I managed to put it together; and (hopefully) in a decent way as well. Lectures started, and my research project started picking up speed as we realised that we had some pretty serious issues in the computer model I am working on that needed resolving. This turned into a few very interesting email correspondences, among others with one of the guys who had developed the software we are using. It is fantastic to see from the inside how the scientific community is working when you come across something you do not quite know how to tackle, and even more so to be in contact with people around the world trying to figure out the easiest (and best) way of doing something that has never been done before. Today I had an email waiting for me when I came into my office, with promises that we should have the last missing tool for my project on hand before the end of this week. At the same time, we have been approved to BlueFern, the supercomputer at the university. This should speed up my simulations quite dramatically (I had my computer running a simulation for 67 hours over the weekend, so a bit of extra speed is more than welcome), and it is another “minor” thing making the project a lot more interesting than reading for my normal courses.

The past three weekends have offered a tramp to Mt. Tinline close to the Kaikoura range, a visit at The Paddock where a shed was built for Eva’s new nursery, and another tramp to Mt. Taylor – the highest summit in the Canterbury region. Mt. Tinline was a one day trip with a huge group (22 or so), which ended up with only five of us making it to the summit (1747 m). The last bit to the top was quite gnarly, loose and exposed, but the view from the top was worth it. Pictures at picasaweb

Mt Taylor was conquered this weekend with a group of 7 really nice people, and a stunning tramp (More pictures at picasaweb). We left Christchurch Friday at 16, drove up to Lake Heron and walked along a riverbed in the dark to Double Hut. Dinner was cooked, eaten, and the beds were made. We turned in at 22, and for unknown reasons I had a bit of trouble falling asleep. Saturday morning started 7.25 where we got up, had breakfast and left our overnight gear in the hut before heading for the summit at 8.45. Ahead of us was a 1400 m climb, following a ridgeline before reaching the summit (2333 m) and going back the way we came up. The weather was great, especially after the sun broke through the thin layer of clouds around 11, and we saw no sign of the rain predicted by the forecast (another case of the weather forecast being pretty useless in NZ). We made the summit at 12.30, had lunch, took pictures and threw rocks off the top while enjoying the views to the highest peaks in the country. The descent proved a bit of a challenge to my left knee, but we made it down safely in spite of a couple of us stumbling once as the ground started moving sideways down the side of the ridge. We made it to the hut by 16, had a short afternoon tea break before packing up our overnight gear and walking out to the cars. As darkness descended upon us we managed to find the proper track to the hut, sparing us a bit of riverbed travelling, and just as head torches was needed we made it to the car park, around 18. Two hours drive later, three of us found ourselves at our local fish & chips shop, Captain Bens, after another magnificent day in the Southern Alps.

Sunday I went for the annual Ski sale, arranged by the Canterbury Snowsport Association. Some hours later I had a pair of skis and touring bindings in my room, and in a couple of weeks I will get a phone call saying that a range of touring boots are waiting for me to come have a look. Let the winter begin (in a month or so)!

Tomorrow I am going to look at an apartment – hopefully I will succeed in finding a place to stay from the end of June before I have to start studying for my exams. It looks like a decent place on the pictures available, but I will have to wait and see until tomorrow afternoon. It feels great to get started on though; it means that I will soon be out of the expensive student accommodation without proper kitchen facilities. I do not mind that.

First tramp with CUTC – Lewis Tops

This weekend I went tramping with the university tramping club (CUTC) for the first time, and it will definitely not be the last time I go. 14 of us went to Lewis Pass to do a tour up Lewis Tops, hoping to make it to the summit of Mt. Technical if the weather was kind. It turned out not to be, so we settled with “The Apprentice”, the second highest summit in the area (and a VERY straightforward walk in spite of the somewhat awe-inspiring name).

We met Saturday morning at 8AM, got our packs in the three cars and headed for a 2½ hours drive to Lewis Pass. The starting point of the tramp was St. James car park, and while putting on boots and gaiters, I managed to snap one of my shoelaces. As far as I remember, this is the first time that I have actually needed the spare laces that I always bring myself – usually someone else is relieved that I bring them along on every tramp. After a quick change to the spare we headed off, starting out on the Lewis Tops Route just on the other side of the road. The first hour or so went through birch forest, climbing steadily on a well marked track. Above the tree line the wind soon picked up, making windproof jackets and warm hats a necessity; quite a contrast to the warm start in the forest where the struggle was to avoid dripping with sweat.

As usual, the views from above the tree line were magnificent while the clouds stayed off the mountains we were tramping on. It did not last for long though, and soon we found ourselves walking in clouds, following a ridgeline without a track. Still, it was a fairly straightforward tramp without any major difficulties on the first day. Around 5PM we reached the Brass Monkey Bivvy, and had a brief discussion on whether to head on towards another hut or to stay. We decided to stay, not knowing exactly what was to expect further ahead, and it turned out to be a clever decision. Tents were pitched, my new gas cooker was initiated (it turned out to be a lot slower than expected, next time I might try it out indoors where the wind can not blow away all the heat…), and after a well deserved hot meal – a freeze dried pasta dish – I spent an hour or so in the tiny bivvy talking to some of the other guys on the tramp. Space was limited, but it we had a good time nevertheless while it turned dark outside. I decided to go to bed around 8.30PM, but finding the tent proved to be a bit of a challenge. We had set up camp around 50 meters from the bivvy, but the fog was so dense that I could only see a few meters ahead, and the light from my head torch was almost blinding. I did not get lost, but it was a slightly scary experience nonetheless, reminding me how sudden things can turn into custard here. It sure is something else than tramping in Denmark (which day two was to prove as well).

Day two started out as day one had ended, misty and damp. Breakfast was eaten, packs got packed and we headed off around 9.20AM. The plan for the day was to cross the saddle we had camped just beneath, and then head down the valley on the other side where there was supposed to be a track. The descent was a bit of a challenge, through some slippery slopes as well as speargrass and spaniard, two quite nasty, stinging native plants. The pace was not exactly fast the entire day, but we made our ways down to the stream in the valley, only to find that the track was nowhere to be found. This lead to some hours of river crossings, tramping through untouched forest following your best guess on what would be the easiest way through. At the same time it started raining, and it pretty much kept raining the entire afternoon until we drove out of the Lewis Pass area around 5PM. In all, day two turned out to be pretty much all I had heard and expected from tramping in New Zealand. Soaked boots from river crossings, changing weather (luckily it stayed quite warm and with no wind, so raincoats were optional) and missing tracks. I was glad not to be alone in this terrain, and it was fascinating to see how ten meters distance was enough to loose track of the person in front of me at some places where the forest closed in on us.

Around 2.30PM we reached Nina hut and had our lunch break. From here on there was a track down to a car park where a car had been strategically placed the day before, and the last two hours were spent on an actual track, taking us back to the civilisation.

This tramp was my first since Silkeborg Højskole, and it was a very different experience not to be out with close friends again. It was still fantastic to be tramping, but it did set of a bit of homesickness to be back in the outdoors. However I did meet some pretty cool people, who I might gain a lot from talking to about other places to go tramping. I am definitely going with the club more times, but for now my next trip will be a solo tramp in the three week Easter break over 4 or 5 days. I am choosing to go solo to get an opportunity of reflection upon my first months in New Zealand, and I have had good previous experiences with going solo, although only for one or two nights. I will probably do Harper Pass in the Arthur’s Pass National Park, which seems remote enough for me to feel the solitude I am looking for, but still busy enough to be safe in case I need assistance for some reason (and is not in need in terms of activating a Personal Locater Beacon, summoning a helicopter).

Oh, I almost forgot the big call for Danish ingenuity on the tramp. One of the guys went in boots so old that the glue holding the soles on started to loose its grip. First one heel loosened, then the other came along, and even duct tape could not hold the soles in place. I do not know how I thought of it, but I got the idea of punching two holes in each sole, and then tie the soles to the boot with a piece of string. It accommodated a few comments, my favourite being “Oh my God, that is SO MacGyver”. Eventually both the soles came off, but my solution did manage to keep the soles working for 24 hours after they started coming off, and even the engineers (one PhD student and one PostDoc) could not think of a better idea. So there you go, when in need, call your local Danish physicist!

Ball Pass Crossing, 24-25/1

Sunday the 24^th, we got up to a rainy morning at a campsite by the side of Lake Pukaki near Mt. Cook Village, but since we only had 3-4 hours of tramping planned that day, we decided to stay dry at the campsite for another hour before driving up to the parking lot near the Tasman Glacier where we started the tramp. Stalling for an hour did the trick – the rain stopped, and we saw nothing but dry weather for the rest of the crossing.

Day one was more or less flat, and took us to Ball Shelter (altitude 950m), a flat area with a longdrop and collected rainwater for drinking. The tour offered views of Tasman Glacier and the lake beneath it, as well as The South Alps all around us. We arrived at Ball Shelter between 3 and 4PM, pitched our tents and relaxed in the sun. Diner was prepared at 6PM, and the evening ended up being quite chilly as the wind had picked up during the afternoon.

Prior to departure, we had been split into different groups doing different tramps on day two of the tour. I made my way to the longest and most difficult tramp, crossing Ball Pass, and looked forward to an expected 12 hour tramp on day two including snow crossings with crampons and ice axes. Only four students (myself included) asked for and were allowed on the crossing, the rest was looking forward to a shorter day two with a few hours tramping without backpacks before taking down our camp and carrying everything back out the same way as on day one. Unfortunately they had a disappointing day for several reasons, which caused a few clashes when we all met up in the evening on day two – some related to the specific tramps, and some “just” related to us being 22 travelling together for three weeks.

The six of us doing Ball Pass Crossing (4 students, 1 teacher and 1 helper) woke up at 4.30AM on day two, had breakfast and got everything packed. During the night, Keas had been checking out our camp, sliding off our tents and knocking on our pots through the tent fabric. We left everything unnecessary behind, thanking the rest of the team for carrying this out later on the day. At 5.30AM we started climbing up the steep slopes towards Caroline Hut (altitude 1830m) and further on to Ball Pass (altitude 2130m). The morning was very cloudy, but when the sun rose above the mountains around 7AM we had made our way up over the clouds, and the most magnificent morning light coloured the snow-clad mountains in different shades of orange. The Tasman Valley was still covered in clouds, and we hoped that the others would not be put off by this as they were getting up around the same time as we were standing above the clouds enjoying the view.

All day long, the path was much harder to find than the other tracks we had been walking previously on the tour around NZ, and the terrain proved to be quite difficult. Not only did we meet a fair bit of snow, requiring ice axes to cross safely (the crampons might not have been essential, but they certainly made it a whole lot easier), the path went through all different sorts of typical alpine terrain including loose rocks, big boulders from rockslides, and sometimes we had to do a bit of scrambling to make our way forward. We did not manage to keep track of the path at all times, and this might of course have made our path a bit more difficult than if we had stayed on the proper path, but we made it to Ball Pass where we arrived at 11.30AM after climbing a total of 1180 meters. On the other side of the pass awaited our descend down to and past Hooker Glacier. Lunch was an ongoing project this day, we had a sandwich every 3 hours or so not to get too full and tired after a long break in the middle of the day. This turned out to be a great solution, none of us got too hungry or too full at any point, and we kept our breaks to a maximum of 15 minutes.

After a long morning climbing up to Ball Pass, it was a relief to get to the high point of the day, and though the descend was longer than when we did the Travers Saddle Crossing in Nelson Lakes, this one turned out to be easier on the knees due to loose sand and rocks that gave in to our steps. All day long we had to watch out for rock falls, caused by our own steps, but we managed to get through the entire day without any injuries and just one minor incident where I had to do a bit of tap dancing to avoid a sliding rock.

The descend to The Playing Fields and further down to the East Hooker Valley was a bit tricky with respect to finding the path, but when we finally got down to the glacier after approx. 10 hours of tramping, we still faced a couple of hours making our way out of the valley to the campsite where the others were waiting. This last bit was quite flat, and it was a huge relief to just be able to walk at a fast pace, not having to consider every single step to avoid slipping on the steep slopes of the mountains.

Around 6PM we met the others at the DOC campsite in Mt. Cook Village after 12½ fantastic hours offering spectacular sceneries as well as a physically demanding trip where you had to pay attention to every single step in order to stay upright. We came down to a well deserved beer, diner, and a weird discussion on whether it would be safe for us to drive to Queenstown that night or not. We ended up staying in Mt. Cook Village overnight; I went to bed at 9PM and the next morning we drove to Queenstown at 6.45AM to be ready for rafting at the Shotover River at 1PM.

Tramping in Nelson Lakes National Park, 19-21/1

We got up to an early morning Tuesday 19^th and drove from Motueka to St. Arnaud where we hired a water taxi to take us down Lake Rotoiti to Travers Track. As usually, we were split into two groups, and the group I tramped with set off for Upper Travers Hut on day one, a tramp estimated to take eight hours. We started tramping at noon, spent five and a half hours to get to John Tait Hut, before continuing for another three hours to get to Upper Travers Hut where we arrived at 8.30PM, exhausted but thrilled that we made it. The surroundings were absolutely spectacular, through untouched forests where dead trees were left to rot, down by the river with magnificent views of the mountains, and when we finally got to Upper Travers Hut we had just reached the tree line. In the hut we prepared diner, ate and went straight to bed. In the hut were two Israelis and a Czech, who might have been a bit annoyed by us, scrambling around until 11PM, but they never complained.

Wednesday morning we got up and headed to Travers Saddle, a climb of 450 meters. This day we had plenty of time, and at the saddle we chose to climb one of the summits in close proximity, and had a spectacular view of the valley we were about to descend into.

Onto the track again, we had lunch above the tree line and had time for a nap or a game of cards. We then continued down, and before reaching West Sabine Hut we had descended about 1000 meters. A rough day on the knees, but we had plenty of time and good weather conditions and a nice and easy day. In wet conditions though, it must be a pretty demanding day, since everything is very exposed and there are many meters to climb and descend. West Sabine Hut was welcoming us with the Sabine River just next to it, and most of us jumped into the river to get washed after a warm day of tramping and sweating. After the dip, we all took shelter in the hut before the sand flies got the best of us. The day was estimated to a 6-9 hours walk depending on the conditions, and we cruised through in what I recall as being around 7 hours, taking quite a few breaks.

Thursday started out in rain, but we had to meet a water taxi at Lake Rotoroa at 2PM, which left us with no choice, but to put on our waterproofs and get going. It had been raining during the night, so the trees gave little shelter since they were already soaked. Fortunately, the rain stopped at lunchtime, and about one hour before Lake Rotoroa we found a neat spot by the bank of Sabine River where we had our lunch, all hidden away behind our mosquito nets to avoid the sand flies. We got out alive though, and when we reached Lake Rotoroa at 1.30PM, we surprised two guys who had gone for a swim in the lake, not expecting 11 Danes to show up while all their clothes was hung in a bush on dry land!

In all, the tramp was a fantastic tour through forests and mountains, offering great views and the feeling of being all on your own, even though the path was clearly marked by DOC. On the last day I had a bit of an off-day, but in the middle of everything a small bird flew down and sat about a meter away from me on the path. It jumped around me in a semi-circle, being patient and calm enough to let me get my camera and take a picture of it, and the mere presence of this curious little being lifted my spirits back up. This is exactly why I enjoy the outdoors as much as I do!

Whakapapa 11/1 20.45

Back from two great days in Tongariro National Park. We left the campsite at 11.30 sunday morning and drove to the carpark near Ketetahi Hut, situated at around 700m above sea. We then started tramping up to the Ketetahi hut at 1480m through a forest that looked almost like jungle. Suddenly the forest stopped, and gave way to low bushes and grasses, and this continued all the way to the hut where we left sleeping bags and food, and kept on the Tongariro Crossing track to the Red Crater at 1886m. The weather was quite harsh, winds around 20m/s made it pretty cold standing still. The view was magnificent though, looking out from the vulcanos on the lowland. We all agreed why they chose this particular area for Mordor in Lord of the Rings, it is truly deserted and unwelcoming. We walked back to the hut again, had diner and went to bed around 22.00.

This morning we got up and had breakfast at 8.00, and started out climb up to Red Crater once again at 9.15. The weather was still very windy (still around 20m/s), and at Red Crater it started snowing. The snowflakes were more like small ice crystals, all hitting the right cheek like small needles. Rough, but very exciting as well - outdoor life is a bit too easy if it is only carried out in good weather conditions. The last climb up to Red Crater was extremely sandy and loose, although it had gotten wet due to heavy rain at night.

When we headed down Red Crater it looked like the weather was clearing a bit, but as soon as we reached the approach to Mt. Doom (which is really called Mt. Ngauruhoe - no wonder it is now known as Mt. Doom, since the original name can't be pronounced at all!) rain was closing in. During our lunch break we decided not to go for the summit, since the weather conditions was poor and the view from the summit was blurred by clouds. Instead we headed down the crossing, to the Mangatepopo Hut where we had almost an hours coffee break before we walked the last half hour down to the carpark at the other end of the crossing where the other group had departed yesterday and left our two cars for us.

After a short drive back to Whakapapa we went to the Department of Conservation (DOC) visiting centre and had a look at their exhibit on the vucanic area that we had been crossing. After a quick tent-pitching and a shower we went to have pizza, burger, a steak and a beer or two at the local restaurant. It has been a fabulous trip, but it is also very nice to be back in camp again, ready to move on tomorrow. Next we will drive to Wellington tomorrow, visiting a beach on the way if the weather is pleasant, and the day after tomorrow we are heading to the South Island with on the infamous boat to Picton.