TMC + Barron Saddle and beyond

All righty. I finally have a bit of spare time and happen to be near civilization so I guess I better make contact again!This is going to be a long one so get the pop corn ready...

The course was amazing. The technical aspects of the course weren't that hard - I knew most of it anyway from either climbing or the brief study I did before I went over. But what I learnt on the course that was really valuable was all the environmental stuff - how to predict the weather, learning about different snow types and the snow pack, learning where avalanches happen and why etc. The course had mixed weather; almost good day, bad day, good day etc for 10 days. We made the most of everyday climbing peaks when the weather was good and theory on the bad (and lot of chin-ups and other silly self imposed physical challenges). Ten days seems like a longs time up in the hills.

At the end we did a bit of rock climbing at the local crag and then I joined up with to people from the course, Mike and Cynthia who I have been traveling with since then. We checked out all the local bouldering and climbing before Johnny from Adelaide also joined us and we headed into the hills yet again.

This time we did it all ourselves and didn't have air support to save our legs. We didn't actually weigh our packs out of fear but with six days food (all fresh - no dehydro for us!) all the usual walking stuff plus ropes, axes, hammers, snow stakes and other random gear I reckon we were each easily 25+ kg.

Our plan was to head to a small less frequented hut called Barron Saddle hut. Sam, one of the guides from our course, had recommended it as a first trip and the guide book said it was a 7 hour walk-in so it seemed ideal. There were a couple grade 1-2 peaks nearby to cut our teeth on.

The route would take us up 1200m past Mueller hut. By the time we got there we were an hour over which wasn't bad but we were feeling pretty lazy so we decided to stay there the night - it is a popular large hut so we had some last night comforts. We figured we only had another 4 hours left which we could stretch into a day if we were slow or climbed any peaks on the way. Mueller hut has incredible views over the Mueller glacier which is joined by the Hooker glacier from the north.

The next day we got of early and found the first few kms of scree hard moving and had used up 4 hours before we had even got to the snow on the Annette Plateau. Not really phased we put on our crampons and headed over the first ice field towards Sladden saddle which is itself a grade 1 climb. I happened to be on the front of the rope from the glacier travel (you usually walk roped up incase a crevasse decides to eat you) so I and Mike, who was on the tail, alternated the leading up the steep snow to Sladden saddle. From here we enjoyed some great views down into the Metelille Glacier which we were about to cross. On the other side of the glacier was Mount Darby which we could cross over or around via an 'obvious rock shelf 250 m above the Mueller glacier' according to the guide. By this stage there was a bit of low lying cloud moving across and it would be white out in the high route shortly so we decided to go the low route. So we tramped on down past beautiful deep blue icefields on snow littered with rock like a moon scape. Soon we found some semblance of a shelf and negotiated some increasingly difficult scree and rock (all with our heavy packs) before slowly coming to the realisation that we weren't going to make the ridge on Darby, let alone the hut on the other side by night fall. Large cliffs emphasised by long waterfalls blocked our way. In fact by the time we had back tracked onto the Glacier again it was 10pm. We had already been moving over hard terrain for 14 hours without lunch (...we will have lunch at the hut...) and we were only about two thirds of the way.

Apart from the light cloud over Darby we had enjoyed excellent weather and because we are so far south the summer nights are still bright until quite late. We debated as to wether we should make some tea and then push on or wether we should bivy in the snow. Everyone was a bit freaked out. I remember waatching the sun set on Mt Cook on the other side of the Hooker Glacier and thinking that it was both beautiful at the same time and reminding me how remote we were.

By the time we a had cooked up a meal the decision had made itself. We were tired, cold from waiting for the food to cook, and uncertain about how to cross Dary via the high route. We would bivy out.

On the course Mike, Chook and me had built a cave and we had shovelled hard in turns for three hours to finish at midnight only to have a cold wet night of poor sleep. At least we knew how to build one well. But this time we didn't have a convenient array of different shovels for the different stages. In fact we didn't have a shovel at all, just ice axes which makes for slow work.

The air wasn't too cold and the breeze was light so we opted for a simple platform in the snow rather than a full snow cave which takes hours to make and isn't real comfy. But after making our nest as best we could we all had one of the best nights sleep we could remember!

The next days after a big breaky we headed of, climbing the side of the glacier and heading onto the side of Darby. The rock was easy moving but very exposesed so we needed to rope up for a couple sections. Rather than leave gear behind I went last and downclimbed the ridge. From here it was a zigzag route through a steep crevased section of the next glacier before a few sections of scree and snow before the hut which we could see in the distance. Spurred on we ran or glacaded down a lot of the ice and then marched up the last snow slope to find Barron Saddle hut.

A party of 4 had just arrived and had some herbal tea waiting for us (good mountain ettiquette) and we then proceeded to recover and relax for the next day. After reading through the hut log book we found many funny similar stories to our own. It wasn't us after all!

So after spending fours days already we figured it was time to leave and we had ony just got there! Our plans of climbing Sealy of the Scissors would have to wait for another time. The next days we headed down the Mueller glacier which is a much easier route and the other party had come up that way. It was a beautiful walk out over deep corrugated blue ice, then rough morraine and finally steep scree, all the while pausing every half hour or so the spot the thunderous avalaches on the other side of the valley.

Finally after a few false starts the scree gave away to alpine plants and cleaner rock and we were back at Mueller hut mid arvo. We refilled water (there is no accessable ice on the lower two thirds of the glacier), changed socks and decided to push on. We walked all the way back to Mt Cook village in 9 hours what had taken us three days to attain!

Next we relaxed, wined, dined, and moved to Wanaka for some more relaxed rock climbing at a gorgeous little crag over a twisted little canyon. I think we spent more time swimming that climbing but we ate very well (and by that I mean lots of chocolate, sugar and chutney - one of our new favourite hut foods).

Then we spent the night in Wanaka after, said goodbye to Johnny and headed to Queenstown where I am now. Mike and Cynth have just headed on to Te Anau where they will do some kayaking on Milford and then head to Dunedin and then Franz Joseph Glacier with another friend. I will make my way back to Christchurch hire a car and meet them again and hopefully get some ice climbing action before I fly out.

Almost every day in NZ I have recalled something that only happened ages ago and realised it happened only the day before. Time flies when you have fun but there is so much more time!