Torless Traverse 25th January 2003

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary: Tramp No.19

Torlesse traverse 25th January 2003

 The tramping club had advertised this trip as far back as the Winterslow trip last December and I was keen or mad enough to give it a crack. Mt Torless and the torless range pretty much dominate the skyline to the west of my home and the idea of traversing the range appealed to me. We split into two parties, with the fittest three travelling northeast from porters pass and the rest of us driving up the long Caigiburn rd to climb the 800 odd meters up Bold hill and then travel southwest along the tops. We left the car at 9AM and climbed to the top of Bold Hill, has a quick breather before setting off along the ridge in the low clouds and snow drifts from the southerly that had blown through the day before. The leader commenting several times on the fact that there should never be any snow at all on the tops in late January. from Bold hill we still had another 700m of climbing to get to the top peaks, not to mention the ups and downs through red peak, the gap and foggy peak. All this climbing proved all too much for me as time was becoming a factor and as we has passed the others and swapped keys before we got to Back peak, it was decided we weren't gonna make it in  time so decided to bag Mt Torless Instead and head down the ridge to the kowhai hut and out along the river. i am sure that ridge coming off Torless is the longest ridge in the world. it sure felt like it. After finally getting to the bottom of  ridge it started to rain and I then discovered I had left my brand new rain coat in the car. 

One of the brief views we got of the Canterbury Plains

Looking west along some of the rest of the way still to go.

looking down the worlds longest ridge to the kowhai River.

Mt Gargarus 18th January 2003

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary: Tramp No.18

Mt Gargarus 18th January 2003

A good size group of 13 of us partook the long drive past Lake Coleridge  to Glenthorn station, where we parked the cars before making our assent of the 1655m  Mt Gargarus. Another stand alone mountain  which is a regular on the CTC itinerary. A fine mostly clear day promised us some great vistas after a 1000m slog up the hill from the saddle and we wernt disappointed. From memory we dropped back down through the Creeks on the Nor-west side and back to the cars. An enjoyable day.

A break at the saddle before the slog up the hill and believe me it was harder than it looked.

One of our party almost to the top proving that I wasn't last.

The views were very nice.

Lunchtime entertainment.

My old tramping getup before I got into all this fandangled Marino stuff. lake Coleridge in the Background.

Some more of those views.

Lake Colridge again with out the ugly bugger  blocking the view.

Purple Hill 11th January 2003

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary: Tramp No.17

Purple Hill 11th January 2003

 

This first tramp of 2003 was another club trip to purple Hill, which  is the lonely peak straddling the eastern shore of lake Pearson, on the way to Arthur's Pass. Six of us set off from the cars left by the lake at the end of the four wheel drive track in overcast but warm conditions. We traveled around the lake and up onto the saddle before the steep ascent. Took 2 & 1/2 hours to get onto the tops at which time we lunched before heading up to the summit. by this time we were in fog and light rain, so our stay was brief. we dropped straight down from the summit, down a good scree into the gut on the western side of the hill. then a bit of bush bashing and scrub bashing got us down to the lake where we basically waded around the bottom of the hill to avoid the Matogari. The last part of the trip was in steady rain back to the cars.

Scenes from part way up the hill before the clouds fell.

Another last look down

In the clag at the summit

 Wading round the lake before the rain came.