Mount Taranaki - 28th December 2004

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No.51

 Mount Taranaki - 28th December 2004

Mrs Roddus and Myself went on a holiday up this way over Christmas and new year and I had never had the opportunity to do any tramping in the North Island and seeing as we were staying in New Plymouth I was very keen to have a crack at The Mount although I had been warned by my mate Bruce that the weather is very fickle on The Mount and I would be very lucky to get a clear day. 

We arrived in New Plymouth late afternoon on the previous day and went straight to the DOC office to check on the weather conditions for the following day. The forecast was for heavy rain through most of the day. The day we arrived the weather had been very pleasant and warm and there was no sign of any approaching rain. I decided to be prepared and got myself ready after dinner for a possible days climbing on the morrow. I got up at 5:00AM to check what the weather was doing and found a clear day greeted me, so off I went.

 Drove to the North Egmont visitor center and parked up, already at an altitude of 952M, so only had another 1500 odd meters left to climb. Was on the track by 7:00AM following the four wheel drive track up to the Tahurangi lodge, where I stopped for a rest and second breakfast. Then continued up a gully and then some wooden steeps before continuing up the main ridge following the marker poles. I saw another tramper ahead of me heading up on the snow just to the left of the ridge and when I got to the point where he left the ridge, I decided to do the same as the ridge was quite hard going as the ground was soft and crumbling. While putting on my crampons, my camera, in its bag, rolled out of my pack and tumbled 200 odd meters down the snow, where I saw it come to rest. I couldn't be bothered going back down to get it and as I knew exactly where it was decided to retrieve it on the way back.

I continued up the snow and then the poled route swung to the left  following the ridge, but it was very hard ice and I really had to dig my crampons in to get a grip. I saw where the other tramper had gone before me on the softer snow and decided to follow his route. It was very steep up this close to the top and I soon found that this probably wasn't quite the correct route to take as I found myself having to climb a sharp ledge with my iceaxe, which was fun but not quite the way to do it with only one iceaxe. I then saw the other tramper coming out in the gut below me, where I should have been and looking up at me probably thing why did I follow his route. Any how, I dropped back down into the main crater and had lunch and enjoyed the hazy views.

 My diary is a bit vague about what I did next as it says I dropped off the West Ridge, which probably means I dropped off the East Ridge as the West Ridge would take me away to the other side of the mountain. Anyway, what ever I did, I eventually crossed the pole route and then proceeded to Bumslide down the snow back to my camera. I got back to the Car about 1:30PM, in 6 and 1/2 hours just in time to watch the clouds quickly form around the summit.

Pfeifer Biv - October or November 2004

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No. 50

Pfeifer Biv - October or November 2004

The last trip in a quartet of CTC trips I did with Frank and Honora with this tramp finally getting me to Pfeifer Biv after the last time not being able to go because of weather. Crossed the Otira River near Aickins via the swing bridge on a cool and patchy overcast day. Travelled up Paratu Stream to Waharoa Saddle before hadsing south to point 1364 and looping  round to the Biv. Set up camp around the Biv and got lightly snowed upon during the night. Sunday we headed straight out via Pfeifer Creek and the Taramakau River, no mention is made of heading up on to Pfeifer summit, probably due to the weather conditions.

No photos from this trip.

Chest Peak - 2-3rd October 2004

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No. 49

Chest Peak 2-3rd October 2004

Frank and Honora again led this CTC trip to Chest peak, which again is a local tramp for me and one I had been eyeing up for some time. A party of  seven, some of which were also on the previous adventure, drove into Snowdale in the Lees Valley, on a clear and still day and proceeded to head up Cunningham Stream, following the old Ski Field Access Road. Left the cars about 10:45am and stopped at the Hut for lunch. Carried on following what was left of the old access road, some of it almost all gone now, before the final zig zag up the spur past point 1225 to the end of the road where there is an old and half gone caravan. The access road had been put in some time back in the 50s after a particular snow heavy winter and the caravan had been towed up there to serve as an office. The following seasons snows did not produce enough of the white stuff to be feasible and so the project was abandoned.

 We set up camp around the Caravan and use the caravan as a kitchen, as well as Honora sleeping in it. Spent a pleasant night sitting round a fire in the snow.

 Sunday was again fine and frosty as we set off about 9:00am for the 700M climb up to chest peak, which is the highest peak in the Puketeraki Range. took two hours to the top, having to crampon the last 100M before we then  headed around the snow filled basin at the top of Salmon Creek to point 1885, where we had lunch and enjoyed the fantastic views. Went out the same way we came in and got back to the cars about 7:15pm.

The little valley before we head up to the caravan.

The caravan

The kitchen.

The camp fire.

Near the top.

On the top.

enjoying the views.

Fabulous

Wonderful.

Uncle Frank.

Heading round to point 1885

And there was snow.

A great place.

The old Xavier collage hut.

Our Camp.

The access road.

Salmon Creek - 18-19th September 2004

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary: Tramp No. 48

Salmon creek - 18-19th September

Staying with some local tramping for this next trip and again a CTC trip lead by my friends Frank and Honora, who had also lead my previous trip to mt Oxford. Salmon Creek was a frequent destination of this couple about this time and they had done extensive work re cutting the track which DOC hadn't done for some time.

 A party of seven left View Hill car park on a blustery Nor-West day about 9:45AM and headed up the Warfdale Track. Had lunch just over the Warfdale saddle. Frank had started to feel a bit under the weather and decide to stop the night at Black Hill Hut. We arrived at the hut about 4PM with Uncle Roddus feeling it badly, as he hadn't been out tramping for several months and had a pretty heavy pack as well. The snow was quite deep on the descent down into Salmon Creek and made for some hard work but we got down to the Biv by 6PM, set up camp and had a fire in the fire pit going to keep us warm. According to my diary, I cooked myself a horrible dinner and went to bed early, totally exhausted.

 Sunday dawned to a light frost and a fine day and we were packed and away by 9am for the big slog back up to Black hill, a steep 700M climb to get the blood warm on this cold morning. It took us over three hours to get to the hut, which seems a bit slow but snow and sore legs may have slowed some of us down a bit. After lunch as we were leaving the hut(Frank had already started back) I discovered that I had lost part of my tent that was attached to the outside of my pack. I had to shoot back up Black hill, hoping like hell that it wasn't too far down the other side, while the others carried on back to the Warfdale track. Luckily I found the missing tent not far from the top of black hill and so hurried back to the hut and my pack and quite possible took the shortest time I have ever taken to get off Black hill and onto the Warfdale, where i caught the others just before Warfdale saddle. We arrived at the cars about 6pm.

A break on the way.

The snow near the top of the track down to Salmon creek

Uncle Roddus in the snow.

Salmon creek biv

The views from Black Hill

Getting the fire cranked.

Mt Oxford - Date Unknown

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary:Tramp No 47

Mt Oxford - Date Unknown

Another trip up my nearest mountain and another with the CTC. This tramp took place sometime in the winter of 04'. Left Coopers Creek at 9:20AM on a cool overcast day, with the intention of doing the Oxford loop. During the ascent the cloud lowered and the rain and hail hit and by the time we made the summit at about 12:30PM it was snowing on the top with strong wind just to make it more unpleasant. Suffered through lunch and abandoned plans to carry on and do the loop, just headed back down the way we came. Back at cars about 3pm.

No photos from this trip.

Mt Olympus to Mt Enys - 25th April 2004

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary:tramp No. 46

Mt Olympus to Mt Enys 25th April 2004

This was a slightly insane trip with the CTC with the original intention of a moderate days walk up to Mt Olympus and onto Cheeseman and back to the car. A foggy day on the Planes but a stunning day on the Cragiburns, we had conqured Olympus by 11:30am and bagged Cheesman by 1:00PM. Some fool uttered the comment that we could possibly get all the way to Enys and that they hadn't been to Enys. The group took this on as a challenge with Uncle Roddus tagging along at the rare, not wanting to be the one to pike out, set off a brisk pace. Izard wizzed by and then Cloudsley and finally we made Enys with Uncle Roddus the last to arrive at each peak and so not getting much of a rest. We then backtracked along the ridge from Enys and dropped down the scree that we had come down the on the earlier trip up Enys and Uncle Roddus(who loves a good scree) was the first one to the bottom and we got back to the cars by 6:00PM. Approx 23KM traveled with an estimated height gain of  around 2300M. A don't have the start time, but depending on what time they left town we may have got away on the climb to Olympus just after 9:00am, but in light of the original tramping route, I would have thought that the the usual start time would have been sufficient and therefore it would be unlikely we would have been on track quite so early, so the travel time, all up, is probably somewhere between 8 and 9 hours. Not the longest day I have done, but certainly the hardest.

I Cannot find any photos from this trip probably due to the fact that there was no time to take any.

Steepface Hill - 17th April 2004

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No.45

Steepface Hill 17 April 2004

Just the three of us did this CTC trip to Steepface hill which is on the true right of the Rakia River, just south of Black Hill, which I had also done recently, and just north of Mt Hutt. We left the car at Hutt stream on a mild day with a bit of high cloud. Headed up Hutt stream and then ascended to point 1574 where we had a short break and admired the views. The wind, although not too strong, was a bit cold, so we headed on quickly north to Steepface itself at 1876. After Lunch, we headed along the spur to point 1488 before trying to find a scree that would take us directly down to the road. Unfortunately, we didn't sidle left enough around the face of the hill and didn't find that scree and so ended up having to crash our way through the matagari at the bottom of the hill. A good climb of about 1500M and around 10KM traveled.

The view down Hutt Stream to the Rakia River.

The back view from point 1574

Pit stop at point 1574 with out destination in the background.

View of Rakia River, Peak hill, Mt Oakden and a bit of Lake Coleridge.

Mt Binser - 12 April 2004

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary:Tramp No. 44

Mt Binser - 12th April 2004

The last time I tried this trip, one of the cars broke down and so we were late getting started and we ran out of time to get to the summit. My friend Bryce and myself decided to tackle this hill on this fine day and there was a bit of snow awaiting us on the tops. Got started about 10:15AM and headed up the track to the Binser Saddle.

From the saddle we headed south for a short easy bush bash before the nice steep climb up to point 1753, where we enjoyed lunch. The snow was soft, so didn't need crampons, but the wind was cold, so we had to rug up. Carried on along the sharp ridge in the snow to the next point to the South-east, then a bit of a dip before cresting Binser itself at 1860M. The views were magnificent. Made the summit around 3:00PM. From the summit, we dropped directly down the spur from the top heading west and dropping straight down to the road and then a tiring 4KM slog back to the car along the road. A day of  just over 1300M height gain and about 16KM.

One of the Views

Just a nice touch of snow.

More of the views.

Still climbing.

Bryce on the Tops.

A nice day.

Did I mention we had some nice views.

Bryce in the snow

The route along the tops

"You go get car, I'll just wait here"