BlogRoddus: October 2009

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary:Tramp No.78

Waimack Falls Hut, Labour Weekend 24-26th October 2009

This exellent trip was a three day expedition over Labour weekend, with the Christchurch Tramping Club. Our intention was to head up to the Waimack Falls hut on day one. Spend day two exploring the Waimack Col or any of the other peaks that took our fancy, dependant on weather conditions and how much snow was around, then of course head back out the way we came on day three. The extended weather forcast was for clear over the weekend with possible snow on Monday, our last day.

Four of us left Klondyke Corner on Saturday morning, after our drive out from the city. Our leader, myself and two young ladies, who it turned out were new to the club and although fit and well equipped, were much less experienced with the type terain we were to cover.

This wasn't a major issue as we wanted everyone to have the maximum experience that they could and being a club trip, I belive it is our duty to support less experienced trampers to new levels of confidence and capability. I, myself, certainly gained most of my experience with the club. What this did mean, was that our pace was a bit slower than what was required to get to our destination within the time we had allocated. The day was fine and not too hot and after the long slog up the Waimack river bed to the Carrington hut, our leader suggested that we best look out for a good camp site as we continued up the Waimack Falls Valley. About an hour and a half up the valley we found a sutiable spot and set up our tents for the night.

Sunday again dawned clear and we broke camp and continued upstream and into more scenic country, stopping to admire the Waimack Falls and also a stop at the flood bypass swingbridge to check out the a small sort of canyon with Falls at the end. A short climb from here then brought us to the Waimack Falls hut, which is situated just above the Falls that tumble down into the short canyon. Lunch was then had at the hut with majestic views of the Waimack col and the lovely snowy basin leading up to it.

After lunch myself and out leader decide to fill in the afternoon with a stroll further up the valley, and I also wanted to do some crampon work on the ice, so we headed up towards the gap(see photos) at the end of the valley and while our leader waited, as he decided not to unpack his crampons, I cramponed through the gap and part way up on to the Col itself and would have gone all the way but decided to return to our leader who was still waiting for me on the other side of the gap, and I didn't want him to think someting had happened to me.

Foretunatly, the sonwy weather we were expecting on Monday morning failed to arrive and an early start was made for our return trip, to allow the young ladies plenty of time to walk out. It was a pretty straight forward trip back to the car, retracing our route in and of course the rain arrived for the last hour of the slog down the Waimack.

The Waimack hut is quite often used as an overnight stopover for parties continuing over the Waimack Col and down the Rolleston river. I will do this next time.