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Participants: 300+ crazies from the CUTC, OUTC, AUTC and beyond

Dates: May 17th – May 18th 2014

Author: Sharon Hornblow

Photos: Kate Wootton and Euan Cox

According to most competitors, T’Walk the 48th was moonlit, marvellous and full of just the right combination of matagouri and bog. The only “complaint” this year was that it all went a little too quickly for the Rubber Ducky Hunters – winners of 72/72 points with over an hour to spare. We’re not sure when this sort of thing last occurred, but the routesetters were just glad to know that all the controls were in place where they were left 2 weeks previously.

Continue reading “Twalk”

Participants: Naomi Wells, Rose Pearson, Jan Sintenie, Sharon Hornblow, Emily Wilson, Nick Riordan

Dates: December 16th to 24th, 2012

Author: Nick Riordan

The trip began with a bang. The car doors that is, slamming shut on six bodies and packs all crammed into a wee Honda city. We drove our way down from Christchurch to Glenorchy in record time, only stopping for pies and coffee four times on account of the careful balance between space in our stomachs and bladders. It was the December holiday, and our aim was to wander up the Beansburn, Olivine, and Forgotten Rivers in search of the Forgotten River Hotel and a much awaited white Christmas on the Olivine Ice Plateau. It wasn’t till Tarras that we identified the petrol smell in the backseat as a half litre of meths leaking over our 4 kilos of Tararua Biscuit. Oh well. In the carpark near the Routeburn Track, we passed around Naomi’s pan of rhubarb crumble one last time, squeezed a few more dollops of custard into our mouths, hoisted our packs, and walked into the bush, or rather, the well articulated and marked path through the straight standing trees.

Continue reading “A Tea Party on the Olivine Ice Plateau”

Participants: Tania Seward, Sarah Inglewood, Mark Brinsden, Rachael Horner, Jeff Ducrot, Anna Larsson, Sam Stephenson, Kate Wootton, Zach Byrne, Jono Dobbs,

Dates: 24th – 25th May

Author: Tania Seward

Metservice was telling people to stay home, Snowcraft had been cancelled and the Twalk injuries had subsided from excruciating to irritating. The mood at the club meeting on Wednesday night was one of people being resigned to a weekend at home in front of the fire. However, 10 hardy souls wanted to go tramping, and the awful forecast, the lack of snow and various Twalk injuries were not going to stop them!
Continue reading “A Most Noble Tea Drinking Expedition”

Participants: Tania Seward, Sarah Inglewood, Mark Brinsden, Rachael Horner, Jeff Ducrot, Anna Larsson, Sam Stephenson, Kate Wootton, Zach Byrne, Jono Dobbs

Dates: 24th – 25th May

Author: Anna Larsson

Photos: Tania Seward

The weather was going to be terrible. The originally scheduled snowcraft session was cancelled, Arthurs Pass was blocked by a rain-fuelled landslide and the forecast said gale force winds and snow down to 800 meters. Plans were suggested and discarded over e-mail, with a river crossing here or an exposed campsite there making most things risky. The ten brave souls who actually showed up in the UCSA carpark on Saturday morning had no idea where the trip was going to take them, or if they would make it back alive.
Continue reading “Sitting out the rain at Woolshed”

Alastair McDowell (scribe), Elisha Nuttall
Date: 20th February 2014
Dawn on Temple Col. The eastern peaks of Arthur’s Pass sketched out the horizon in black against the morning glow rising over Christchurch. It was midweek and most were still enjoying their last hours of sleep before heading to work; we should have been too. But today Elisha and I were up at 4 and on the crest of the Main Divide by 6, primed and ready for a full day of exciting ridge-line negotiations and some stupendous scrambling. Work could wait for another day…
Continue reading “Mt Oates Traverse”