We left on Friday morning at 5:30 am and drove down to Lake Ohau. Parking near the lake, we packed our gear for an overnight trip and got going about 11 am which is pretty late considering when it gets dark. I’d realised on the way down that I’d forgot the tent, which meant we were going to try and get into Snowy Gorge Hut for the night rather than doing a day trip from the Ohau ski field as originally planned.
It looked like spring and it felt a bit silly carrying skis through the paddocks. We walked along a tramping track and took a right up a valley with the freehold creek flowing out of it. It’s part of the Te Araroa trail, which is the length of New Zealand tramping trail. It was really hot in all my ski gear and there wasn’t any snow in sight so I stripped down to my underwear which made it much more comfortable. I felt like I could walk faster too.
The views back down to Lake Ohau were amazing.
It was hard going through the snow covered tussocks once the track turned into more of a route. We kept sinking in. I went ahead to try and find enough snow to ski on. Craig wanted to go a different way than we had planned. I looked at the map and found a route through the mountains that seemed ok although it would put us some kilometres North of the hut. We headed West and with enough snow skinned up into a basin. It began to get steep and we tried to pick the easiest line upwards. The snow was a mix of powder on top and hard patches underneath. The pack didn’t seem overly consolidated with another layer of powder under the hard pack.
We got to the top of our steep ascent (at least steep for me) by doing a lot of kick turns. I used my ski crampons which made me feel much more secure. The map showed a saddle and then gentle slopes around to another saddle but as we got to the first saddle we saw we would have to go down some way. There were bluffs below and the snow was quite hard. It was getting very steep in the direction we wanted to go so we chose to go directly up to try and find another route. Craig kicked some steps in the snow and we carried our skis onto a flatter section then I lead us up with a few kick turns before we continued to the right. On steep slopes with a better run-out we continued until we got into the last basin before the top. I made tracks through the powder towards the top. It started to get steep again. I tried to stick to a small patch of avalanche debris figuring the snow there was less likely to avalanche again. The last few vertical metres were very steep and I took off my skis and used them to balance as I kicked steps up over the lip to the saddle.
We were on the top in the last of the sun at around 5 pm. We quickly took off our skins and got ready to descend. The snow had a breakable crust and I struggled to turn without falling over. We sidled around the side of what was a lake and river on the map and headed out to the right to easy slopes and better snow. We had quite a nice powder run down many hundreds of metres with a few patches of tussock poking through the snow lower down. We ran out of skiable snow at about 1400 m and put our skins back on and slid down through snow and tussock.
The sun had set on the way down and we were traveling in dusk. Craig said he didn’t think it would take more than an hour to the hut. I predicted at least two. We continued down and across flat land, switching on our headlamps once it became too difficult to see without. Eventually we ran out of enough snow for skins and we carried our skis, walking in our ski boots. We’d also let ourselves get pulled into walking down a stream, which can be a bit silly as they often become steep with waterfalls and sections to down climb. It was now pitch black and we were bashing around in the stream making slow progress through hundreds of spiky spaniards. We were getting pretty sick if it and the map said the river would get steeper but we already had steep banks on either side. I found a way out to the right and we got away from the river and continued down over rock, tussock and through spaniards.
We finally reached the valley floor and headed South hoping we would find the hut. The alternative option was to sleep outside under Craig’s tent fly. I didn’t have anything to sleep on except my pack, it was below zero, and the valley was full of either lumpy snow covered tussock or icy riverbed stones. We had my phone and maps and could see where we were so we hoped that the hut was marked in the correct place. After some searching we were happy to find it and although it had no fire it was much warmer inside than out.
We lit a candle and after taking off my ski gear, I watched as steam rose off my thermal pants. I made us dinner and we went to bed. I slept well for a couple of hours but then woke up at 2:30am and couldn’t get back to sleep.
There were gusts of wind and occasionally rain and I was worried that the weather was going to come in and that we wouldn’t be able to get out before we ran out of food and energy. We got up at 5am. I lit the candle we’d brought in and motivated Craig to get up with coffee. We left at 6 am with our headlamps on. There were still stars in the sky. I’d eaten half a bar for breakfast but it didn’t agree with my stomach, just like yesterday.
We headed up the valley and took a right ascending by the same route as we’d come down last night. As soon as we started going up I realised I didn’t have any energy. Craig was still suggesting that we were to back the way we came but since it took 9.5 hours on the way in and the weather was supposed to turn bad at lunch time I wasn’t keen.
We walked until there was enough snow to start skinning, which we did up to a high point of about 1300 m.
The sun was rising and the clouds were pink and colourful. We went in the direction of the Maitland River and descended as far as we could on skins until it became too patchy. We continued walking down in ski boots until there was so little snow that I changed into my running shoes. I was pooped. Craig suggested going over another mountain to get back and I told him I didn’t have the energy.
We continued until we got to a little hut named Maitland Hut. We stopped for a cup of tea to revitalise me. I’d planned to eat some sugary breakfast cereal that we hadn’t eaten but instead I found a packet of rice that someone had left behind and cooked that up. It made me feel much better and we continued walking out. It was harder than I thought going down the river as the track had slid away in parts and trees had fallen onto it in others. Eventually the track climbed away from the river, higher and higher, and we had to toil up a large scree slope. Then it vanished entirely and we tried to find our way by the occasional pole in the ground. Finally after more scree we got to a 4wd track and descended down through a farm back to the level of Lake Ohau.
I put my thumb out once we got to the road and the first car picked me up and drove me back to get the car.
It was good to be out.
