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Bumblings in the Bracken

- Mike Sheridan

Hmmmm... Bracken sounds like a nice place to go. Wonder if anyone wants to join me? Eventually I found myself a team of four which was unfortunately reduced to three by the time the trip finally left Harihari - Lynette Hartley,David Clelland and Mike Sheridan.

Scene:4th January,4pm. Harihari swimming pool. Mike and Lynette basking in the sunshine. David arrives on his bike in full storm gears;with great reluctance we leave the bright lights of Harihari,shuttled to the Wanganui River on David's bike. We walked about an hour or so up the true right bank and pitched camp in a seemingly innocent spot. Midnight saw the weather break,ie,break up the tent,guys, spirits,tempers etc. Yes the tent in fact collapsed and the three were quite wet for the remainder of the night. Morning breaking saw camp broken and the troops chased up river by hordes of little black critters,without breakfast. Stopped at Shearers Flat and spent 2-3 hours drying out in the warm sun.

The river was quite high from the previous evening's little effort,making travel slow and Hendes Ck only just crossable. We endeavoured to stay as close as possible to the river,climbing many boulders and extending our skills at down-climbing (jumping,hopping and sliding);not following much of a track at all except for the amazing benched track over Annoyance Bluff.

After an evening at Hunter's Hut Poker's Bluff next day proved fun and games; couldn't find a good route at all. Wished we could have crossed the river,would have saved a couple of hours. Warnings of another bluff in the logbook proved ill-founded - it has since slipped into the river and was a nonevent. Huge boulders in the river above Noisy Torrent made the going slow;followed a marked, chainsawed track on the true left,the scrub trying very hard to reclaim it. The track enters the river bed a few times for a bit of boulder-bashing to alleviate any traces of boredom with the scrub bashing.

We left Smyth hut by 5.50am on Thursday hoping to make the Bracken Snowfield and dig our snowcave that day. About tennish we decided the weather wasn't all that nice so we camped in the Evans about half a mile from the terminal of the glacier, pitching our tent quite securely for a pit day of sorts. Travel up the Evans Glacier was straightforward in the brilliant weather. Slots were easy enough to negotiate and luncheon was partaken on Full Moon Saddle. Iceaxes,bowls and frisbee proved adequate in our snowcave construction.

Pottering about in brilliant weather again on friday saw us return to the cave for lunch. It was about this time that the primus decided to blow up.... Yes,burst into flames,making it quite unusable. Caused a few problems actually, not a lot of other fuel about,may have to scamper for lower altitudes I thought. Tried Katzenbach Ridge with amazing views of the Wilkinson Icefall and terminal lake. However we did not exactly know a great deal about this route and it looked beyond our meagre capabilities,so we headed back to our cave with our tails between our legs,hoping the weather would hold for an exit on the morrow via the Ramaay. We had no means of heating/cooking except Big Yellow,hence were rather dry.

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Fortunately Huey was giving us a few breaks,Saturday was also cloudless, however the sunshine and lack of coldness made the snow rather mushy,even first thing in the morning. Wandered over Erewhon Col and down the true left side of the Ramsay Glacier avoiding many large schrunds. Skirted around the left of the second rocky knob and down a gully beyond,which avoids the icefall. Travel down the moraine was mindless,up,down,over,around and all in searing heat,still who's whinging, can't have everything.

Lunch was had at the terminal lake with a few very noisy Canada geese for company. Got washed across the Ramsay River and decided we couldn't cross the Lyall to get to lyall Hut. Firewood was rather scarse - not a lot that was readily combustible,the Rakaia being rather barren. Found a suitable campsite with a couple of twigs to rustle up a brew with,just downstream of the bridge crossing the Lyall before it joins the Ramsay to form the Rakaia.

The Ramsay had to be recrossed to head for Louper Stream;of course on Sunday it was quite uncrossable so we had to wander back around the terminal lake and thence via Louper Stream to Whitcombe Pass. By this stage of the trip the troops were feeling 'worn out' and it was suggested that a hut would be nice to stay in for a change. Just before reaching Neave Hut yours truly managed to twist his ankle painfully and had to hobble to the hut. The 12th was deemed a pitday - couldn't walk and it was rather misty outside. The Whitcombe was notable for comparatively magnificent tracks,and apart from running into two VUWTC types (Cam and Chris) working for the FS and bludging a ride out with them 2 days later it was quite uneventful.

Beautiful place,must return sometime....with a new primus.