Heels 1962

Northern Crossing:

Northern Crossing:

This trip was a shambles!

After much mucking around it was decided to run an easy three day "tough" Northern Crossing,leaving on Saturday morning. Half the party spent Friday night under the Ohau pipe bridge and were afforded much amusement by a courting couple close by. On Saturday the rest of the party arrived and set off immediately - i.e. after the other half had packed up!

Eventually, after much hard work and puffing we reached Te Matawai hut and met a large party — lazy Tararua T.C. types. We pressed on, intending to spend the night out on the tops, ("Bill, did you bring a tent?". "No".) We camped on Arete Peak near a tarn, What a miserable windy place it was. amongst warming exercises, during which Dick's glasses got broken, we watched a beautiful sunset.

Shrewd Ewen woke us all up at some ungodly hour, saying it was 6’o’clock. When we actually did get up half an hour later, we found it was only 4.30. At least we had an early start. Soon we were lost (for the first time) sitting on Lancaster in the mist. We reached Tarn ridge hut at midmorning. We now decided to continue to Holdsworth instead of completing the Northern proper by going out over the Mitre. Unfortunately, Margaret slipped and cut her knee on the North King, giving Dick and others a chance to play at doctors. Shortly we all had a great deal of "fun" negotiating the notorious Broken Axe pinnacles in the strong wind. A couple of hours later, Peter went on ahead to a tarn to prepare a brew. About ten minutes later the rear end of the party arrived. Peter went back and found the middle which had gone straight ahead over Angle Knob and was heading for the Devon crash.

We camped at the tarn on Jumbo for the night, as we had already had a fourteen hour day and Ewen was feeling rather bilious (two down). This was a really miserable hole for by now Hughey had found us and not even togetherness could keep us warm. That night it really poured and we got soaked. Dick got up early and spent a couple of hours running round the tarn to keep warm. Impossible to light a primus. Eventually we braved the wind and rain and set off towards Holdsworth. Due to the difficulty of standing up - let alone walking - in the wind we were blown off the ridge and retreated down a spur heading into the Atiwhakatu stream. We arrived completely soaked at Bannister at about 2 p.m. to have breakfast, morning tea and lunch and to wring gallons of water out of our sleeping bags.

”Those girls must be tough", said one of the W.T.M.C. bludgers we met there. We agreed, of course- with tough types like us to lead them astray.

It then stopped raining.

Dolt, did you say? Doubtless we would all agree.

P.J.B.

Party: Bill Stephenson (Leader), Peter Barry, Ewen McCann, Geoff. Norris, Mike Heenan, Linda Redmond, Margaret MacPherson, Janice de Lisle.

Drawing of trampers climbing up a cliff