winter tramping

last night we returned from a two-day tramping trip out at mt oxford, our last trip out to the wonderful nz backcountry for a while. we still have a long list of great tramps left undone - the st james walkway, the tongariro crossing, the harpers pass track, the kepler, mt. somers - which will just have to wait for our next trip to new zealand. though i'd been working hard to keep this weekend open, for a while it didn't look like this trip was going to happen as we don't have a car or even driver's licenses that are valid in nz (our ability to drive with overseas licenses expired in may), so i was thrilled when bryan arranged on thursday for our friend phil to drop us off and pick us up from the wharfedale track on the weekend.

the wharfedale track is part of a series of connecting tracks through the mt oxford forest, located in the foothills of the mountains just behind the town of oxford, an hour northwest of christchurch. having flexible transport meant that we could be dropped off at and picked up from different locations, so we planned a hike that would take us up to the summit of mt oxford, drop down to the wharfedale hut in lees valley, and then follow a low ridge out to the view hill carpark a few miles to the west of our starting point. the big draw was hiking above treeline on mt oxford, which would give us more then just beech forest to look at along the way. i don't know if bryan will ever forgive me for this decision.

we were on the trail by 9:15 am on saturday morning, having been dropped off at cooper's carpark, maybe 200m above sea level, aiming to reach the 1365m summit of mt oxford by lunchtime. it's the dead of winter here, which means mild temperatures on the plains but plenty of snow on the mountains, and by the time we emerged from the dense forest about 11 am, there was plenty of snow and some ice underfoot. the views were incredible - we could see bigger mountains to the west, the plains and the ocean to the east, and the port hills to the south. having become quite friendly with our couch in recent months, neither of us were in particularly great shape so the climb was strenuous to say the least. as we continued to rise, the snow became deeper and we were thankful for the footsteps of someone who'd been up before us, leading the way and saving us the effort of sinking down with every step. during the last hour we made the next orange marker pole our goal, resting two or three times between each one, counting down to the final pole just below the top of the mountain.

 at 1 pm we finally reached the trig at the top and sat down on some exposed rock to have our lunch. this much-needed break gave me new energy, but the sight of our ham and crackers made bryan nauseous and he expelled the contents of his stomach over the side of the mountain, surely the most dramatic place he's ever vomited. we didn't linger long here, since we still had quite a ways to go (though at this point we weren't entirely sure how far - 3 hours? 5 hours?) and not many daylight hours left. unfortunately, bryan started feeling even worse as we began heading down the western arm of the alpine ridge, complaining of leg cramps that were obviously causing him excruciating pain with every step and which didn't respond to efforts to stretch them out. the snow was also terrible at this point, being about knee-deep and covered by a thin crust that could almost hold a person's weight but always snapped through at the last second. progress was slow, and i began to worry about our decision not to bring a tent with us on the journey. we always bring a tent, even when we're planning to sleep in a hut, but decided against it this time in order to save weight. later he told me that running through his mind at this point was "i can't be helicoptered out because of leg cramps...that's lame!".

to our great relief, bryan gained more control over his lower limbs as we reached the shallower snow levels at lower altitudes and we were almost enjoying ourselves as we turned onto the mt. oxford route that would take us down to the hut next to the river. for the first hour of this part i wondered why it was classed as a rough route and not a standard tramping track, and found my answer on the second part when the path descended so steeply that we opted to slide down on our butts for much of the way. at times when we thought we could stay on our feet, the muddy path usually intervened and sent us down in a seated position anyway. just as the last rays of sunlight were departing from the mountaintops, we arrived at wharfedale hut where four mountain bikers already had a roaring fire going. good on them. in bed by 7 pm.

day two was much better, since we'd already done all of the difficult ascents and descents on saturday, and only had a gentle climb to a low saddle and then a gentle downhill meander to the view hill carpark. we made great time and emerged at the carpark at 12:20, leaving us with more than a 2 1/2 hr wait until our prearranged pickup time of 3 o'clock. the views were nice but the wind was chilly, so we used the weak cell phone signal to text phil for an earlier pickup time. in the end this didn't save us any time at all, since his car couldn't ford a stream at the beginning of the mountain road and we had to walk about an hour to meet him after all. oh well - just part of the story i guess :) we'll definitely miss these kiwi tramping adventures, though i suppose there are some good ones to be found in the states as well.

-rachel