AHURIRI VALLEY: I CLIMBED MOUNT BARTH
- coupkovasvatava
- Feb 8, 2018
- 3 min read
Well I wanted to, but I didn´t. Sometimes what you intend to do is very different from what you end up doing. Like when you want to drive all the way to the Base hut and walk up and stay overnight at the Shamrock hut and instead you get stuck at a landslide straight away. Or when you want to bring everything you need for tramping (including a spoon) and eventually you eat your porridge with a huge ladle someone left in the hut.
Considering that along the way we had to change almost all our plans, it was a fun trip. Ahuriri Valley is on the way to Mount Cook, where I lived before, and it is a long drive because the last 20 kilometres are gravel and you can´t go very fast. After the storm last week even the “main” road was pretty damaged so it was no wonder we got stuck at the very beginning of the 4WD only track, which mum intended to conquer with our good old Honda in order to get closer to the Shamrock hut. There, in a little cosy ex-station hut we wanted to stay overnight.
We didn´t. We had to leave the car behind and walk 7 kilometres before we even reached the Base hut which – after a deep contemplation – we decided to accept as our refuge. If you ask me, I liked it. It was tiny, only six beds, a nice fireplace and heaps of wood everywhere, just in case it got too cold at night.
Mum started to make lunch and it was when we realized what we had left at home. A spoon! Having soup with no spoon is not ideal. There were pots, pans, even a cup, a (empty :-() bottle of whiskey… and a skimming ladle! Now I know that when you put bread in soup it soaks it up and then you can suck it out :-).
After lunch I decided that I wanted to have a look at the river from above. Along the Dingleburn track we climbed all the way up to a very nice ridge. I took a little nap and when I woke up suddenly we were 800 metres higher and the views were awesome! I could even see Mount Barth in the middle of summer still covered with snow and ice. I thought it could be a good fun to build a snowman but mum said it only looked like a short walk along the ridge but in fact it was far away.
The way down was pretty funny because mum had to walk in a stream most of the time and her shoes got all wet which I didn´t see on the way up but this time I laughed at it a lot. We didn´t bring our water bottle and had to drink from the river, it was cool.
When we got back we realized that no more we were the only ones at the hut. Jared and his huge Kawasaki motorcycle joined us. I liked it. First I could admire the bike, second mum got a company and didn’t bother me that much and third we didn´t have to eat our dinner with the holey ladle anymore.
We spent the evening hanging out by the mighty Ahuriri river. But when I woke (everybody) up at 6.30 in the morning, where the river was just yesterday fog was lying about and no water was seen. With the rising sun it looked magic and I suspect it was the reason why no one got actually mad at me for the early start.
On the way back to Wanaka we stopped for lunch in Quilburn where a 100-year-old shearing shed is a little museum nowadays. I loved running there and back. Mum says that the fact I didn´t end up in a hole I only owe to having just 9 kilos.
Your Annie
