Training Log Archive: Stijn

Was in the mood for something lighter and faster. And with the weather on the tops looking suboptimal, I linked 2 long valley walks into a fast-packing overnighter. Caples-Greenstone: easy hiking, wide valley views and a great night at the Greenstone Hut!

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move189092992

Dusky Day 5. Clear skies when I started but the clouds rolled in and the drizzle started. Super-technical slippery climb up Centre Pass and unfortunately no wandering about the tops would happen in this weather :-/ Decided to rather push hard past the next hut and try catch the 5pm ferry, hence combining the last 2 days.

Pushing it meant plenty if frustration and slipping, but made good time and caught the 4:15 ferry instead.

All in all a really wild experience! And I seem to have caught it in pretty much the best conditions :)

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move188646568

Dusky Day 4. I decided to skip the 2-day out and back leg to Supper Cove, hoping to rather time better weather at the next pass section so that I could summit some more peaks and take in the views. So now I was properly solo and had the trail and remaining huts to myself :)

Today's route is very prone to flooding and many people end up waist-deep wading big sections of it. But the river was nice and low for me so I had a wonderful day enjoying the ancient moss-draped forest at a nice sloww pace. Best hut (minimal sandflies!).

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move188646736

Dusky Day 3. Slept in and got a late start to try get to the next hut as late as possible (back in the forest so sandfly prison). Did a bit of exploring to another lake on top and generally took my time before plunging down into the trees after lunch. Heinously steep 900m descent with extended sections of tree root "abseiling"! Very glad conditions were pretty dry when I did it.. Got to the hut at 3pm to a moderately tolerable sandfly situation.

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move188646825

Dusky day 2. Much better going today - more in my element. One 20min detour when I lost the path and started following a trap line set of ribbons. Heavy going eventually convinced me something was wrong so I turned back. Climbed out of the tree line to a beautiful plateau, dotted with lakes. Looking very Scottish. Reached the hut just after 11am so decided to do some exploring...

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move188646519

Highest peak in the area was Tamatea Peak (1640m), so that's where I went! Picked the obvious tussock ridgeline from Lake Roe and kept heading up. The top was heavily snow-covered so I wasn't sure if a safe route would be available, but once I got to the final saddle, I was able to take a careful route by kicking steps up the snow slope and then scrambling the exposed rocky ridge to the summit. Phenomenal alpine views from the top - so really worth it to gain some altitude :)

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move188646394

Dusky Track Day 1. Beautiful hour-long boat ride to the end of Lake Hauroko where we were dumped and instantly surrounded by swarms of sandflies! Good thing is that as long as you're walking, they can't keep up (lazy buggers). I was planning to double-up straight away and go up to Lake Roe hut but had to eat humble pie as soon as I tried to push the pace on the "track". Very rooty, big sections of knee-deep mud and lots of tree-fall which was frustrating to smash through/over.

So very frustrating at first until I just embraced the fact that 2km/h was my max pace, took it easy and forgot the idea of doubling up. This day was entirely in the forest, following the Hauroko river with a strong feeling of heading deeper into the backcountry.

I had expected to be solo, but was sharing the hut with 3 others. We would all walk at our own paces during the day though. Unfortunately the hut was a little sandfly-infested so we had to cover ourselves from head to toe (in the heat) to keep the bloodsuckers at bay until nightfall when they thankfully went to sleep!

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move188646705