A fascinating piece of ski history

The Rock and Pillar Ranges are a windswept alpine range not all that far from Dunedin. For this reason, they were the site of the first ever ski field in Otago.

I parked my car and headed uphill, first across farmland and then into conservation land where the climb began. It was a fairly steep grind, up through tussock and snow grass on a lightly used path up into the alpine zone. 

I stopped for lunch and a cuppa at a lovely stream and waterfall then continued the final climb to Big Hut. I'd brought my tent, intending to sleep out on the tops somewhere, but the hut was simply too inviting.

So I dumped my gear and headed off to explore the tops whilst the weather was clear. I climbed up to the summit rocks and then followed a poled route to Leaning Lodge, the site of another defunct ski field.

Back at Big Hut I enjoyed reading about the history of building the hut, to accommodate skiers back in the 30s and 40s. But Coronet Peak, near Queenstown, was more accessible, as in it had a road to it vs having to walk up a steep hill, which led to the demise of the Rock and Pillar ski field. When there were a few lean snow years at Coronet in the 50s, they resurrected the ski field a bit further north where Leaning Lodge is, and even built a road to the lodge by volunteer labour! But Coronet won the day and these ski fields became the haunts of those hardy souls who earn their turns cross country skiing or ski touring.

I was amused to see that the weekend before my friends Renee and Billy had spent a night there. It would have been nice to have had someone to play ping pong with!

The fog came in that evening and the next morning was cold and damp. I headed back down through the mist and had a nice lunch at the cafe in Middlemarch before heading back to Wanaka. It looked like the hut renovation might at last be going ahead.

 

A little slice of the Catlins

Waitangi weekend came, but with low cloud making it impossible to chopper in to the hut, our hut renovation project got postponed a second time. So I headed south to Tuatapere to meet Greg, one of the Permolat Southland board members and fellow tramper and packrafter, and then made my way to the Catlins to tick off a couple more huts.

Mouth of the Waiau, part of a scouting mission for a future trip...

On the way I explored the south coast from Monkey Island to Riverton, before heading inland.

I'd tried to get to Thisbe Creek three years ago, but took the wrong road and spent a night stranded and bogged. This time I took the correct route.

I parked the car just off the road and walked through the unlocked gate, over private land, through another gate, across a small stream and then across a meadow to a stile and the start of conservation land. I met a mother with her two daughters walking back out, having spent a pleasant night at MacLennan Hut with a couple of hunters.

Once on DOC land it was a wander through Manuka and gorse to rejoin the stream and enter the forest. It's a beech forest with a fairly thick understorey of crown ferns, suggesting perhaps too many deer. Deer preferentially munch on broadleaf plants, leading to a loss of plant biodiversity and an overgrowth of crown ferns. There was evidence of an extensive trapping program in the area, though the birdlife wasn't prolific.

The stream was pretty and the forest refreshing. There was a gentle climb to a saddle and then a bit of a steep descent to MacLennan River, which was then followed upstream to the hut. I'd met the two hunters on their way back out, so had the place to myself for the night.

The walk out was just as pleasant, and I stopped at the bivs just inside the conservation land for lunch and a cuppa. These bivs are used for the trapping program, an effort to preserve the mohua still present in the valley.

The farmer had locked the gate at the road end, so I had to climb over it to get back to my car. Then I drove down the valley to Owaka, and out to Surat Bay to visit Jack and Ester. But they'd gone away for a few days so I headed off north instead to climb some hills.

That's next.