The original plan was to take on Mt Olympus. However, this mountain is on private land and recent floods damaged the access road so permissions to access Mt Olympus are scarce now. In the morning at the petro station, we decided that Mt Winterslow makes for a suitable backup.
Winter is coming so I thought I’d go high until I can. I also thought about giving my #52peakschallenge good boost as I’ve been always just a wee bit behind to make to 52 by the end of the year.
After our first day trip to Packhorse Hut, we felt like we knew the basics and were ready to try an overnighter. I still think that the most difficult part of the whole “going tramping with a 10 week old” is the planning stage. A cloth? How many? Clothes? How many? A blanket? How big? Wool or polar fleece?
I had a leg injury a few weeks ago. As I’d like to do Three passes at the end of January, I thought that I should give my leg a proper test if it’s capable of such a demanding adventure.
It was windy everywhere else – oh well, let’s do Mt Oxford! Harish was keen so we drove to View Hill car park from where we set off. I actually find this way to Mt Oxford a wee bit nicer than from Coopers Creek.
Jollie Brook Circuit is cirka 30 kms loop track close to Lake Sumner. To get there, there is about a 40 kms gravel road stretch that was quite easy to follow with 2WD.
Weirdly enough, this was my first climb to the Castle Hill Peak, probably the most popular high peak for Christchurchians. We started off at the Porters Pass car park, a neat carpark right on the top of the pass.
The Spurs in Birdwood Range are a couple of nearly 2000m high peaks (1964m and 1985m) overlooking Wilberforce Flat by Lake Coleridge. To climb The Spurs, you do need permission from a local station.
We started off at Craigieburn Campsite Shelter. Chris was leading us at an easy-going pace while Alan was covering the back. At Helicopter Hill Saddle, a few of us went to check out Helicopter Hill and the rest of the group continued along Craigieburn Edge Track. We had a quick lunch below Camp Saddle.
This was a last minute trip, as I realized a few days before the weekend that there wasn’t a day trip planned for the weekend. There were seven of us including 2 prospective members and Rodney who met us at the Wooden Gully carpark. Wooden Gully Track was closed so we chose the Ridge Track as a suitable replacement. It was the quickest way to get to the tops anyway.