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in the shadow of Mt. Cook
On Monday morning we drove to the HQ of Alpine Recreation, where we met Martin, our guide for the Ball Pass trek, and the two other clients we'd be going with. Martin is originally from Germany but has lived in NZ 10 years; most Germans I have heard speak the RP English they learned in school with an overlay of the German accent, but Martin's English is about equal parts Kiwi and German accent, and his speech is entirely Kiwi slang, all "I reckon" and "bugger this" and (when we had discussed something and were about to do it, from walking on a glacier to cooking dinner), "Sweeeeeeet!" - or rather "Schweeeeeet!" He has cheekbones you could cut yourself on, and (bizarrely) used to be a pastry chef before seriously changing careers.
The other two were doctors from Auckland, Sally (actually English) who had originally signed up for the trip and her co-worker Paul she'd talked into going as well.
It was cloudy when we set out in the group van toward Aoraki Mt. Cook, and got steadily worse as we were driven in a 4WD to the end of the Ball Pass road (marked helpfully with a huge rock that had fallen into it!). By the time we strapped on our packs, it was drizzling, and it drizzled the entire 4 hours up to the Caroline Hut. The trail was rocky, slippery when wet, and really really really steep. Really. Oog.
But the hut was warm and cozy, and when we woke up...it was still drizzling. Couldn't see a damn thing. So we put off going outside until afternoon, and instead learned various mountaineering rope techniques. By the time we headed out it was simply ambiently wet, as we were in the cloud. We hiked up to Ball Pass anyway, hitting fresh snow just above the hut and tromping through it to Ball Glacier, where we roped up and went to the pass. The sky cleared in bits and pieces, so we saw hints of Aoraki Mt. Cook (living up to its Maori name, "cloud piercer") and the mountains around, but nothing more than quick glimpses. Then we practiced "advanced bum-sliding" down the glacier and headed back to the hut, where we discussed the next day's plans.
Ordinarily we would have woken at 4:30, packed and cleaned, and gone back to Ball Pass and over and down, a very long slog. Since the forecast was good and the avalanche conditions poor (Martin was wary) we decided instead to wake a bit later, head out to catch sunrise over Mt. Cook, then hike up to Kaitiaki, a 2222 meter peak next to Ball Pass; then back to the hut, pack up, and go back down the way we came.
And that is what we did. It was clear in the morning, and we saw a glorious sunrise tinting the glaciated tops of the peaks pink, and the sky was deep blue, and YAY YAY YAY. We tromped through the steep snow and got on the high point of Kaitiaki, and it was just tremendously beautiful to look all around us and see the glaciers and the big mountains all around.
We headed down a "shortcut" which was basically right down the side of the mountain, but it was the sort of scree-sliding I was used to from Colorado so I just lengthened my poles and slid on down. Very strange once we got to the steep grassy meadow to see the gravel-covered Tasman glacier below us - it looked rather moon-scapy, in sharp contrast to the green grass around us and the snowy mountains above. By the time we got to the main road to Mt. Cook, the mountains were already wreathed in cloud and when we stopped for ice cream, we overheard tourists who had just gotten off a bus complaining that they couldn't see the mountains. Neener neener! WE saw the MOUNTAINS!
22 photos at our Flickr page.
Last night we drove to Lyttelton, near Christchurch; today we fly to Auckland, and tomorrow night, we fly home. Bye-bye, NZ!
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