The Great Runs No. 1: The Kepler

Last Friday I prepared to head up North to Collingwood to run the Heaphy track, however they had been experiencing heavy rain and the access to the track was impassable. The track would also have been sodden, slippery and flooded in places. I needed a new plan! Suprisingly enough, Fiordland appeared to have had the better deal as far as weather, so after checking this with DoC, I headed south to Te Anau to run the Kepler.
I drove all day, then slept in my car (rather uncomfortably as I had no roll mat or mattress!) in a backpacker car park (the back packers had closed by the time I got there). So after a poor nights sleep, I woke at 05.15 am, and drove to the start of the Kepler Track.
The Kepler is a 60.1KM track, with over 1000m of climb, reaching about 1500m over the Kepler Mountains in Fiordland. I ate a one square meal bar, and downed some powerade, before setting off at 06.20am. The morning light was beautiful over the lake, but I followed the track into the forest to begin the climb. A couple of hours later, and I emerged from the bush, onto the tops, yey! It was fairly over-cast, with a hint of light rain, but beautiful views all around. I reached luxmore hut (nearly 14km into the run) at 08.30hrs, and topped up my camelbak, which had been leaking down my back the whole way! I discovered that this was due to disruption of the seal, which I managed to sort, and avoid a long day of hydration drink splashing down my legs!!
Now for the best bit! After further climbing up to about 1500m, the track undulated along a narrow and exposed ridgeline, with spectacular views of fiordland. It felt good to be on gentler inclines and flat, although careful footing was a must, as a fall here could be serious. With a few photo stops and hellos to passing walkers, I plodded on, listening to tunes, and enjoying the view. After about 12km, the track descended abruptly and zig-zagged into the bush, entually reaching Iris Burn hut 14.6km on from Luxmore.
Iris Burn hut is tucked into the forest and is infested with sandflies! Well, everywhere here is, but they were in even more abundance here. I quickly made my way on, after a H2O top up. From Iris Burn Hut the whole way is in forest, something that I struggle with immensley, and still over 31km to go! But the way was gently undulating, and mainly downhill, and the day had gotten very hot, so there was much to be thankful for, the shade, and the lack of uphill mainly. I had managed to convince myself that I had less far to go than I actually had, thinking that after the next hut there was only about 15km to go. How wrong I was.....
As this had been a last minute decision, I had not really researched the track or known what to expect, so on reaching Motarau Hut, on a beautiful little beach on lake Manapouri, I was quite disheartened to read that the end was a six hour walk away, which would mean up to a three hour run in my state, not the hour and a half that I hoped for!
I somehow had phone reception here, so it was a saving grace to read a text from my friend Jane, saying good luck and our little motto...."keep calm, carry on". Oh, thank goodness for this little burst of positivity!! Thanks Jane!
So on I went, stopping only to bandage blisters and to drink. I hadn't managed to eat much, but tried to nibble on a OSM bar. NOT a good running food, made me want to vomit...at least I know for next time to take proper food. I was starving, and although running wasn't a problem, I began to feel the challenge mentally. The key, as always, was good tunes and switching off, and going into Sankey Land, the crazy little world in my head! I stopped to chat to a British couple, who lived in Berkhampstead, where I used to live. She was a nurse too, and they were here on holiday. Its little meetings like this that put you in a better frame of mind and keep you going.
I can not tell you how great the temptation was at Rainbow's Reach (9.5km to go!) to go into the car park and beg a lift back to the control gates! No one would ever know.... but I would, and I didn't want to have to come back and do this again when my conscience got the better of me. On, and on, and on I went throught the bush. I was nearing desperation when I saw a sign..... 1KM TO GO...LOOKING GOOD it said. Woo hoo, I can do this, come on, one last push....
And there were the control gates. I sat down, and leaned against the Kepler Track start/finish sign. From broken to happy in ten seconds! Oh the feeling to have done it! Its amazing how great you can feel, so soon after feeling so bad :-) I sent the obligatory "I'm alive" text to people, then got up to walk the two mins to the car. And then I realised how much this was going to hurt! I made two stops on the 3 hour drive home, and each time walking was a little harder.
Not much left to do but wash, eat and sleep......One down, 7 to go!!

Girl Power in the Matukituki!

Time to get back out into the mountains!
Last monday I picked my friend Laurayne up from Queenstown airport and we headed off to the start of our adventure - Wanaka. After leaving our intentions with DoC and hiring a locator beacon, we drove down the Aspiring road and along a long gravel track to Raspberry Flat. Leaving Freddie in the carpark, we heaved our 20KG packs onto our backs, and set off. We were carrying all our food and gear for 7 days of climbing in the high alpine peaks of the area. we walked as far as Apiring Hut, and set up our tent there. We practiced a bit of rope work and crevasse rescue, just in case!
Next morning we were up early and left some of our food at the hut, to save weight. We climbed over 1000m to Cascade Saddle, with early cloud clearing, giving us fantastic views of the surrounding mountains. We camped at cascade saddle, by a beautiful clear snow-melt river. The next morning (at 4.45am!!) we stuck our heads oout of the tent and were disappointed to find heavy cloud and poor visibility. We went back to sleep for an hour or so, then got up and decided to head up onto a ridge and navigate our way to the Isobel Glacier, in the hope that it would clear later and we could make a summit attempt at Mt Anstead (2388m). We used bearings to find our way, but approached the glacier in much improving visibility and blue skies. Anstead is a long day, and we thought it best not to be getting back off the Glacier too late (the sun makes the snow bridges over the crevasses weak, and there is more chance of falling through). So we headed for Mt Tyndall, a higher peak at 2496m, but closer. We dumped our packs at the head of the glacier and made our way up patches of loose rock and steep snow. We had a few false starts, finding ways to be impassable and unsafe, before finding a route of snow, and a final rock scramble to the summit. We were rewarded with astounding views of the Matukituki Valley and surrounding mountains.
Very happily, we plodded back to camp accross the glacier.
We had planned to climb Plunkett Dome, but its approach was steep and heaily crevassed, with many of the crevasses opening up due to a very warm November! So we made the slightly crazy choice to descend the 1000m to the valley floor, walk a few kms along the valley, and climb another 1000m up French Ridge! It was a long day, the temperature was approaching 30 degrees and we had very heavy packs again, although we each only took one ice-axe up here to save weight, and left a few bits of gear behind. It was a ten hour day, involving a river crossing and wet feet! French ridge is steep, which is hard with big packs, but at least you gain height quickly! We camped outside French Ridge Hut, and met the friendly warden there. It was stunning, well up out of the bushline with stunning mountains all around, and a view back up the valley to where we had walked from that morning!!
The next morning we were up at five to attempt the Quarter deck(2305m) and Mt French. The quarterdeck is a snow slope, leading up to the Bonar Glacier, over which Mt Aspiring presides. It is steep in places and quite heavily crevassed, but the snow was good and firm (thanks to our early morning start). We roped up for safety and had a good steady plod to the top. The view at the top was breathtaking. The Bonar Glacier was a vast, smooth carpet of snow, with Mt Aspiring rising graciously from it. There were snow capped mountains as far as the eye could see, the sun was bright and the sky was blue. Mt French had a big schrund cutting through our route, and was heavily corniced at the top, so we decided not to risk it. We negotiated our way back down the Quarterdeck and stopped for refreshment once we were safely back on rock. I then put on my waterproof trousers and slid down the snow on my bum back to camp - great fun! (and a legitimate mountaineering technique!!).
So being back down for lunchtime, we did what any self respecting mountaineer would do - we sat in the sun and ate all afternoon! We did so well at this, that our packs were much lighter for the descent, and we had no excess food to carry ;-)
The next day we packed up camp and headed down to the valley again. We enjoyed the walk out, down the lush and green Matukituki Valley. We rested a while at aspiring hut, before the last two hour slog. back at the car (again, 30 degree heat!) we were soooo glad to take off our boots, which were the only thing we had worn on our feet for the last week, and put on our flip-flops. We drove into wanaka, handed in our return slip, then sat in a cafe and ordered massive bowls of good, sweet coffee, and stuffed our faces with mozarella garlic bread and cheese muffins! Having not had a shower in a week, we cleared the cafe out pretty quick......
We then found a campsite (with showers) and got clean! When I say clean, we had no shower gel, so used leaves of travel soap, we had nothing to wash our hair with an no hairbrush, so we still looked pretty awful! But I had that post-hills alpine glow that no make up could ever replicate, and I was so happy and content. We wandered to the pub, in tracksuit bottoms and the cleanest thermal I could find. We drank beer, had fish and chips, then returned to the pub for more wine.... absolute bliss! We could stop talking about this trip, planning our next trip, and congratulaing each other on a successful week!
The next day the weather closed in, but we didn't care. I dropped Laurayne off for her return flight to Christchurch, both so happy, in a way that is only achieved from week of hard physical activity, in one of the most beautiful settings in the world......

The 8 Big Ones!!!!

OK, so here is my new idea. And I have been labelled a crazy pom for this. I want to run all of the NZ great walks. After the fun of the Routeburn earlier this year, I have decided to set myself the target of running all of the great walks, ending at the Routeburn Classic next year. There are nine "great walks" in NZ, but one of these, rather strangely, is a kayak trip, so that can not be run, and will take place whenever. That leaves me with 8.
The big 8 are:
Lake Waikaremoana, 42km, North Island
Tongariro Northern Circuit, 50km, North Island
Abel Tasman Coast Track, 51km, South Island
Heaphy Track, 82km(!!!), South Island
Routeburn Track, 32.1km, South Island
Milford Tack, 53.5km, South Island
Kepler Track, 60.1km, South Island
Rakiura Track, 36km, South Island (on Stewart Island)
So the hills around Clyde are my training ground! In the last week I have managed one 34km run, and one 44km run, the last one with a height gain of 1000m, so I think I can do it! My friends Gary and Beck and Mel and Fran all are my support crew, as will mum and dad be when they are over!
So wish me luck, and watch this space!!!!

Fiordland Trip

Before starting my new job, I decided I really, really needed a holiday, having had a very stressful few month of skiing as much as possible ;-)
Me and Mel and Jon, decided on a tramping trip into fiordland, once of the worlds last true wildernesses. Fiordland is the south west corner of the south island and apart from a road running to Milford Sound, and a few walking trails, its is a place of dense bush, high mountains and amazing wildlife. We were heading in in winter, to a rarely visited part on the way to George Sound. When we asked the Department of Conservation (DoC) what conditions are like in fiordland at the moment their answer was "we dont know, no-one has been in there for months". Enough said, we were excited! To get in we hired a man and his boat, to gt us across Lake Te Anau, and then, after a 15 minute walk, Lake Hankinson. He left us here and we walked for four hours to get to our hut. The way in had many obstacles, fallen trees, bog, and the dreaded three wire bridge. Literally, three wires, one to walk on, two to hold. Not easy when there is a ten meter drop below you, a 70 litre pack on your back, and nothing but your own steadiness to rely on! Most of this walk was through bush, with the odd glimpse of the high, steep sided mountains that characterise fiordland, and the waterfalls running down them into lakes and rivers.
On arriving at the hut we got chopping wood to get the fire going, and sorted our kit. There was no one else there (apart from Mr Weka-Weka, the hut Weka, which is a type of NZ bird) and the book made it look as if there are only ten or so visitors a year. The next day we set off as dawn was breaking on our walk to George Sound. It was going to take at least ten hours. The going was really tough. We had big packs on and the way was just one big bog slog. Sometimes we would disappear up to our waists in bog. Usually just knees though. We were also fighting our way through forest with fallen trees in our path. After five hours we emerged thankfully onto Henry Saddle. Its was refreshing to be out in the open, and what a view! Mountains and valleys and not a sign of human life, as far as the eye could see. It really was an awesome moment and a stunning view. We stopped for lunch and debated our next move. It would be a further six hours, probably more to George Sound, through denser and wetter forest. There was a point where we would have to wade through a lake. And we would get there in the dark. Our plan was to have a day at George Sound hut then back the following day, but weather looked as though we may have to come back the very next day, which would mean leaving in the dark and never seeing George Sound in daylight, or staying the day and taking a chance with mother nature. Jon was keen to continue, me and Mel were wanting to go back. I for one, could not face that much slogging through forest. I am "tops" girl through and through and feel strangely oppressed when I spend too much time in the forests. I just love wide open spaces and mountain tops, where Mel and Jon love the forest too. We decided to turn back, a big decision for Jon, as it had long been a goal of his to get to George Sound. I am keen to come back someday, maybe camp on the saddle and get to the sound over couple of days. Its still on the list!
We returned to Thompson Hut and had a couple of days chilling, doing day walks from the hut, and enjoying the solitude. We tried to catch some trout from the lake, but no luck. We walked out in the rain, and met Vern, our boatman. It was great to be back in Te-Anau, away from the sandflies, to have a shower, and eat some fresh fruit and veg! And although we had had some sherry with us in the hut, it was good to enjoy a good glass of wine.
We met our friend Fran in Te-Anau and had a couple of chill out days.... went for a run, and did the lake Marian walk, a lovely 3hr round trip to a beautiful clear like, nestled amongst alpine peaks. We then drove to Wanaka, where Fran's fella, Rob joined us. We had a wicked days skiing at Treble Cone, couldn't see a thing, but loads of fresh powder, an awesome day! We had a day cross country skiing on nordic skis, then a day of R&R!
A brilliant trip with great friends :-)

Winter Fun!

Well, once more it has been far to long between blogs, I can only appologise. My excuse? Having far too much fun :-)
It has really been an awesome winter. Having started out being very tentative on skis (hadn't skiied for years), I got myself a pass that allowed me access to 11 different ski fields accross canterbury. These were "club" fields, and very unlike any places I have skied before. They tend to be privately owned and, although they do have some groomed slopes, there is a vast amount of ungroomed terrain. They are much, much smaller than european resorts, but have a friendly and relaxed feel. As a result of avoiding the commercial fields, I am now able to ski in all types of snow, over all kinds of diferent terrain. Not with much style or grace, but I can ski it. The main joy of the winter was finding fresh powder to ski in. Once you get the hang of skiing in powder it feels like you are floating over the ground, flying even. It really is the most amazing feeling! The other good thing about the club fields is the lack of people. I had a week day pass too, which mean there was barely anyone else on the slopes, bliss!
I also had a winter walk up to Mueller Hut, in Mt Cook National Park. Me and Axel, a friend from USA, walked up there in a bit of a storm, but got up safely to find that we were the only ones up in this beautiful spot. Not another soul, and beautiful mountains as far as the eye can see. The next morning we left our packs at the hut, carrying only ice-axes we climbed to the top of Mt Olivier, a very small peak, but the first one that Sir Ed Hillary ever climbed :-) Stunning views in beautiful sunshine.
I feel pretty sad that winter is coming to an end, but climbing season is starting again soon, and I have lots of fun plans.
I have moved down south to a small town called clyde, nestled in the hills of Central Otago. Its beautiful. I have started working at a small country hospital and loving the quiet life! Lots to do, really close to the mountains.... so watch this space. Have also started running training again.....will give you more info on this at a later date!
Ta-ra for now xx

ROUTEBURN CLASSIC!

on thurs 22nd April, me, Mel, Jon, Jane and axel headed off down to Queenstown for the routeburn classic. We camped in Omarama, then got to Queenstown the next day to get the bus to Te Anau. In te Anau, after a night of carb loading, we got up at 5.30 am in preparation for the Routeburn Classic. The Routeburn is one of the great walks and is 32Km long. It goes over mountainous terrain in Fiordland and Aspiring National Parks. Having not done much training, and being very nervous, I had been dreading it, but I had so much encouragement from the folks back home (thanks!) and the guys I was with. It was a rainy day, but we all set off in high spirits. Not long into the race me and Mel caught up with Jane, who was having a wee bit of a crisis of confidence. We decided to stick it as a team and run it together. We played games and sang and laughed our way round the 32kms! We had a wicked day, and made some new friends along the way, as we tried to rope random runners into our "name game". Me, Mel and Jane crossed the finish line holding hands all together, after about 5hrs 56 mins.
We went back to our hotel, and had a jaccuzi! divine.... Then it was out for a hearty meal and lots of beers......
An awesome weekend!

kaikoura Coast track

Sunday 14th March
Ok, so this was ages ago and I need to catch up on the blogging!
I walked the kaikoura coastal track with vera and paddy, to work friends. Its a three day walk through private farm lands, staying in farm bunk-houses or cottages on the way. It takes in stunning scenery along the east coast of the South Island and walks along beachs, through forsts, and across farm land. Its fairly gentle, just about 13kms each day, and they carry your food (and wine!) and pack if you like to the next house along the way. We met a group of six other girls doing this, they were great fun and we all got along really well. The wallk had a few hills, and a long stretch a long a beach, but all in all there was plenty of cake and wine to make it painless, and great fun.....