Return to Mt. Cook

This past week seemed to go by pretty quickly. Work has been busy for both of us with students back in full swing and Katie preparing for her new role as Professional Practice Fellow. The past week was also a bit cool so we have been taking advantage of our fireplace, there is no doubt we will be fighting for space on the living room floor once winter sets in. Katie took advantage of the uninviting outdoors, and a lot of suspect peaches, to make a big peach cobbler. Luckily, neither of us were shy and we finished that tasty treat off pretty quick.

The past weekend the weather was forecasted to improve inland, so we decided to head back to Mt. Cook for an overnight tramping trip. Mt. Cook National Park is about a 3.5 hour drive from Dunedin and is on the east side of the Southern Alps. We first visited Mt. Cook back in November when we paddled in the Tasman Glacier terminal lake. Our plan was to hike up to Mueller Hut on Saturday and back on Sunday. We chose to stay in Dunedin Friday and hit up the market before we left. A bunch of nectarines, pears, and a small boysenberry pie made it into our bag before we departed. The drive out seemed quick as the sky was clear and the sun warm. We arrived around 1:30 only to find that the hut was full. This meant our trip to the top was to be further weighed down by the tent and thermarests in our backpacks.


Katie on the Way Up


Craig Above Hooker Valley

The ascent was steep and long. The tramp started on a track called "Sealy Tarns" and then continued on a route. A route varies from a track in that there is no true formed trail so we had to hike, climb, and scramble up over boulders, scree, and tussock grass between cairns and orange topped route markers. We spent around 2 hours climbing stairs on the Sealy Tarns Track and then to the Mueller Hut route which took another 2.5 hours. The views provided were sweet as we could oversee the Tasman Glacier, the Mueller Glacier, Mt. Cook, and the Hooker Valley. We finally arrived on top around 7pm and quickly set up camp. This was more difficult than usual since the terrain as far as we could see was rock and boulder. We managed to find a tiny flat plot of small rocks that our thermarests could handle. Our camp was above the snow line so we knew it would get cold and wanted to get the tent sorted and into dry clothes before it cooled. After a quick set up and change we warmed ourselves in the hut with some pasta and pie.



The Mueller Hut Route


Camp


The sunsets from Mueller Hut are famous when clear, and we were not disappointed. The eastern sky turned a deep purple and the west was bright pink and orange. There were no clouds and the snow and glaciers on Mt. Cook reflected the pink from the west. The hot day had quickly turned to cold night. I had read about climbers using hot water in water bottles to heat their sleeping bags and decided to give that a shot. It was great. They quickly heated the bags and I even donated mine to Katie as I was too warm. I slept fairly well and my only complaint was cool feet toward the early morning. Katie didn't have the best night's sleep but was at least warm, partially due to hot water bottles. It was really amazing to spend the night up there, listening to avalanches all night long, sounding like thunder. Also, the stars and full moon in the middle of the night lit up the snow-capped mountains and were awesome. The cliffs surrounding us we totally visible but with a yellow hue from the moonlight.


Aoraki Sunset

In the morning, after a quick refuel from oatmeal we headed on down. While the air temps were just above freezing the sun was quite warm. Our trip down was the a return along the same route as the day prior, so we knew we were in for 4+ hours of walking and climbing downhill. It wasn't as hot as Saturday and there was a nice breeze. The trip down was demanding and Katie had had enough of concentrating on the loose gravel and steep slopes while her legs were jello with an uncommon torture of carrying an extra 40 pounds. I was trying to take in the views but my legs were getting beat up good as well. We completed our descent around 2 and were glad to dump our bags and put on Crocs. We had a quick sink shower and lunch and headed back to Dunedin. We did manage to stop at the salmon farm along the way and grab a fresh Chinook fillet which made a great meal Monday night.


Mueller Hut


A Rest on the Way Down

The early days this week we hobbled around avoiding stairs and hills as our legs were beat up, one of us more than the other. Thanks to Andy for suggesting this tramp which he completed in much faster time, without a pack, during his visit.

Tramping Pix