A love affair with Mt Hooker in South Westland
Finished this at last - new pics lower down.
Mt Hooker is another of those mountains sort of in the middle of no-where and thus can be seen from everywhere! Many of us decided in 1973 that we had to stand on it's summit! These shots were my first acquaintance with this beguiling area. Since they were taken I've spent about 80 days trying to achieve that goal over many years. OK I made it so close twice, but in storms. Sitting and waiting for a clearance to not only see the entry to the last gully to the top, but also simply wanting to see the view when I got there.
Anyway this trip was a 10 day affair - we at least got a peek at the usual access ridge, but we had to pass all but a short ascent of same up, as we only had x.. amount of food. Our route was Haast river > Landsborough river > Clarke river > Marks Flat > Otoko river > Paringa river.
My trusty VW 1500 of the time bogged heading up the Landsborough river - just another effort to postpone the heavy pack until the last minute. That's Mt Hooker you can see above the car...
After crossing the mighty Landsborough [all 6 of us clutching a log as we kick/floated across], we got hot and sweaty in the humid airs of the Clarke valley. Here we see my old friend Dave [now lives here in Wanaka too] demonstrating his diving skills - boots and all...
While following a lovely trail left beside the first gorge in the Clarke [don't worry - there were about 4 more really gnarly gorges!] by a resident meat hunter [deer] we found a canoe he obviously used to cross the river with his victims. It had blood in it, but we could not resist a paddle and swim in this magical place...
We knew we might have to retreat from Marks Flat back down the Clarke. In this high rainfall area, crossing side streams can simply stop all in their tracks. On one we knew could be troublesome, we found a cable, so here we practiced how to cross same. We did work out a technique, but thankfully it never came to that...
It took a few hards days to get to one of the most beautiful camp sites I've ever known - Murdoch Creek on the slopes of Mt Hooker. The perfect staging post for a summit attempt that was not to be...
None of us actually worked for the Ministry of Works, but for South Westland we loved the impervious yellow PVC parkas - perfect for the copious rain here where any tendency to sweat never comes close to how wet you can get if you have a poor parka. That's myself on the left, then [now sadly the late] Chris, and Bruce [who went on to became one of NZ's most active conservationists]...
Under the red fly is a four person tent - there were six of us, so keeping warm in the light snow that was about to fall the evening of this shot was no problem...
Sunset light through beech forest...
Some new snow in the background adds another dimension to this awesome bivouac spot. Every morning at precisely 6 am we'd been woken by a Kea visiting us briefly - in my growing education re. this incredibly intelligent native New Zealand mountain parrot I was to realise, starting at this point in time, that they have a very accurate sense of timing...
It was time to be on our way or we'd run out of food, so we climbed up for maybe an hour above the camp with all our swag, and stopped briefly to admire the route above we had designs on, but not this time [I was to return later with others to camp up there and climb]. After a bite to eat and many photos we headed down to the right to Marks Flat...
Marks Flat with the legendary Kea Cliffs on the right. OK we missed out on a climb of Mt Hooker, but part of our dreams incorporated exploring and wandering around in this unique cirque-like landscape. It turned out to be quite boggy, but we still enjoyed a night down there all cosy under a rock, before heading around to the left to Lower Otoko pass the following day...
After a straight forward descent to Marks Flat we found the desired small bivy rock to sleep underneath of, but I was more captivated by these rare blue ducks in the nearby stream than I was about the extremely low roof...
The next morning it was raining, but hunger is a great motivator and we toddled off across Marks Flat [actually almost swamp like in places] to cross Lower Otoko pass - our route to the West Coast.
It was an honest climb up from the Flat with waist deep snow grass to wet us from the bottom as well as the rain coming down steadily - travel about as miserable as it can get! However I achieved my desired Zen like state of being "in the zone" and next I recall the misery escalating as we started wrestling with the next challenge: chest high alpine scrub. This medium is not an easy vegetation mode to gain height on... you sort of stand half in it bereft of any solid footing, grab the next armful of springy tenacious and dripping wet foliage and heave upwards, to the next wobbly stance, where oxygen is sucked in.
It was getting about as awful as it could when a cheerful Noddy [Michael N - now sadly "the late" and ex Kurow] yelled out to me from above "hurry up Donald, we've got a fire going". I would have sworn at what could have been a cruel joke, but never having been one for wasting words going uphill, and somehow thinking "something unusual is happening up there", I pulled over the last bush and lo... there was a huge overhanging bluff on the left, complete with a generous firewood supply. Chris, Dave and Noddy did indeed having a cheerful fire going, setup to reflect the welcome heat off the rock. A brew was soon on and here we see Chris drying his shirt...
Crossing Lower Otoko pass the weather improved a bit, but we did not linger - we were wet but drying, and also mindful of the unknown descent. We knew it'd been done before, but as you can see in the photo below the pass [and just above difficulties] the terrain is very dynamic, highly mobile and glacial lakes like the one here are even more so. We had not a clue how we were going to cross it, as we knew bluffs would force us to do so...
Here Ken crosses the first of the couple of lakes cautiously and is oblivious to being distracted by the taking of this by the author, who was endeavoring to get an embarrassing/funny shot, but he refused to stand upright...
Close scrutiny of this shot will reveal one of many cunning techniques often employed in South Westland to keep clothes dry [well not totally as dampness pervades - and polypro had not been invented yet - we were merino wool and bushshirt kids] Today we'd be called organic... [as I compose this blog I wonder how I got so elevated to take this shot... I've never been able to levitate this high even to get above ice cold glacier water!]...
The author in his early days [has his hair always been silver and here it's been rinsed?] He does seem to have that middle distance stare even at such an early age - a sure sign of too much time of a reflective nature in the bush, focusing on sandflies, and being lost...
The going gets easier over an area cleared of vegetation by a winter avalanche. The night's camping spot is close...
The night however was not an easy one as we had several inches of rain, and the river raged beside us. I recall a heavy mist coming through the tent fly, and rolling up my sleeping bag to keep it dry and sleeping in my parka. We had a good tea before turning in though - it was Dave's birthday and we made fancy instant puddings with dried milk and decorated them with jelly beans. Unfortunately Ken had lost his veteran kea nibbled bowl porridge bowl, but we managed somehow. It may have fell victim to the nearby river.
There don't seem to any other shots I've scanned - nothing stellar anyway as for the next two days we travelled in heavy bush and fern, only getting relief when crossing precipitous ravines on tree trunks felled across them by the local meat shooter, whom we never met as we travelled down the Otoko and then down the Paringa to the West Coast Road. Here we witnessed a "heavy dude" on a motorbike fail to take the corner to the bridge and end up uninjured in a gnarly patch of black-berries, just close by where we had a car depot'd to get us back down to the Haast. A rude entry back into so-called civilisation!
Mt Hooker is another of those mountains sort of in the middle of no-where and thus can be seen from everywhere! Many of us decided in 1973 that we had to stand on it's summit! These shots were my first acquaintance with this beguiling area. Since they were taken I've spent about 80 days trying to achieve that goal over many years. OK I made it so close twice, but in storms. Sitting and waiting for a clearance to not only see the entry to the last gully to the top, but also simply wanting to see the view when I got there.
Anyway this trip was a 10 day affair - we at least got a peek at the usual access ridge, but we had to pass all but a short ascent of same up, as we only had x.. amount of food. Our route was Haast river > Landsborough river > Clarke river > Marks Flat > Otoko river > Paringa river.
My trusty VW 1500 of the time bogged heading up the Landsborough river - just another effort to postpone the heavy pack until the last minute. That's Mt Hooker you can see above the car...
After crossing the mighty Landsborough [all 6 of us clutching a log as we kick/floated across], we got hot and sweaty in the humid airs of the Clarke valley. Here we see my old friend Dave [now lives here in Wanaka too] demonstrating his diving skills - boots and all...
While following a lovely trail left beside the first gorge in the Clarke [don't worry - there were about 4 more really gnarly gorges!] by a resident meat hunter [deer] we found a canoe he obviously used to cross the river with his victims. It had blood in it, but we could not resist a paddle and swim in this magical place...
We knew we might have to retreat from Marks Flat back down the Clarke. In this high rainfall area, crossing side streams can simply stop all in their tracks. On one we knew could be troublesome, we found a cable, so here we practiced how to cross same. We did work out a technique, but thankfully it never came to that...
It took a few hards days to get to one of the most beautiful camp sites I've ever known - Murdoch Creek on the slopes of Mt Hooker. The perfect staging post for a summit attempt that was not to be...
None of us actually worked for the Ministry of Works, but for South Westland we loved the impervious yellow PVC parkas - perfect for the copious rain here where any tendency to sweat never comes close to how wet you can get if you have a poor parka. That's myself on the left, then [now sadly the late] Chris, and Bruce [who went on to became one of NZ's most active conservationists]...
Under the red fly is a four person tent - there were six of us, so keeping warm in the light snow that was about to fall the evening of this shot was no problem...
Sunset light through beech forest...
Some new snow in the background adds another dimension to this awesome bivouac spot. Every morning at precisely 6 am we'd been woken by a Kea visiting us briefly - in my growing education re. this incredibly intelligent native New Zealand mountain parrot I was to realise, starting at this point in time, that they have a very accurate sense of timing...
It was time to be on our way or we'd run out of food, so we climbed up for maybe an hour above the camp with all our swag, and stopped briefly to admire the route above we had designs on, but not this time [I was to return later with others to camp up there and climb]. After a bite to eat and many photos we headed down to the right to Marks Flat...
Marks Flat with the legendary Kea Cliffs on the right. OK we missed out on a climb of Mt Hooker, but part of our dreams incorporated exploring and wandering around in this unique cirque-like landscape. It turned out to be quite boggy, but we still enjoyed a night down there all cosy under a rock, before heading around to the left to Lower Otoko pass the following day...
After a straight forward descent to Marks Flat we found the desired small bivy rock to sleep underneath of, but I was more captivated by these rare blue ducks in the nearby stream than I was about the extremely low roof...
The next morning it was raining, but hunger is a great motivator and we toddled off across Marks Flat [actually almost swamp like in places] to cross Lower Otoko pass - our route to the West Coast.
It was an honest climb up from the Flat with waist deep snow grass to wet us from the bottom as well as the rain coming down steadily - travel about as miserable as it can get! However I achieved my desired Zen like state of being "in the zone" and next I recall the misery escalating as we started wrestling with the next challenge: chest high alpine scrub. This medium is not an easy vegetation mode to gain height on... you sort of stand half in it bereft of any solid footing, grab the next armful of springy tenacious and dripping wet foliage and heave upwards, to the next wobbly stance, where oxygen is sucked in.
It was getting about as awful as it could when a cheerful Noddy [Michael N - now sadly "the late" and ex Kurow] yelled out to me from above "hurry up Donald, we've got a fire going". I would have sworn at what could have been a cruel joke, but never having been one for wasting words going uphill, and somehow thinking "something unusual is happening up there", I pulled over the last bush and lo... there was a huge overhanging bluff on the left, complete with a generous firewood supply. Chris, Dave and Noddy did indeed having a cheerful fire going, setup to reflect the welcome heat off the rock. A brew was soon on and here we see Chris drying his shirt...
Crossing Lower Otoko pass the weather improved a bit, but we did not linger - we were wet but drying, and also mindful of the unknown descent. We knew it'd been done before, but as you can see in the photo below the pass [and just above difficulties] the terrain is very dynamic, highly mobile and glacial lakes like the one here are even more so. We had not a clue how we were going to cross it, as we knew bluffs would force us to do so...
Here Ken crosses the first of the couple of lakes cautiously and is oblivious to being distracted by the taking of this by the author, who was endeavoring to get an embarrassing/funny shot, but he refused to stand upright...
Close scrutiny of this shot will reveal one of many cunning techniques often employed in South Westland to keep clothes dry [well not totally as dampness pervades - and polypro had not been invented yet - we were merino wool and bushshirt kids] Today we'd be called organic... [as I compose this blog I wonder how I got so elevated to take this shot... I've never been able to levitate this high even to get above ice cold glacier water!]...
The author in his early days [has his hair always been silver and here it's been rinsed?] He does seem to have that middle distance stare even at such an early age - a sure sign of too much time of a reflective nature in the bush, focusing on sandflies, and being lost...
The going gets easier over an area cleared of vegetation by a winter avalanche. The night's camping spot is close...
The night however was not an easy one as we had several inches of rain, and the river raged beside us. I recall a heavy mist coming through the tent fly, and rolling up my sleeping bag to keep it dry and sleeping in my parka. We had a good tea before turning in though - it was Dave's birthday and we made fancy instant puddings with dried milk and decorated them with jelly beans. Unfortunately Ken had lost his veteran kea nibbled bowl porridge bowl, but we managed somehow. It may have fell victim to the nearby river.
There don't seem to any other shots I've scanned - nothing stellar anyway as for the next two days we travelled in heavy bush and fern, only getting relief when crossing precipitous ravines on tree trunks felled across them by the local meat shooter, whom we never met as we travelled down the Otoko and then down the Paringa to the West Coast Road. Here we witnessed a "heavy dude" on a motorbike fail to take the corner to the bridge and end up uninjured in a gnarly patch of black-berries, just close by where we had a car depot'd to get us back down to the Haast. A rude entry back into so-called civilisation!
posted by Donald at
7:18 PM
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