A Dangerous Business

Date: 14th January 2024

Start: Slaty Hut (km 1883.3)

End: Mt Rintoul Hut (km 1896.6)

Distance Travelled: 13.3 km

Total Distance Completed: 1736.5 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: Twenty Five Miles by Human Nature

Today’s Mood: swinging like a pendulum

There were a few times last night when I was woken up by the sound of a large gust of wind roaring through. My thoughts turned to Matt and Melly and wondered if they would abandon their efforts to cowboy camp and seek shelter in the hut. When my alarm went off in the morning, no sign of them was seen in the hut. Guess they toughed it out.

It being 6am at 1400 m, it was pretty cold outside so I was more than happy to make breakfast in the confines of Slaty Hut. My other hutmates (yep, I’m making that a word) were getting ready at a rather quick pace, I suspect partially motivated by the desire to reserve a bunk at the next hut. Team Camera… were still in bed. At least for once I wouldn’t be the cause of a late depature.

Late is perhaps used a bit figuratively on this occasion as we were on trail at 7:15am, climbing up from the hut to a ridge below Slaty mountain. Upon cresting the ridge we got a taste of why you can’t take chances in alpine environments. The winds that I could hear blowing over the hut last night were now blowing right in our faces. It wasn’t “crawl along on your hands and knees” bad, but it definitely made me pause on a few occasions to wait for a particularly strong gust to pass by. Another thing that made me pause was laying eyes on the two Rintouls again.

Surprisingly, those two anthills were only about 10 km away, despite the perceived distance from where we were. As we walked along the ridge I could see clouds gathering over them. The forecast also suggested rain would arrive in the early afternoon. All these things did not fill me with much confidence that it would be a safe climb up them and I considered if the smart thing to do would be to call it a day at Old Man Hut and attempt the summit tomorrow. There was still time to make that decision, I’ve still got to walk there over this very windy ridge.

Before heading up Old Man (yes, that is the name of a mountain, I didn’t just climb up a senior citizen) the track dropped back into the forest, the trees helping to diffuse the wind and make for a more pleasant walk. For the most part the trail had been much less technical than the Tararuas. That isn’t to say it wasn’t hard or slow, it was both these things, but I was walking it with an entire island’s worth of hiking experience. Case in point, the climb to the summit of this shorter hill was hard work but it was completed well. The winds returned at the top as did the views, looking south towards yet more mountains.

We were now heading directly towards the Rintouls. A couple small hills stood between us and them, Old Man Hut seen in a clearing about 200 m below us. Before the climb, we all ate a healthy portion of snacks and begun the climb. This would be the easier bit for me, and early on it wasn’t any harder than what I’d already done today. Even better, we seemed to be protected from the wind as we left the forest behind. The downside was the track became, well, non-existent. A line of orange poles marked a suggested route up Little Rintoul, but the path we took was up to us. Patience was key here, each step chosen carefully before it was taken. This was no time to be hasty. Towards the top the rocky route got more difficult, scrambling over large boulders and praying they would hold firm.

My the time we got to the summit, the clouds had left and the rain hadn’t arrived yet, blessing us with some simply stunning views of the forest park. I took a moment to soak it all in. In the big scheme of things, very few people will ever set foot on top of this mountain and see this sight. Yet here I was, one of the lucky few.

This wasn’t the end of today’s climb; it’s called Little Rintoul for a reason. Now we’ve got to get to the big one. Remember that earlier photo showing the ridge connecting the two mountains? Yep, now I’ve got to get down onto it.

Steep, slippery, scary, slow. This was easily the most technical section of Te Araroa I have attempted and I counted myself lucky that I got to do it with some very seasoned hikers. I could see the routes they’d take, where they placed their feet and poles and did my best to imitate them. Even still, I needed to be fully focused on every step I took.

All that effort paid off. I got to the bottom and looked up at what I had just come down, marvelling at how extreme the trail was. There was no time to celebrate, because now it was time for the big one. It was much of the same as the climb up its little brother, so we all knew the drill and made quick work of it. Also in the same way, the clouds lifted right before we arrived at the top. The result: 360 degree views.

What an amazing day. Before I came over to New Zealand I knew the trail would challenge me in ways I didn’t yet know and I would come back to Australia a different person. Pre-TA Jono would’ve never thought about going up this mountain. He’d have simply dismissed it as being too difficult and dangerous. But I’m here now, still wondering how I managed to get up here but admiring the fact that I did. There will be more tricky sections to traverse later down the line, but standing up here made them all feel small and very doable. I really hope so can carry that energy throughout the rest of the island.

Now it’s time to do the one really annoying thing about climbing mountains: getting off them. I was in for a real treat for this one: a big ol’ scree slope.

This is where my mood shifted completely. Matt, Melly, and Oli are all much more confident on descent than I am so I was soon left alone up there. And I got mad. Like, properly mad. From my point of view I had just been abandoned by my teammates, basically left for dead. It didn’t help when I started slipping a lot, adding to my frustrations. On one occasion, I fell over and let out a very angry yell of frustration. Down below I heard Matt call out asking if I was ok. I didn’t respond. That’s how angry I was. I didn’t even want to give them the satisfaction of knowing I was fine (for the record, I was fine). I was still fuming when I got to the hut and I really wanted to give them a piece of my mind.

Thankfully there was still a small part of my brain thinking coherently, telling me to cool off first before giving my two cents. I avoided them for about an hour, making myself a hot chocolate in the hut to help calm down. It worked a treat, so I went outside and met up with the three of them again. I explained my point of view in a much more graceful tone and they took it on board. For the rest of the evening we sat outside and had our usual hiker conversations, telling of past adventures and just generally shooting the breeze. I’m definitely glad I kept my distance from them at first, trying to talk to them as soon as I got down would not have been fruitful at all. We still have 4 days to go before reaching St Arnaud, thankfully none of it should be as technical as what we went through today.