Mt Longfellow 8-10th Jan 2010

Mt Longfellow 8th –10th Jan 2010

This trip was initially timed to be part of a Club gathering in the Lake Sumner area on the weekend of 9 to 10 Jan, but poor weather put most off attending.  However, I was determined to proceed as George and I had been wanting to climb Longfellow for several years but had been thwarted by weather.  I had gathered together a versatile team, including an overseas expert, and of which I was the least talented, so we departed as scheduled despite weather forecasts.

    We collected from Christchurch and Nelson at just after midday on Friday at the Sisters Stm car park close to the Hurunui R, and began on the approach up the Hurunui R to Lake Sumner, intending to camp somewhere near the mouth of the Evangeline Stm by the lake.  The weather was mostly sunny with a cold wind, but we made good time  to Gabriel Hut which is in ‘historic’ condition, that is, not quite derelict, and then on to the lake.  The route along the lake edge is marked in places but is not well used and we abandoned it to cross the forested fan of the Evangeline through the bush to the stream, where at 6pm we found a reasonable campsite beside the stream not far from the top of the fan. There Markus prepared a sumptuous meal with fresh ingredients for three of us, while the rest dined from packet meals. A new standard of culinary excellence has been set, that I will never attain as a cook, but will enjoy whenever I can, of course.

    Saturday dawned cool again but only slightly cloudy so we rose at 5:30am and departed up the stream close to 7am.  The going up valley was steady with some excursions up the sides to avoid minor cataracts and we arrived at the Evangeline Biv at about 11am.  The bivvy is very easy to miss but is in very good order and would be a good place to stop.  Not for us though, and we set off initially following the beds of the two minor creeks which descend from the Longfellow ridge, leaving them only when past the scrub belt for the scree and tussock slopes under the rock outcrops of the main ridge SW of point 1864m.  Over the ridge we were able to find shelter from the cold wind and were rewarded with views of the route ahead for the first time.  Below us at about 1600m was a large tarn, more a small lake, near which we were to camp, and the beginning of the ridge to Longfellow which looked a lot  better going than we had anticipated from the views  from the Evangeline where it resembled the teeth of a crosscut saw.  Lunch and some warm clothes improved our frame of mind; the wind abated slightly so we stashed the packs and set off for the top feeling almost airborne without the load on our backs.
  The ridge, billed by Sven Brabyn as “rock-scrambling, but well worth the effort” proved just that, being of mostly sound rock with some exposure but not enough to warrant a rope, and we were on the top, 1900m, by about 3pm. The view was impressive of the Lake and local valleys but gathering clouds prevented us seeing to the west and after about 20 min on the summit we retraced our route to the packs and found our way down to the tarn where we managed to find a couple of tent sites with a hollow for George who had just a fly.  By this time it was blowing a cold gale from the west and cooking was only barely possible so after a scratch meal we crawled into our sacks, expecting to be blown into the lake during the night .

 None of this came to pass by morning , but most of us slept fitfully at best and as conditions for breakfast were even less inviting for cooking than the night before we breakfasted on our lunch and scroggin before departing about 7:15am for the saddle to the west leading to a  tributary of the Jolliebrook, and luxuries like tracks. The descent to the bushline was on scree and tussock and sheltered from the worst of the wind and hail.  We followed the stream until the rocks became too green and slippery, forcing some diversions into the bush  on deer tracks.  About 11am we reached the Jolliebrook and found our first track marker which raised our hopes for a swift trip down to more hospitable places.  But this was not to be as the rain set in and the track proved to be completely overgrown with many windfalls.  The best strategy seemed to be to follow the river, which by this stage was beginning to rise making it harder to prevent a slip on the rocks, not that we weren’t thoroughly wet already.  So it was with great relief we found the track from the Gabriel Stm, and made the Jolliebrook hut by about 1pm.  There we lit the stove and warmed up inside and out  -- porridge and whisky seemed a popular remedy.

The sun made a brief appearance so we packed up and left at 2:30pm for the Gabriel on an excellent track.  Again the weather worsened and cooled off for the long slog down to the cars again which we reached by 6pm in cold driving rain. Three of us headed back to Christchurch, and the two northerners had a night at Hanmer before going back to Nelson.
I think we enjoyed ourselves and will remember the experience, but the weather played too great a part in proceedings and I’d rather do the trip in settled conditions!  My thanks to those who came along.

Party: SteveDakin, Markus Milne, Stephen Sheen (nom leader and scribe), OFTC Chch,
          George Carr, ex OFTC from Stoke, and Warwick Hill, Tararua TC Wgtn.