Start – Blue Lake Hut
Finish – Upper Waiau Forks
Daily Distance – 8 km
TA Distance – 2033 km
Rarely have I felt so tired at 2:30 in the afternoon without an ill advised evening featuring alcohol,
dubious kebabs and bad disco music being a strong causal factor.
At 1870m Waiau pass is the 2nd highest point on the TA and has been perhaps the most punishing day of
the trail so far. A single digit distance, 6.5 hours on the trail (including breaks) and I am absolutely
shattered. The final ascent to the summit plateau was only a relatively modest 600m, but I was sweating
like the star of an 80s training montage long before the end. Two steps forward, one step slithered
backwards down the loose scree, wipe sweat from eyes, repeat 1000 times and realise you have only
moved 20 metres. It felt like climbing the mountain of purgatory, complete with chirpy, unladen day
hikers gaily skipping their way down. The payoff? Every step was spectacular. Every snatched break
looking back to the valley below was a treat, and the views only improved as the ascent slowly grumbled
by. After what seemed like hours the climb was complete and gasping I slumped down on the first rock
that came to buttock. A mammoth effort, but looking down from the summit at the beauty surrounding
me I couldn’t help but get misty eyed, although that could well still have been the sweat. At least, I
thought, with the uphill out of the way, the descent should be a doddle. Or perhaps not…
Far from being an actual footpath, the initial section of the descent was a scramble down steep rocks
offering few hand holds, but generous buttock clenching practice for anyone uncomfortable with heights.
Personally, I spent much of the time wishing that I had a smaller rucksack that would allow me to get
closer to the rocks I was attempting to shimmy down. Fortunately, this section only lasted for perhaps 30
(very long) minutes before leveling out into what could be construed as merely a very steep path. So it
was that at 14:30 Scottish Oren and I spotted a likely camp spot and said “enough is enough”. The rest of
the afternoon has been spent paddling in the cold, but refreshing river, washing the salt out of sweat
encrusted clothes and drinking a quantity of tea best described as being in the finest traditions of the
Empire.
To our great surprise, after several hours Kate, Ben and Natalie arrived having walked from a hut farther
back than Oren and I. It turned out that they hadn’t planned to tackle the pass today, but a hut warden had
warned them about a thunder storm predicted to hit tomorrow, which would make the crossing too
dangerous to attempt. As tired as I was, and still am, they looked even more shattered and truly relieved
when our homely camp spot came into view. Quite a day…
Addendum
It is now several days later. We are still waiting for the storm.
