Brass Monkey Biv, Lewis Pass National Reserve

The final adventure for Christmas leave.

The weather forecast promised us a clearance by midday saturday and perfect weather for sunday. Armed with this wx window, we planned a trip into Brass Monkey Bivvy. By taking a leisurely start to the day and hiking up through the bush of the Rough Creek track, we figured we'd emerge on the tops just as the clearance came through. The second day was a long one along the tops to take full advantage of the great weather.

I dropped Ira and our packs off at Rough creek then drove back to the Lewis Pass summit to park the car. I then rode my mountain bike back downhill to start the walk.

It was threatening to clear as we began up Rough ck, but soon the rain returned. We ate lunch not far up river, under an overturned log that gave a little shelter from the rain. The track had seen a reasonable amount of storm damage, but there were enough little orange triangles to make following it straight forward.

We made the bushline in 1:40hr, a good slice cut off the 2:30hr track time. Under cloudy skies and passing low vis, we took a direct compass bearing for the main ridge that we'd gain to reach Brass Monkey Biv.

Ira enroute to the ridge top

Once properly on the tops, the cold wind had us pausing to recalibrate our clothing choices. Rugged up in storm gear, we began carefully onanother compass bearing along the very slippery snow grass ridge.

Windy, cold and slippery; great fun on the tops.

As we progressed, the cloud lifted slightly, allowing us good views of our intended route. Several intimidating rocky buttresses guarded the route onwards. On a pleasant day, they would have made an interesting and fun challenge, but today with high winds and extremely slick underfoot conditions, it would be foolhardy at best to attempt.

We picked an alternative route, sidling and crossign ridges low on the northern side of the main ridge. The route was reasonably straightforward apart from the numerous loose scree chutes we had to cross.

Crossing endless scree's

The orange dogbox bivvy was a welcome sight at the end of a solid day. We sat in the biv, eating dinner and chatting whilst the rain returned outside..

Snug as a bug in a brass monkey bivvy



Cheesey-Tuna Pasta goodness :)

Chucky 'spreads out' on the top bunk


The 'Brass Monkey'



In the morning, we'd hoped to wake to a perfect day as promised. But alas, the same rain, wind and low vis continued to lash the tops. A plan was hatched to exit down One mile creek.




Ready to run away bravely


We followed the outlet of the bivvy tarn north and
descended easy beech forest to the valley floor.

The creek was quite rough going, with lots of tree fall and pools to negotiate. I managed to go for a swim and smash my knee into a submerged rock in the process.

Impromptu Canyoning

We weren't moving very quickly, so opted to climb out on the true right and sidle via the bush at about 800m. The going alternated between fast and very slow, but we were very reluctant to drop down back into the stream, given our look at it higher up. The contour lines looked rather close together; the last thing we needed was to discover a canyon

A magnificent speciment of Bracket Fungus


Finally back to the bed of One mile stream

After a bit of a mini epic bush bash, we finally made it back to the stream, very glad indeed to be back on flatish ground again.

Once at the road, our final task was to hitch a ride back to the car, which took about an hour of thumbing before it was achieved.

We basked in the sun in Culverden and ate an unhealthy serving of fish and chips.. Though I think we deserved our indulgence..