Croesus Track, Paparoa NP

Did a neat cross-over trip to the Croesus Track with Harry and Annabel.
We met in Stillwater, did a vehicle swap and made our way to the Barrytown (western) side. From there Pip and I climbed up through the forest on a gorgeous coast day.

Above the bushline the views were fantastic and the weather benign. There were a few icy patches in the shade which made things interesting, but the traverse across the tops went without drama.

Pip and I climbed the short distance to Croesus Knob for the sunset before heading to Ces Clarke Hut.

Next day was a gentle amble down into the forest in light rain, passing a few old mining relics along the way.

Ready at Barrytown on the West Coast

Climbing through the west coast bush

Some icy bits on the tops made it interesting

At the Moonlight Track junction

Ascending to Croesus Knob

Mmm... Marshmellows at Ces Clarke Hut

Harry, Bel, Pip and Chucky

Chucky and friend

One of the old stamping batteries

Lyttleton to Cashmere, Port Hills

Had a sleep in after a solid days skiing, then caught a bus to Lyttleton for Brunch.

Then in beautiful sunny conditions and with GPS in hand, we wandered back accross the spine of the Port Hills collecting Geocaches along the way.

Had an ice cream at Sign of the Kiwi and watched the sun set as we descended the Harry Ell walkway back to home.

7hrs worth of wandering :)

Scrambling out to Castle Rock's Prow

Castle rock and the Port Hills

Lyttleton Harbour, Quail Island and Gebbies Pass from Witch Hill

Chicken TB

Porters Ski

Another sweet day in beautiful weather. Was a little firm at first, but softened a bit during the day.. (where is all the powder??)

Porters and Powder Bowl

Had a good day at Porters in great conditions.

Later in the day we checked out Powder Bowl off the back of the 3rd T-bar. Some pretty sweet powder followed by a solid slog back up to the ski field.

James drop knees his way down Powder Bowl

Slogging back up hill

Nearly there...

Gordy, James and Felix

Peak Hill, Rakaika Valley

Pip had an afternoon off and the weather was perfect. So crampons, axe, cookers, tents, dinner and extra warm stuff was loaded in the packs and we set off to try and catch the sun set from the summit of Peak Hill.

We made it there just in time, changing into our warm gears as the sun slipped below the horizon. Dinner was then made in the vestibule under starlight.

On the trip down, the moon came out, rendering our head lamps superflous. So we wandered back to the car in the incredibly bright celestial light.

Ready to go




Halfway up, Lake Coleridge behind

Pip and the Craigieburn Range

Sunset on Peak Hill Summit

Dinner time :)

Moonlight descent

Mt Bruce Ski Carry

There was a huge snow dump in the mountains and the avalanche danger increased to considerable, so we changed our Ski tour location to Mt Bruce, a lower angled, north facing, lower elevation summit in the northern edge of the Craigieburn range.

Walking into Cora Lyn to access the Lagoon Saddle (Mt Bruce) track

Mark, Chucky and Toine

We walked for a couple of hours through some amazingly soft deep powder to reach the bushline and the clear blue skies.

Only problem was, that the 2 feet of perfect powder was deposited directly on tussock! There was no base at all, and therefore it was un-skiable. However, we did persist uphill for a while, wading through the pow-wow for over an hour before turning around in disgust..

Couldn't even ski back down the hill.. So we carried our ski's all the way back to the car.. :(

View over the Waimak Basin

Snow Angels..

Multi Talented Toine


On the way home, there was just enough snow at Kuratawhiti (Castle Hill basin) to take the ski's for a walk and even get 2 turns in! (for 6 hours of walking!)

Big air at Kura Tawhiti ;0)

Mark catches a lift