Misdirection, Spensers and Sugar Cubes

Headed out to have a go at Mt Una from Glacier Gully, followed the best conditions on the day over Mt Duessa and up the South Ridge. The climb went without a hitch which is more than can be said for the rest of the trip.

Keiran on the South Ridge of Duessa

The trip started with a oil top up for my trusty transportation, the ol Carib. Turns out that cap they give you to put on your engine is not just for show and on the way out of Christchurch Kieran had to ask me what was being sprayed all over the windscreen. Anyway with a well lubricated engine bay we headed north to Lake Tenison. After missing the rather large sign for the Jacks Pass turnoff in Hanmer we went exploring the local forestry roads. These didn't seem quite right so eventually we got back on the right road and found ourselves at the lake. Which also wasn't quite right so after sorting out our gear we headed back down the road a bit to the other side of the Clarence River. Lake Tenison seems to be quite the popular camping spot which came in handy later but at the time it occured to me we had just driven into the middle of a campground, got changed in front of everyone then left again, whoops.

Drove a little way up the soon to be newly graded and opened to the public 4wd road over Maling Pass into the Waiau Valley, this will make fast access to some reasonably big terrain, might well be checking it out in winter. For the moment it takes about 2hr to get to a decent camping spot in the Waiua by foot.

Half way up the spur accessing the glacial shelf at the head of Glacier Gully

The next morning we headed up Glacier Gully. The stream required a bit of boulder hopping and a zig zag from one side to the other, it doesn't take long to get into the head of the valley though. From here you can gain the hanging glacier via a spur joining its southern end. If you stick to the northern side of this spur at the bottom you avoid most of the bush. The more direct routes to Una looked to have a rather akward amount of snow on them so we went up the south side of the glacier to the south ridge of Duessa.

Ascending the glacier to gain the south ridge

This can then be followed over Duessa and continues to the summit of Una. It made for a good climb, not to tricky but plenty of exposure, probably wouldn't be too nice with less snow on it as the rock is loose. We were Ok with the cloud cover this time as I managed to forget the sunscreen.

Looking back into the Waiau just below Duessa

Kieran high above Glacier Gully

Traversing back down, Mt Una behind

We got back down to our camp just on dark and back to the car at about midnight. This is where things went wrong. Still havent quite decided how this happened but got back to find a door hanging open. You would assume the car got broken into, but when you insert my car into that equation it makes less sense.

Boulder hopping down Glacier Gully

Things didnt look rummaged through but then again they were already pre rummaged, Kieran is also missing a necklace so who knows. But much more alarming at the time, the door being open meant the interior light was on, which means the battery was flat. A spirited attempt to push start it in reverse on a muddy 4WD track didnt pan out. Denied of the opportunity to drive to food it was another night sleeping in the car. This is were that adjacent campsite really payed off as we found a friendly hunter to give us a jump start in the morning and made it back to civilization.

Enjoying a nutritious breakfast the next morning