Sitting at my desk last Spring, perusing the NTC programme, I noticed that a leader was required for a trip during the summer. What about something a little different and special?

Last year I finally completed a Mt Cook to Arthur’s Pass trip; doing this in three stages, rather than the intended one. Part of this trip involved traveling through the Garden of Eden and Garden of Allah, exiting by traversing Mt Lambert. So a trip to the Garden of Eden and returning the same way would be a good introduction to moraines and glaciers for club members. The idea was floated with Pat Holland and the trip was launched.

Big rivers, heavy packs and rough terrain made this tramp more challenging. The plan was to do this in ‘easy’ stages to ease people into heavy packs. The route would begin at Erewhon Station. Exploration would be done from our base camp and returning the same way to Erewhon Station.

A meetup at Kohatu 08:00 stopping at The Broadway Tearooms and Bakery in Reefton. Lunch was consumed at Lake Pearson. A stop at Mt Somers campground saw Madeleine diving into skippy bins for drink bottles, as Lake Camp does not have any water on tap.

At Lake Camp I expected lots of boat noise. However, I was not prepared for kids on trail bikes and quad bikes zooming past our campsite, kicking up lots of dust. The mountains were definitely beckoning us.

A short drive led to Erewhon Station to complete the intentions book. This was it; after all the planning, gear and food selection, we got to walk. Whatever had been forgotten, improvisation would have to work.

A short 4WD track brought us onto the river bed. By the time I had finished a pee stop, my group were heading along the bank. I set my path directly up the river bed, crossed the Clyde/Lawrence and continued, then waited for the group. They easily crossed the river and we continued up the river together.

The Clyde appears to have migrated to the true left, after coming up against Armada Bluff. We linked up to cross before Armada Bluff and were able to re-cross just prior to a long slip.

Negotiating along the bottom of the slip presented no problems. We were now on the true right of the Clyde which puts us on the true right of the Frances. No more river crossing!

At last we reached Watchdog Hut. After much thought and discussion, it was decided Liz would stay here and await our return. The gear was rearranged. We left Liz with food, stove, fuel, PLB and Kindle at Watchdog Hut.

A stroll up the true right over varied ground; boulders, bush, river flats, moraine debris found us at the Glacier Lakes. My campsite from the previous trip was very much intact. We allowed Kate and Sue to camp on ‘our’ front lawn. This is a great spot; green carpet, grass campsite and swims on hand.

A Satelite Phone schedule in the evening suggested our plan should be modified. It was decided we would go and camp on the Garden of Eden. This would give us a better window of opportunity to explore.

Rain, rain and more rain. We hunkered down and did some minor tweaks to the tent to stop the odd leak. Eating, drinking, knot work and Readers Digest saw us through the day. A whisky toast early in the evening was our New Years Eve party. Heather mentioned at 19:30 on the Sat Phone sched that Liz was out safely.

We were away to the Garden of Eden. No rain! Once the Glacial Lakes were negotiated on the true right, we began to climb the Colin Campbell Glacier (CCG). Colin took the lead and I took up the rear. Colin found a great way up his name-sake glacier. The only tricky bit was getting onto the south-west branch of the CCG. We discussed a route which entailed just one very small section of ice. Once on the TL we traversed high until we found an opportunity to join the glacial stream.

Rain threatened, but didn’t eventuate. We met on the snow and deployed our gear; axes, crampons, harnesses, rope and prusiks.  Eventually we were off. Pat took the lead on a rope of four; Pat, Sue, Kate and myself, followed by a rope of three; Carol, Madeleine and Colin.

Pat did a sterling job, and once we had the zigs -zags sorted, a single line of steps lead to the neve. Blustery wind was waiting for us at the top which didn’t entice us to venture further.

Colin quickly found campsites on a rock outcrop on the side of Wee McGregor Glacier. The shovel and ice axes were quickly put to work and guy ropes fully deployed ready for anything. This can be a very windy place.

We were at the gateway to the Garden of Eden. Would the weather allow us to venture further? By around 10am the weather appeared to settle. We packed our bags with snacks, gear and roped up to head for Adams Col. Once over Perth Col we headed south-west. Finally, we arrived on the legendary Garden of Eden Ice Plateau!

We stopped to absorb our new environment. Clouds and blue sky allowed us to appreciate the scale. With the weather looking settled we headed to Adams Col to experience the vastness of this area. On the glacier we experienced slopes and crevasses. After a break at Adams Col we followed our footsteps back, then had a look at Baker Peak.

The journey was punctuated with whiteouts, glaring sun and ‘oven-like’ temperatures. After some time the rock outcrops on the flanks of Baker Peak appeared. A few ‘zigs’ and ‘zags’ brought us to the rocky slab slopes leading to the summit. Then we were at the top of the first peak. Cloud remained on the Garden of Eden, but we had clear views down the Clyde and into the Colin Campbell Glacier.

We navigated back to the Garden then again followed our footsteps back to the campsite. A snow bath for me, food, drink and then bed.

A leisurely start today at 7am. It can get pretty hot with full-on sun. One of life’s little luxuries is to have a toilet stop without the paper getting wet from rain, sand flies, or having to put stones on each piece of paper to stop them blowing away. Urban dwellers know no such pleasures. Today was calm and pleasant. You have to experience the tedium of life to fully appreciate the good.

After further chit-chat, packing continued and we roped up. Descending the Colin Campbell Glacier was a challenge. The top section was steep. We descended slowly using the old steps, but kicking others at the side to reduce the stretch. In some places, solid ice had frozen our steps, thus some downclimbing was done to avoid these sections. All steps were made into bucket steps to accommodate those with more flexible boots in the party, giving extra security.

Once at the end of the snow all the gear came off and then lunch. Our trip down the CCG went very smoothly, led by Colin. We were soon at our favourite campsite erecting tents, making brews and having swims. We unearthed our cache which we had left three days ago. Kate and Sue set up their 20-metre clothes line. They must be the cleanest trampers that have visited this area Again, clouds came in when it was my turn for a swim! Life can be tough.

Today our destination was to be Watchdog Hut We arrived at with plenty of time to swim and enjoy our last night. Tomorrow was going to be a long day; walking out then driving home. Again, during my swim the clouds came in, but this time it poured. I left my clean clothes in a plastic bag while I had my unintentional shower, donning undies before entering the hut, (eight days into a tramp undies are classified as decent attire).

Colin shortly returned after visiting McCoy Hut , soaked. He too had been caught in the downpour.

Discussion ensued, and phone calls made to see if the weather was changing. No information suggested heavy rain in the area, but we decided to play it safe and walk out overnight.

By 19:10 we were packed and on our way. In dimming light the river crossing looked trickier. It was also felt that if we kept to the true left, we could keep the Clyde on our right; negating crossing the Clyde a second time.

However, we found ourselves being pushed more to the true left bank. We decided to cross and follow our original route up the valley. With dimming light the group developed an ‘urgency’ to get out.

There was no way we were going to get out before dark. The best thing to do was to stop before dark, take a break and ready torches: this we did. As night fell, we snaked down the valley. It was a pleasant evening.

We came across a road which took us to the last river to cross. We came to a spot that ‘looked’ shallow but was swift. To cut a long story short, we (a group of four) tried to cross. In backing out we lost the angle and everyone was exposed to the full force of the river. We took a swim. The run-out was fine and so all eventually made their way to shore. This incident highlighted a few issues.

Once the party was safely at Lake Camp, the holiday-makers had gone. When tents were up hot water issued forth; hummus, biscuits, soup, tea and chocolate were spread out.

After our 3am bedtime, there was no hurry to move. All we had to do today was return to Nelson. Water was collected and the stove cranked up. We all gathered in my tent for hot drinks and a trip debrief. It was an indication of the cohesiveness of the group that only positive things were said, especially since four of us had an early morning, unintentional swim. It was a humbling experience.

Thank you, Kate Krawczyk, Madeleine Roher, Pat Holland, Sue Henley, Carol and Colin for making this a great trip. By Mike Drake (scribe).