Leader: Debbie Hogan
In June I climbed to Richmond Saddle Hut for the first time. The cloud was down, and while we enjoyed the climb, we had no views. The hut was cute, warm and the company was great for the night. The weather was worse the next day, so we headed down without me even seeing the peak we had come to climb. I was determined to return.
I put my name down for the tramp when it came up in July, only to find the leader was injured and the tramp was missing a leader, so I became ‘it.’ The scheduled weekend had a horrid weather forecast, heavy rain even for Nelson. We had to cross a river at the bottom of the valley before the climb up the ridge, so that weekend was definitely not an option for a tramp.
The following weekend, a merry six set off; the weather forecast a bit better, with the best weather window being Saturday afternoon.
Arriving at the river crossing was sobering. The usual river crossing route had been completely washed away from the floods the previous weekend. We were forced to leave the vehicles on the other side of the river and walk up the road for an hour before starting the climb.
The route follows a steep ridgeline through lovely native bush; a grunt of a climb which soon had us wishing for a break in the gradient. As we climbed, I was amazed to see how close by the mountain peak was. I felt I could just reach out and touch the peak through the trees; it made my heart sing.
By the time we arrived at Richmond Saddle Hut, the weather angels had done their stuff. The peak was surrounded by a bluebird sky. There wasn’t a puff of wind. The peak beckoned, even although it was already 3.30pm when we started the final ascent. Graeme stayed in the hut, attending the fire and warming the mulled wine he had so kindly carried up the ridge.
The peak was cloaked in snow, but not enough to allow us to use our crampons. The route was through a jumble of large, loose boulders infilled by snow. We passed a twinkling, frozen waterfall, slowly starting to melt in the afternoon sunshine.
We arrived on the summit after 5pm, watching the sun set in soft mauve colours with views of snowy mountains in all directions. We were thrilled to be there at that special moment – it made me glad to be alive.
The descent was slow but controlled, as it was the first time Ashley had walked on snow. We could feel how the soft snow started to freeze once the sun had set. We soon had our torches on as we picked our way down through the snow-rock jumbles. Graeme could watch our progress up and down the mountain from his spot at the hut, so he knew we were safe. We knew he had the home fires warmed for us. The air was still calm and the stars glistened brightly. I felt like part of a team descending from Mount Everest after a long climb with the welcome party at the bottom charting our progress in a small pool of torchlight. The mulled wine, two bottles of red wine (a treat, definitely no longer on my usual list of things to carry) and a game of card monopoly rounded off an exciting day.
Sadly, the weather had closed in again the next morning and we descended in slight drizzle without another view of the magical mountain. It was truly a great weekend enjoyed by all.
Climbers were: Debbie Hogan (leader and scribe), Graeme Ferrier, Kate Krawczyk, Sue Henley, Peter Waworis, & Ashley Chin.