It’s Sunday afternoon, I’m halfway down a remote south Canterbury valley and I can’t find my friends Marta and Paul. I yell at the top of my voice, blow my whistle and scan the rugged river and dense scrub. My heart rate jumps what do I do now?
Planning for this trip had been a bit last minute, the original plan was Ivory Lake in April but biking crashes, work and family commitments moved this to May and reduced our time to 4 nights. Not enough for Ivory. We could visit the gardens of Eden and Allah or go to the Smyth range.
We searched for some plan Bs around Erewhon. We found 4 options including a loop around the Arrowsmith range, that Shaun Barnett had done a few years ago.
The route headed to Cameron hut then north over Peg Col into the Raikaia, up to the Lyell glacier then back east towards Mt Arrowsmith over Butler Saddle into the Lawrence River and finally over the Potts and Big Hill ranges where we could get back to the start point near Lake Heron.
There were a few memorable moments from this adventure among the 5 beautiful days of mountain magic.
The hunting groups at Top and Lawrence huts treated us to great hospitality. Beer whiskey, yummy food and excellent company 😋
The beauty of remote valleys, high passes and views over the Southern Alps kept us smiling for days 😊
The pain and grind of 4 hours bush bashing in the dark to find Lyell hut.
Wearing my rain jacket to bed as an extra layer on a freezing night in the insulation-free Top hut
Exploring an alternative route from the Lawrence to the Potts River that included a 400m 55degree scree slope that took 2 hours to climb.
A beautiful unnamed valley between the Potts and South Ashburton River that provided scree running, pinnacle rock formations and easy River travel.
And lastly a good outcome to our group separation. After trying to find my mates unsuccessful, I sent them an in reach message with my plan, put on my helmet and headed down the river. After an hour of worrying if we were going round and round looking for each other I found them waiting for me down the valley. A few more lessons for next time.