Friday night - Holdsworth - Powell Hut
There is possibly no greater institution in Wellington Tramping than spending Friday night marching up to Powell Hut under head-lamp. It could be argued, that a similar march to Field Hut on the opposite side of the range deserves this title.
It was a gentle waltz up the broad and well maintained Gentle Annie track, but once we were past Mountain House we soon left the shelter of the bushline and had to be more careful to negotiate the icy underfoot conditions. Regardless of the ice, it was 2 and a half hours to Powell Hut, where we arrived just after midnight. Naturally, the other overnight visitors, snug in their pits were a little surprised to see us arrive at that hour (we did our best to be quiet).
Saturday - Along High Ridge, drop in to Totara Flats
We arose to a breezy morning. There was brief debate on the benefits of ice axes and crampons of which we had none. We left the other guests with their bacon & eggs while we negotiated our way over the ice to the junction where High Ridge joins Holdsworth Ridge. Once we left the main track, we were into softer snow conditions which made travel easy and fast. Well, thats when we were not being blown over in the breeze! The bushline looked so close on the map, but it was close to an hour before we were into the sheltered bush. While not maintained, the disused track wasn't too difficult to follow with reasonably regular orange discs marking the route. This much vaunted navigation trip didn't seem to offer as many navigational challenges as anticipated. Merv Rodger's Tararua Footprints route guide suggested climbing a tree to spot the ledge and keep left at the turn-off from Flaxy Knob. However, when we reached Flaxy Knob, no tree climbing was required with the decaying remains of an old sign pointing to Totara Flats in view.
Saturday night saw three WTMC parties congregate at Totara Flats Hut, all arriving from different routes. It was also Victoria's birthday, and there were no "gate-crashers" (lucky for them??)! It was the best attended birthday party that Victoria had had for years with balloons, candles and trifle. The trifle made an excellent surrogate birthday cake. Not bad for bush tucker?
Sunday - Cruise out to Holdsworth
Sunday was windy, but uneventful as we followed the well travelled track from Totara Flats, up to Pig Flat and then our to Holdsworth via the Gentle Annie Track.