By Tommy Thomson, 10 June 2023
I was looking after the family dog Tilly for the weekend, and what better way to entertain both of us than a tramp. We left Wellington at around 9:30 with a vague plan to head to Neil Forks and conquer a spur where Lewis had got lost in the past. However, as we drove over the Remutaka hill the forecast looked perfect, so opportunistic Tararua trampers that we were, we changed the plan completely and chose to attempt an ambitious tops loop via Tarn ridge.
We left Kiriwhakapapa at 11:30, there was a guy there with 2 dogs that decided that our trip looked much more fun and followed us for 5 minutes, until we finally managed to shoo them away. We made short work of the puff up Blue Range, only deviating from our busy plan for the 10 minute detour to bag Blue Range hut. The weather had clouded over by this point and it looked like we were in for a misty but calm day on the Tararua tops. No matter, we hurried back down the hill for a late lunch at Cow Creek hut. Lochie had visited the previous weekend and the hut was very tidy, thanks to him and exNZFS. We got to enjoy the first part of the Arete Forks sidle track, the “worst track in the Tararuas”, which was very steep but otherwise a lovely way to warm up on the cold winter day, then deviating up towards Table Ridge. The route here would be hard to find on the way down, but routes are useless going up so we had no issues finding our way. Despite having a reputation as the fittest person in the club, I was feeling puffed by this point. Perhaps it had something to do with climbing 2 steep mountains in 5 hours. We left the trees and entered the clouds looking forward to the flat top of Table Ridge. As we reached that flat top though, the cloud started to thin and the sun started to shine.
The variety of Tararua weather never ceases to leave me in awe. One moment we were in a cloud and could only see 100m around, the next moment we were on an island floating above a white sea, with the other mountains floating as their own isolated islands around us. This called an inversion, because the clouds look like the floor below you rather than the ceiling above you. Taranaki and Ruapehu were floating in the distance. On one side of the ridge the sun was setting, on the other side there was a glory, a rare circular rainbow that’s only visible from a ridge at sunrise and sunset.
We floated along Table Ridge as the sun set behind Tarn Ridge, then I struggled at the back up to Brokett. Another group was silhouetted on the top of the ridge in front of us. We caught up to them at the Girdlestone pinnacles as darkness fell. I was worried Tilly would run off into the darkness to meet them and fall off, so I kept her within my torch beam. Dogs have no fear, she taunted us wondering what the big deal was. At Tarn Ridge hut, we discovered that the other group was a WTMC party, they had arrived over Mitre from The Pines. [You can read their report here. https://wtmc.org.nz/trip-report/tararua-magic-tarn-ridge-hut-on-a-calm-winter-weekend/]
Tarn Ridge hut is a bit sad. The water tap is broken, so we had to consult the hut book to discover how to remove the rock propping up the tap and encourage it to leak more, and prop it back to encourage it to leak less. The mattresses are moldy and the walls are rotting. But it’s so much better than sleeping outside. And the view of the huge bulk of Bannister across the deep Waingawa is something to behold.
After a cold night, we faffed a bit longer than we needed to cleaning the hut. Resigned that the sun wasn’t going to rise above the clouds for a while longer, we set off. The weather was perfect once again and Tarn Ridge was blissfully flat, but the low morning sun was in my eyes so I didn’t see most of it. Tilly had no issues with the Waiohine Pinnacles, again taunting our slow and careful approach. As you approach the top, the route takes a exposed clamber to the left, but I recommend sidling right, towards Pinnacle Spur, where there’s more tussock and less exposure. The sign on Waiohine Pinnacles suggests it takes 30 minutes to Arete (Biv? Hut? Shelter? Nobody seems sure) but even in our haste we failed to match that time. Presumably it dates back to the forest service deer cullers who spent their lives tramping these ranges. In Arete Hut we had morning tea and mused “Does the man make the mountains or the mountains make the man?” After visiting subsequently, I’ve concluded that both are true. These mountains have made me who I am, and through the huts and tracks and stories and friends, man has made them something more than just beautiful lumps of rock.
We sidled up to the Main Range and to the junction with Banister Ridge. I discovered that despite Arete being the headwaters of 6 major rivers, it’s only possible to spit into a maximum of 3 from one place, which I did. On Bannister ridge the route became almost non-existent, but we made good progress. I encouraged Tilly to drink in a tarn, but she seemed unable to despite trying several times. I poked the water and discovered that there was a clear layer of ice that she was bumping her nose on. We climbed along the narrow ridge over the Twins to Bannister and second Bannister. Bannister is the second highest peak in the Tararua Range and the sheer plunge into the Waingawa makes it feel even higher than it is.
Even though we were over the top, anticipation was still building. Bannister ridge is rumored to be the hardest in the range, but everything so far had been easy. We were expecting a drop around every corner, but finally in the low saddle west of 1385 we reached it. It’s an unremarkable 3m drop with a flat saddle below, but it happens to be sheer rock. Tilly had finally met an obstacle she couldn’t calmly run down like it was nothing. Being more worried about Tilly than myself, I climbed down first with my pack on, which made it more awkward. Tilly came next while I encouraged her from below. She crouched right down and carefully picked her way down. Unfortunately paws aren’t as good as hands to grip on, so she slipped. I saw an expression of pure terror as she slid uncontrollably down the rock face. Then I caught her. Many “Good Girl”s were exclaimed as I let her go to run excitedly through the tussock. Lewis and Lochie came next and slowly and carefully climbed down.
Tararua Footprints recommends bringing a rope for this traverse, and it’s a good suggestion if you’re going west to east like we were. But the rope doesn’t need to be more than 5 meters and it’s do-able without.
We had another late lunch at Waingawa, and sadly left the tops behind as we raced down to Cow Saddle, trying to make the most of the remaining daylight for the off-track shortcut to Blue Range, avoiding Cow Creek. There wasn’t much of a track as I expected and exhausted as we were, we almost got lost, but made it to the main track on dark. From the wide open tops, the world narrowed to just my torch beam, and then the dim scatterings of Lewis’s torch beam after mine went flat. We slowly trudged out to Kiriwhakapapa to end a 14 hour day.
But the adventure wasn’t over yet. While driving in, we passed a sign that we thought said the Remutaka hill closed at 11pm. Turns out that it closed at 9pm on the 11th, which meant we weren’t going to make it. Lochie the champ declined an offer to crash at my relatives’ in Carterton and soldiered on for the 2.5 hour drive the long way around the Tararua range. Another solid Tararua weekend accomplished.