Familiar territory. That’s what Mt Fyffe (1602m) was suppose to be.
It had been a busy few weeks pumping out a handful of peaks and I thought it be time to get one of my further afield peaks. I had done Mt Fyffe before so knew what to expect, and after checking the Kaikoura webcam, accepting that the top will be covered in snow. Little did I know that this would become my enemy.
I packed all my overnight kit with the intention of staying the night in the hut. With the walk up being pretty mellow , Charlie dog came along for some company.
We started off from the carpark at 1230 and trudged our way up the hill. Along the way, it was great catching snippets of the new mountain bike trail being built. The trail is approx. 7km of climbing taking you about 1/3 of the way up before sending you down 3km of single-track back to the bottom.
We got to the hut in an hour and a half and stopped for a bite to eat and some water. From here we were to be walking in the snow to the summit.
It was slow going. The snow was horrible to walk on being that it was a slushy slippery snow pack. I’ve walked on snow many times before but never in this sort of condition. Both Charlie and I were on struggle street with many profanities being said on my behalf and Charlie going on strike by sitting down 150m from the top.
We stopped and took a break then I proceeded to carry Charlie on and off until we hit the summit.
We definitely had to earn this peak.
The views at the top were spectacular being able to see right down to Banks Peninsula whilst being towered over by Manakau and the Seaward Kaikoura Range. With the winds forecasted to increase we took our photos then headed back down to the hut. Going down was a hell of a lot easier than up!
We got back to the hut and we were both buggered but it was pleasant to have the place to ourselves. I started making myself at home and preparing some wood to get the fire going in a few hours (there wasn’t much wood so hence why I didn’t try get going the entire time).
After dinner I cranked the fire, grabbed my camera and headed outside to grab a few night photos. My attempts were good but with the winds blowing 90+km/h keeping the camera still on the tripod was near impossible.
After a few attempts and a visit from a couple of Kea. We headed back into the hut to get some shut eye.
Just as we were dozing off, a couple who had driven up after work arrived. They were nice but as a result of being woken back up, one of them snoring like a train and the winds hammering the hut, bugger all sleep occured that night!
At 0600, Charlie and I snuck out for his morning pee and to watch the sunrise come up. It definitely had to be one of the best spots to watch the sunrise from. The colours were just unreal.
After a bite to eat we packed up and began the road back to the car.
#10 Mt Fyffe – 1602m, 16.5km, Overnighter
Time for a nap.
We’ll see what next week brings! Heading to Mt Hutt for a staff snow day so will see how my body fares after a day on the board.
Cam.