After a relatively good sleep, I was up early and down in the kitchen making breakfast.
The standard 3 eggs scrambled on toast went down a treat and soon after I was packed and in the car heading to the trailhead.
I wasn’t going to make things any easier for myself today with Sebastopol (1,468m) today’s peak.
Starting where I left off yesterday (metaphorically) I was greeted by a number of stairs. Hundreds to be more precise. This continued for 40 minutes until I reached the Red Tarns.
A nice little area with a number of tarns that made a stunning backdrop against Mt Cook.
From here things got a little steeper and more off track. Thankfully it wasn’t long until I felt the sun’s heat on my face. Fortunately I didn’t have far to go, although what was remaining was steep!!
There was no real track up the spur which shows how seldom usage this peak sees.
After some steep scrambling and a few moments of concentration around foot placement I made the high point next to the summit.
There was just the small matter of a steep saddle to traverse before standing atop Sebastopol.
With no issues I had reached the top. Mother nature had put it on for me today.
Not a breath of wind, nor cloud in the sky. I could see the far reaches of Lake Pukaki to the south and Mt Cook to the north.
A stunning vista that held my attention for over 30 minutes while I took photos, ate food and bathed in the sun.
Now came the fun part….the descent!
I had scoped out a scree line thriugj a tight gut on the way up that looked to be achievable. I slowly went down the first 10 meters to open up my line of sight. After seeing it was a safe line I dropped in and let the rocks take me for a ride! It was one of the steeper routes I had taken but it was always manageable. At one point I felt a whole section slip. I had subsequently triggered a small land slip! I quickly jumped off to the side out of harms way and watched with a smile on my face a large portion of rock slide down the hill. *Disclaimer. The runout from this scree run was safe and put no other people at risk of having rocks roll down at them.
After the earth had settled I jumped back into the main line and continued my way down. The last 100m became a bit more ‘janky’ which made me make sure of my foot placement.
Back at the Red Tarns, I turned around with a smile of satisfaction and nodded towards Sebastopol.
A few photos were taken then it was back to the car.
A solid mornings effort, and now for the drive home.
#35 Sebastopol – 1,468m, 5.6km, 3 hours
Time to head home, recover and tick off a few more before winter hits.
Till next time,