The Tramping Report

A new Mt Somers Hut

The old Mt Somers Hut was a classic musterers hut

Mt Somers is a favourite tramping area for Honora and me. It's not usually our first choice though. We usually save it for when the Nor'wester brings heavy rain in the main ranges.

And because the Nor'wester is a fairly regular occurrence in Canterbury, it's just as well the Mt Somers area can take a lot of exploring.

To give us more time we prefer to drive down from Christchurch on the Friday night and walk straight in to the hut. It only takes us an hour to walk in there in the dark.

The anticipation of lighting the open fire and bunking down in the old musterer's hut was always a big part of the attraction.

Sadly we won't have this to look forward to now. DoC have just completed construction of a large new building to replace the lovely historic old hut.

The new Woolshed Creek Hut alongside the old Mt Somers Hut

I have to admit, even though I'd seen the plans, I was surprised by the scale of the new building when we went in and saw the reality of it. It will sure take me some getting used to.

And new trampers may never know the historic experience they've missed.

 

(I previously had a link here to an article in the Ashburton Guardian but they have taken it down)

Old Man Peak, not quite

The Old Man Range runs east from the summit of Mt Taylor. At the end of the ridge is Old Man Peak (K35 784 422). It's not easy to get to but at 2221 metres it deserves a prominent position on the list of Canterbury's foothills.

Walking in to the old Mt Somers Hut en route to Old Man Peak

Richard Wills originally was to lead a trip to climb Mt Harper, up the Waimakariri in Arthurs Pass NP. A forecast nor'wester had him looking for an alternative further east. I suggested Old Man Peak.

I've been there before but I have a very strong need to go back.

A good team had signed up for Harper and we only lost one in the switch to Old Man. We were: Richard Wills, Emma Richardson, Lukas Frei, Gareth Rapley, Andrew Tromans, Jonathan Carr, Max De Lacy, Honora and me.

We drove down to Mt Somers and parked at the Woolshed Creek carpark. The weather was cool and overcast for the walk in to the old Mt Somers Hut.

I hadn't thought I'd get to see the old musterers/trampers hut again. It's being replaced by a 26 bunk tourist quality facility, to be put in this summer.

After a lengthy snack break at the hut we pushed on. The pace increased a bit, following the flat stream bed to the head of Woolshed Creek. The tussock slopes there slowed us down again and we arrived on Peache Saddle all together. The Old Man Range loomed a long way across the valley.

On the ridge Honora and I pointed out the route down and across the Three Creek basin to the hut. There was no holding them back now. Everyone took off....

The party of nine split, taking 4 or 5 different lines sidling the hill and then descending different spurs. For a while it seemed much of a muchness which group was in front. However Honora, who for a while seemed to be trailing the field, used her route-finding know-how to get the jump on everyone and suddenly appeared far ahead in the distance. She was already crossing the plateau while everyone else was still descending the hill. Max took off like a scalded cat, in pursuit. He only managed to catch her 100 metres short of the hut. I got there third and the rest straggled in. Richard led from the rear, coming in 20 minutes behind the 2nd last to the hut. It was classic CTC stuff.

Three Creeks Hut is a basic tidy musterers hut. It doesn't really look that old however its true age is shown by the pages of a 1922 English Daily Mirror  newspaper stuck to its walls.

We settled in for a pleasant evening of the usual domesticity and chat.

The morning plan was to get up at 6.00 am. I was impressed that by 5 past everyone was up and dressed.

Outside, the dawn sky was an ominous dirty pink to the east and the nor'wester swished about the hut.

There were discussions about what time people needed to be away home. This led to 10.00 am being set as the turnaround time.

A bit after 7.00 we headed off. The route crosses the stream from the hut and follows and old 4x4 track. The track zig-zags all over the place and isn't marked on the map. Honora and I knew it well so we were able to take a short cut from the back of the bunch to way out in front. It must have been quite distressing for Max.

He stuck with us until the road stretched away straight and direct up the hill.

The nor'wester gusted increasing strongly as we climbed. My legs were suffering. I've had too many weekends away from the hills in recent weeks. I didn't want to give up on Old Man for myself but started recognising that I wasn't going to be part of any desperation push for the summit.

The whole team bunched up and discussed the options. I said nothing. The majority decided the approaching turn-around time meant the summit was off, today.

Our high point was 1410 metres, and I'm sure some were disappointed.

Emma Richardson takes in the view from 1410 m

But it was something to learn from. I guess everyone wished they'd pushed to go for the summit on the Saturday.

But I still have to exorcise a memory from this mountain, so I'll be back. And I guess some others might want to go back and finish it off for themselves too.

We walked to a knob at the end of a spur jutting out from the side of the mountain (K36 802 402). It gave us a good look up at Old Man, and the long way back.

We turned for home.

It's different when Honora and I are out by ourselves. Then we continuously adjust our plans and so not getting where we originally set out for is not often an issue. But I get a bit sad when others are along and we don't achieve our goal.

We got a good scree run down from the knob and that perked me up. Lunch was back at the hut.

On our way out, rather than crossing Peache Saddle, we crossed the range further east and found an excellent scree back down into Woolshed Creek. That's definitely got to be the standard return route.

On the way home we stopped at the Railway Tavern in Rakaia for a meal. I'd reccommend that to anyone. It was friendly, a good price, comfortable surroundings and a good basic fare menu that's ideal for the end of a trip in the hills.

Canyoning in Woolshed Creek

Woolshed Creek, at Mt Somers, has a deep narrow canyon that can be traversed through. However it has waterfalls and deep pools in it. There are a couple of bits that usually need abseiling and, even on a hot day, you'll only be really comfortable if you're wearing a wetsuit.

The combination of skills and gear needed for this trip make it not really standard fare for any of the regular outdoor clubs, be they climbing, tramping, caving or whatever. Consequently the trip is rarely seen on the programme of any type of club.

However there are some individuals that have sufficiently eclectic outdoor interests to to give them just the right mix of expertise needed for this route. A small number of them have been organising their own 'shoulder-tap' trips through the Woolshed Creek canyon.

Jonathan Carr is one of these. Jonathan's connections with watersporters, cavers, university and social trampers and climbers are the perfect mix for a trip like this.

Jonathan got a group together in January, but I was helping on a leadership workshop for the Christchurch Tramping club that weekend so I missed out. But there were others too who were still keen to go so Jonathan scheduled another mission.

This time it was the Main/Shanks and three youngsters family, UK couple Andy & Kirsty, Aroha, Tim, Brent, Kerrie, Ian and me on Jonathan's list. I can't imagine any other trip that could pull together a group of such disparate interests.

It was a hot walk over the hill, past the old coal mining relics, to the Mt Somers hut. It took us nearly twice as long as the hour it usually takes Honora and me. But of course some were carrying full wet-suits, ropes and harnesses, etc.

I was glad to see the old hut one more time. I probably won't get there again before DoC replaces it with the new 'Super Sized' tourist quality model.

After lunch we headed down into the creek at the top of the gorge and prepared for getting wet.

There was quite a range of gear being pulled on. Most had either full wet suits, or springers with half length arms and legs. The UK cavers had matching caving overalls. The two trampers had polypro tops and bare legs. I feel the cold, and I didn't want to be typecast as a tramper out to prove how tough I was, so I pulled on long-johns and overtrous, two thermal layers and parka, with a beanie under my helmet. Then I got very hot waiting for the off. But maybe those in full wetsuits did too.

Of course we all had harnesses, and there was every possible type of mechanical descending device.

Then commenced the long wait. It took about an hour for everyone to abseil down into the gorge.

That was fun. The abseil took us down into Morgan Stream and over a small waterfall into a large deep pool. Most finished their abseil in the pool.

I stayed on the rope, climbed out and dropped over a second waterfall into the main Woolshed Creek canyon. Most downclimbed this shortish steep piece past the second waterfall. However Kerrie slipped and fell, hurting her tailbone.

Next was another long wait, especially for those first down. Those who weren't heavily insulated found it quite a cold wait too.

The first section of the canyon was only a metre or so wide. But after 20 metres it widened out to 3-4 metres. From there it became mostly just a walk. In some sections pools required a swim or pack-float.

After a couple of hundred metres there's another short waterfall. This is only about two metres high and most just jumped into the pool below it. However there's a rock a metre below the surface of the pool so care was needed. If people didn't want to jump here there's an anchor to abseil from.

Beyond this it just becomes an easier and easier walk down a bouldery stream bed. There are a few pools to jump into. That became the goal of the more fun-oriented, seeking out everything that could be leapt into, swum, splashed or floated in. Others just walked on.

Quite a long way down we arrived at a large pool deep-set below a broad rock shelf. This was a perfect place to stop for food in the sun. Almost everyone joined in there, leaping into the pool and then shooting down the hydro-slide below it.

After this it was just a long tramp down a stream bed. With all the heavy wet gear and wet suits, I think most were glad to get out onto the track and back to the car park.

The day was a lot of fun and a good chance to mix with a bunch of outdoors people who don't see themselves first as trampers. Also I think it was good for the pure trampers to see how much fun can be had on a water trip.