By Lewis Thomson, 04 August 2023
Two days before Chris our illustrious chief guide sent out the call for a mish in the snow to McGregor biv.
Lochie had just returned from the tararuas on Friday night, lewis had returned from town (where he’d lost his wallet), and with Jack the famed solo tramper on board, the team was set. We had a cruisy start, joining the group of beginner atiwhakatu trampers. There was a person who’d recently gone missing, which must’ve been an encouraging sign.
Our quartet zoomed along, witnessing somersaults and all. Up the east Holdsworth Lochie and I got into some very deep chats. Time slowed down, and an eternity had passed by the time we hit the snow. Once we did it was deep and soft we were reminded that plugging through the snow is indeed hard work. We took turns leading, but there was a chap in front of us who did most of the work, bless him. Up on top it was stunning, see photos. A beautiful afternoon on golden hour.
As the sun dipped towards the horizon, we reached noble jumbo. We were very thirsty and smashed through the thick ice of a tarn to reach water. An incredible spot to watch the sun set, although a bit chilly. With night quickly approaching we decided to turn to jumbo hut for the night rather than risk the long cold walk in the dark. So we arrived, but then Lochie and Lewis, just to be contrarian, made up their minds to go to McGregor after all. So the group split, Chris and Jack to a toasty hut and hot dinner in fellow company. Lewis and Lochie to a walk through the night, sans head torch. The stars were beautiful. We climbed McGregor which in the snow felt like a real alpine summit. We also saw an alien, but I'm not sure how much else I'm allowed to say on that...
Finding the hut successfully, before the moon even had time to rise, Lewis was very excited to tuck into a hot dinner. Lochie then tentatively brought up the possibility that he had forgotten the matches…
Oh well. Cheese and salami it was then. On the bright side we had a nice looooong sleep, woken only by the sound of Chris and Jack walking down the hill the next morning. The team was reunited, the weather was typical Tararua. We took on the broken axe pinnacles. Although we didn’t go right over the top, sidling round the steep sides in the snow was still very dramatic and alpine esque. After that it was a straightforward enough walk down baldy. More great chats, snacks at atiwhakatu as it got dark, we arrived back to the car after a 13 hour day.