By Felicity Wills, 26 August 2025
Originally I had no intention of running a midwinter trip. However, due to some bribery/blackmail (allegedly) from the chief guides I found myself scouring Topo 50 trying to find a short but cool trip to do. Finlay was also in a similar situation of being obliged to run a trip and so we decided 5 minutes before presenting that we were both going run a trip to Mangaweka, the highest point in the Ruahines. This style of planning continued until we were at the huntercark at 6am, hopping into Chris’s car and deciding then which exact route we were taking (which would then change again anyway). We picked up Sean on the way and made it to the start of the trail at around 11, after stopping for some of the ‘worlds best pies’ (they were pretty good) and getting lost once.
The trail itself was nice and we broke the bush line in no time. Then began the next phase of the trip: the slog. This involved about 5 hours of possibly the most frustrating snow to walk in. You would sink most steps sometimes up to your thigh, my shins started bleeding as I would bash them on the thinner icy top layer on my way down. At least I didn’t fall into a frozen tarn, instead, Finlay would have that pleasure. An experience I am sure he will never forget.
We decided early on to change our route to come out the following day via Pouranaki River, which would avoid the high winds set for what would have been our last day, as well as this stupid snow. It also meant that we unfortunately would not make it to Mangaweka but I don’t think any of us were that attached to the idea anyway. We plodded on. Chris put some bread bags Finlay thankfully brought on his freezing feet as his ‘boots’ were falling apart, although they apparently would still get him through till next winter… (delusion). Sean self-arrested once, but I think that was mainly because he wanted to use his ice axe. The sunset was beautiful behind Mt Taranaki in the distance, and I found myself having a splendid time, despite the painful snow.
We made it back into the bush after slipping and sliding down the spur as it got dark. This also meant I could finally finally piss, as I didn’t fancy the exposed cold tops (shoulda brought the shewee). This put me in a great mood for the rest of the dark walk down to Pourangaki Hut, I think the others were over it by this point however. What should have taken 6 hours took us 8.
We woke up the next day ready to hop down the river after a very restful sleep on some very mouldy mattresses. The river was cold and very pretty. In no time, we made it to the cutsie Kelly Knight Hut for lunch, where we gorged ourselves, given that we all now had extra food. We were having too much fun, so we continued down the river, hoping that it didn't get too gorgy (it didn’t!). We saw many nice swimming spots, stopping at one, and even saw some Whio! Eventually, we got to the fork in the river and had to walk up Pari stream to try to avoid some farmers' property. This led to us searching for a climbable spur amongst the many cliffs, which we eventually found. We then bashed up a ‘trail’ made by some brave escapee sheep from the farm above. Methods up involved some crazy flexibility, crawling, and (if you’re Finlay) using your ice axe to punch your way up the dirt faces. We popped out and skirted around the rest of the farmer’s paddocks back to the car, scaring some of the sheep and avoiding some of the ‘sleeping’ lambs.
Wonderful trip, would do again.
(more photos -> https://photos.app.goo.gl/sJgwFe1RNaQjcRSJ7)