By Sean Keenan, 26 April 2026
An early Tararua snowfall was more than enough motivation for a late day trip up Mt Holdsworth. Finlay and I started early with the goal of doing the whole Jumbo circuit in a day. We hit our first bump in the road when we arrive at Zade's flat to find he was still asleep. Our remedy was to bang on his window until he woke up. Zade through his wool clothes in a bag and were quickly back on the road over the Remutakas. After a stop in Featherston for Zade's late breakfast we arrived in Holdsworth carpark and were on the trail by 10am (a lot later than intended). Despite feeling sluggish and slow we made it to Powell Hut in a brief 2 hours and 15 minutes. This was followed by the classic VUWTC faffing which kept us at Powell Hut for an hour for lunch. Staying true to the title of this trip, Finlay pulled out his cat iron tea pot and we enjoyed a lovely beverage on the balcony of the hut while we basked in the rare sunny skies of the Tararua Ranges. After the rest we packed up and headed for the Mt Holdsowrth trig, after breaking the bushline we were greeted with a stunning view of the mountain and the wider Tararuas with a dusting of snow. We were quick to get to the summit where we made a blouder problem out of climing the to the top of the metal trig. A stranger took a photo of the 3 of us in our matching fluorescent red jackets and we stayed briefly at the top before descending across the tops towards East Holdsworth track. Here we expected an eays descent on a well walked track. This was not the case as the beginning of the track looked like no one had been there in a few years. The track was far steeper than we thought but it was no match for Finlay's descending skills as he channelled his spirirt animal of the Mountain Goat to throw himself down the hill. After about 6 hours of walking and 8 hours with breaks we arrived back in carpark well after dark and journeyed back to Wellington after an accomplsihed day trip.
