Sunday 13 January 2019

Leader: Brandon Holman

This was an early start to climb Mt Matthews in a day.

We set off from Kapiti at 6:00am, joined others enroute and began our tramp from Catchpool carpark at 7:45am. The walk is 27 kms (compared with Tongariro Crossing at 21kms) so we knew we were in for a long day.

DOC estimate 10 hours, but we in fact took 11. We set off along the Five Mile Track from Catchpool to the Orongorongo river, and met several families coming out from overnight stays at the many huts in the valley. Once in the valley, and stopping to check for a phone signal (not Vodaphone I'm afraid), we proceeded to walk up the easy and flat river gravels to the start of the climb for about 5 km. We leapfrogged another party who had set out from Catchpool with us, but they eventually went ahead, as we took some leisurely breaks. We were lucky with the weather, as it was overcast with strong winds, after the recent very hot weather.

The climb up was fairly steep with tree roots needed for handholds frequently. We came across at least two other couples walking the trail. At the saddle we stopped to take in the views and rested up on a sheltered grassy knoll. Resuming the effort to climb we eventually reached the top which was covered in cloud and mist after 5.5 hours, and finding a place out of the wind stopped for lunch. After the customary group shot at the summit (941m) we retraced our path back down.

At the stream at the bottom of the climb some of us refreshed our water bottles (no ill effects) and meandered down the river bed once more. The sun came out about 4:00pm but was not severe enough for hats, and my new French foreign legion type hat stayed in my pack.

By 6:50pm we were all back at the cars, pleasantly weary after a challenging tramp, and glad to head homeward for refreshment and possibly a beer! Interestingly, Jeremy's frozen water bottles were still frozen in part after over 11 hours. Probably best not to freeze your water unless you know it is going to be very hot.

Those on the trip were:

Brandon Holman, June Shelton, Wayne Williams, Jeremy Williams (Wayne's son), Owen Cox