Suddenly I’ve come across a bunch of TAers.
I left my accommodation latish, after nine, and wandered around the lake edge. I chatted to an ex-farmer for a while and then ran into Geoff, who informed me that a Swiss couple were just ahead.
Then, just as I was starting the climb, there was Hector, heading south from Wellington, and shortly thereafter, the cheery, happy and chatty Jack.
The climb from the lake edge is 975 m, quite the steep grunt and somehow I never got into my climbing groove, just a case plugging away, having lunch, more climbing, lots of climbing, that’s for sure. Each time I turned around for a rest, the view almost took my breath away. Actually, there was a fair amount of heavy breathing today.
No great hurry. I didn’t want to race to the next hut for a change or even this first one. Take up those views of the lake because soon they will be gone.
At the hut where the Swiss couple were in residence, I went and whacked up the tent out in the tussock. There are not so many places that you can get one up between the clumps. A French couple arrived, an American bloke, and much later, an American woman travelling light. Everyone on TA.
That makes a count of nine of us today.
Other than that, there’s not much to report, except this is one of the highest huts of TA, 1380 m, and the temperature has dropped significantly.
Oh, one other thing, there’s been showers on and off since the climbing began.
I’m in my tent. Too many in the hut now, and the raindrops are coming down.
A guide to the night’s accommodation: Pakituhi Hut
