Te Puoho Glacier

So the mountains said no, to an Olivines mission, so Max and I cracked a plan for a super fast trip through some rough country from Moraine Creek to Tutoko Valley, via Turner's Eyre. We were subsequently joined by Joel and Katherine the night before the trip.

However, upon heading into the hills we ended up moving a bit slower than planned, given the rough terrain, the slab and the mist and drizzle. All in all as we approached the glacier it was becoming clear that we weren't going to make it to Turner's Eyre before dark and it wasn't particularly a place we wanted to be approaching after dark.

This left us with a bit of a conundrum as our lightweight packing hadn't really taken that eventuality into account. Fortuitously Max knew of a tent located under a rock in our vicinity. This being located we set about pitching it, using most of the peg to repair the broken poles. And then re-repair the poles after it got caught by a breeze during the pitching process.

Shortly afterwards we squished all 4 of us in the mouldy 2 man space and tried to sleep for the night. Oddly reminiscent of the GODZone Fiordland attempt. The next morning we turned tail and missioned it back out in similarly misty and drizzle conditions and arriving back at the car sometime after night fall after adventures on the Moraine Creek track, that certainly was never intended to be followed in the dark.

Thanks to Max Olsen, Katherine Sarcich and Joel. 7th-8th January 2019.