Powell-Jumbo Loop

Joe Prebble (scribe)  Ben Clark, Richard Davies

A fairly light sleep in Powell Hut on Friday night, as a group from the Wainui Christian College shared bad jokes and saliva into the night. Not helped much by their teacher, who took a Ned Flanders approach to discipline, attempting to pull them into line at 11.30pm with: “Come on now, people. You’re really starting to border on being a bit disrespectful there…”

We were wandering up towards Holdsworth by seven, on a hot clear morning, with clouds filling in all the valleys. Very nice indeed. By the time we’d dropped down to Mid Waiohine Hut and up to the south end of Kahwhirioa via a ridge opposite the hut, the mist in the valleys had risen and a warm skanky cloud covered the tops. No more views for the rest of the day’s walk, as we skipped past a much improved Anderson’s Hut (great deck), then hobbled along to Nichols Hut. There the cloud disappeared, and the fantastic views from the dunny could be truly appreciated.

Sunday morning was clag again, and we decided to take the most direct route home – down the ridge to the base of McGregor Spur. The views from the top of Jumbo made up for the grind up the spur and the hobble down the motorway next to the Atiwhakatau

A good weekend.

Gained:          >3000m meters of elevation

                        Some zig-zag red line

Lost:                ~ 18 litres of sweat

                        2 big toe nails

                        Some important parts of the under-carriage

                        A few more grams of knee cartilage