August 2012 Issue - Federated Mountain Clubs of NZ

had dinner, and, it being New Year’sEve, we sat around a fire on the solidgranite lakeshore until turning in late,in the rock bivvy that lies right besidethe outlet.’The good weather continued intothe New Year and the party broke newground by descending from the ridgeabove Lake Moreton to the TransitRiver. Max takes up the story: ‘Fromabout 1,260 metres we headed directlynorth down a steep and somewhatunnerving section of exposed rock andsnow-grass. Fortunately, this sectiondidn’t last for long, and we weresoon back on beautiful granite slabs,progressively more interspersed withpatches of snow as we approachedPt 1508.Views in every direction werebreathtaking, but the view back toLake Moreton, with its sheer waterfalloutlet, was particularly impressive. Afteradmiring the views for some time fromPt 1508, George descended to set upcamp on a plateau under Pt 1017,while Tom and I put in an ascent of Pt1549. This summit, with an enjoyable,if exposed, steep snow-grass climb,gives perfect views of Lake Ronald andits ultramafic mini-Red Hills, as well asthe Transit Valley, and Mt Pembroketo the north.‘I would probably have to rate thePt 1017 campsite as my favourite of alltime. From the plateau, the land dropssheer for nearly 700 metres straightinto the valley, and the cliff-edge evenfeatured a ‘diving-board’ rock, whichwe were able to peek over for thrills.When we turned in, I went straightto sleep, but George and Tom werekept awake by parrot screeches andwhat George described as a rhythmicbooming sound. Knowing that wewere in one of the last places wherekakapo had been found in the wild, weLady of the Snows from snowfields near Pt 1811 Photo: Max OlsenMax Olsen on a ridgeline above the Transit Valley, withLake Moreton beyond Photo: Max Olsenreported the noises to DOC upon our return, but a DOCteam sent in to look, found nothing.’On the following day the threesome completedtheir descent to the Transit: ‘perhaps the least pleasanttravel we encountered on the trip and comprising a lot ofswearing at leatherwood. Our route included two abseils,but on reflection, one of these could probably have beenavoided. The area between the 400–600 metre contoursincluded some very unpleasant and steep scrub whichmight not be a lot of fun in the other direction, or withanything other than perfect weather.’Fortunately, after they reached the Transit Rivertravel was easier for the most part, although by nowtheir food was running out. They made unsuccessfulattempts to catch trout in the river while en route forAugust 2012 • FMC Bulletin 29