Arthur's Pass 2002

"A Walk in the Park"
Arthur's Pass 2002

At the end of September 2002 we took ourselves down to the South Island
to wander around in some "Real Mountains".

Three of us went up to the Casey Hut and had an adventure.
Then six of us went up the Edwards, over Tarn Col, Walker Pass and down the Howden.
Here's the photos.

Peter wrote an article for his local newspaper about the trip. Read it here

Now that we have tasted the Southern Alps, we want MORE!

********** How about "Three Passes" at Easter? **********

Technical Note: Click on the thumbnail to see the photograph, then use the "back" button.
All photos are in 1024x768 aspect ratio (so that they can be wallpaper or screensaver fodder),
so a browser with "zoom" would make viewing easier e.g. Internet Explorer 6.0 or later.

bs01.jpg	Murray & Kevin sorting out their gear in Drena's Conservatory. Thanks to Drena for allowing us to invade her house!
bs02.jpg	Heading into the Andrews Valley late afternoon
bs03.jpg	Hallelujah Bivouac. ... we found it ... eventually ... in the dark.
bs04.jpg	Finally approaching the Casey Hut.
bs06.jpg	Murray likes mountain streams.
bs07.jpg	Looking across to the Savannah Range from above the Casey Stream
bs08.jpg	Looking up the Waimakariri Valley from above Andrews Shelter
jv01.jpg	Getting ready for the second walk up the Edwards
bs09.jpg	First break, half an hour up the Edwards Valley
bs10.jpg	Looking back down towards Mt Bealey
bs11.jpg	The Edwards Fork
bs13.jpg	A big waterfall ... well it looked impressive looking down at it.
bs14.jpg	Snow caught us at the end of the day. It was strange stuff, like polystyrene balls, not flakes at all!
jv02.jpg	Blokes inna hut.
1jm08.jpg	When we woke up we found out why it was so cold!
jv03.jpg	Murray and Peter doing a Feldman and Sellers impression.
2jm09.jpg	Ready for a new day's tramp.
2jm10.jpg	Heading off up to the Taruahuna Pass
2jm11.jpg	Looking back to the Edwards Hut
2jm13.jpg	Jeremy got "artistic" with the ice in on of the tarns (It's the background on this page: Try it as wallpaper).
3jm14.jpg	Peter suddenly got very excited ... He had spotted a Whio (NZ Blue Duck)
3jm15.jpg	A relatively rare sight...
3jm16.jpg	... so for the record: Upper Edwards Stream, 1st November 2002
4jm17.jpg	Upper Edwards Valley
bs15.jpg	Rounding a tarn
4jm18.jpg	wadda hero!
4jm19.jpg	"My friend's camel wandered off while he was fishing. ... we nearly caught one this big!"
5jm20.jpg	Tail end of the party coming onto the Taruahuna Pass
5jm22.jpg	Looking down into the west branch of Otehake Valley (West Coast)
5jm23.jpg	The climb up to Tarn Col
5jm21.jpg	Lunch. Peter later wrote a story for the local paper here is the text
bs16.jpg	Getting ready to go up there ...
bs17.jpg	going up ...
5jm24.jpg	... more going up ...
5jm25.jpg	Coming up ...
6jm01.jpg	Peeking over the top.
6jm02.jpg	Tail end coming in.
bs18.jpg	Tarn Col
jv04.jpg	"Thirsty work this climbing"
jv05.jpg	Taking a break.
jv06.jpg	Notice Jeremy has bare knees.
jv07.jpg	A rare sighting of a Grey-crested Fletcher. Normally found in the vicinity of Mount Pleasant but rarely seen this far south.
bs19.jpg	Heading off from Tarn Col
7jm03.jpg	Jeremy indicating where we are going to descend.
7jm04.jpg	John cuts a dash while Murray scrambles down.
7jm05.jpg	Ice formations on the south face
7jm06.jpg	Near the East Otehake Stream at the bottom
bs20.jpg	Dracophyllum traversii on the climb up to the Walker Pass.
8jm07.jpg	The Verstappen brothers find another unwitting buyer for "The Fountain of Youth". (Walker Pass Tarn)
8jm08.jpg	Twin Falls Stream
9jm09.jpg	Looking down into the Howden Valley
bs21.jpg	Light was fading fast ...
bs22.jpg	John setting up for the group photo (or was he just really liking his pack?)
jv08.jpg	Some technical advise was in order ...
jv09.jpg	The heros ...
jv10.jpg	... again.
bs23.jpg	Just so we know he was there.
Tarahunapass.jpg	Screen capture from tumonz map package.
bookscan.jpg	MAP

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