Christmas Day on Avalanche Peak

December 25th, 2002 at 12:00am

It’s Christmas in New Zealand and guess what, it’s raining! Hah. I don’t even think I need to mention the rain anymore – it’s understood that it rains every day. Well I’m in a beautiful place and surrounded by mountains for Christmas. I wound up spending an extra night in Greymouth because it was pouring (of course) and I didn’t feel like packing up a wet tent or trying to hitch in the rain and the hostel was a nice one so I enjoyed spending a day there.

Yesterday the sun came out in the morning and I was able to dry out my tent before packing up and I set out to hitch from Greymouth to here, about 100 km or 66 miles. The Christmas spirit must have been going strong because I got rides straightaway – four one after another, and wound up sharing the last 2 rides with a NZ guy who works in Franz Joseph and was on his way to Christchurch to spend Christmas with his family. Nice guy. They let me off at Arthur’s Pass and I set up my tent at the public shelter/campsite for $4 NZ/night ($2 US). By that time it was 2pm and I didn’t want to start any major hike that late in the day, so I chilled out all afternoon in the grass by my tent, enjoying the sun but not the high winds! I guess it’s always something with the weather in New Zealand. Last night it rained, naturally, and I woke up at 5am this morning (Christmas morning) to the sound of rain on my tent. Merry Christmas from New Zealand, pitter patter, pitter patter.

Well my plan today was to do a day hike to the summit of Avalanche Peak, at 1833 m, but I didn’t want to go above tree line with rain and high winds looming. I finally got out of my tent to make a coffee at 7am and by then I could clearly see sun and blue sky to the east and rain and clouds to the west. Well at least I could look in one direction and see sun. Better than I expected.

Spent the morning chatting with some other campers at the shelter and by 9am the sun was out so I made the decision to go for it. After all it is Christmas and I really wanted to walk after 2 day’s rest. So I packed up my stuff, took my backpack across the street to the hostel where I planned to tent (and shower) tonight, and I hit the Avalanche Peak trail at 9:30am.

It’s only a 7 km loop to the peak and back to the road but it’s over 1000 m (300 feet) up and down and that takes you above tree line so it’s definitely considered a challenging hike. Took me 2.5 hours to get to the summit. I didn’t see another soul the entire way. After about 1 hour 15 minutes I was at tree line and from there to the summit it was very exposed and VERY windy! I followed the rocky spine of the mountain to the summit and the wind was really trying to blow me off at times. It was ‘challenging’ just as the trail book describes it. I was sure I was the only person crazy (or stupid) enough to be up there. At times the gusts were so strong that I had to brace myself down with my hiking sticks and just wait for it to pass. I was determined to keep going. The last bit to the summit was a scramble over a knife edge of rocks but I made it. Didn’t stay at the top long at all – the wind was just too strong but the views were amazing. Snow-capped mountains all around. I quickly started to head down, dreaming of getting below tree line and out of the wind. About 10 minutes down from the summit I met an Irish guy coming up – my first encounter with a human all day! He took the easy trail up and the hard trail down. I did the opposite – hard trail up and easy trail down. We talked for a minute and then he continued up. I was anxious to get down. The wind was so strong that when I would spit, it flew back behind me every time! It was the kind of conditions where you just had to keep talking to yourself to stay focused and deal with the wind and keep moving to get to tree line. The clouds were looking darker and darker and I did not want to get caught in the rain up there.

One hour from the summit and I was at the bush line; took a 5-minute break and kept going down. An hour after that and I was at the road. All in all it took me 4.5 hours. Guidebook says 6-8 so I think I did ok.

Back at the hostel I managed to set up my tent before the rain started (and it has been raining quite steady all afternoon). Then hot shower and now I am getting ready to make my Christmas dinner of refried beans in burritos and red wine. It’s not the same as a home-cooked Christmas feast but it will have to do. Won’t be a white Christmas either but it will surely be a wet one. Hope everyone at home has a good holiday!

Views from the summit of Avalanche Peak

Summit flag!

Christmas evening playing cards with folks from the hostel

Entry Filed under: Arthur's Pass,Hiking/Trekking,New Zealand