Mt Stalker

I headed down to the carpark at 8am to meet up with 10 other trampers all ready to go and we picked up another two at Maheno which gave us a grand total of 13 which was a great turn out. The day was fine in Oamaru but the forecast was for rain in the morning clearing by afternoon. We all headed for Herbert where we turned off and went up Tulliemet rd into Mt Stalker station. We carried on driving on a farm road for another 6 km till we came to the place where we parked the cars and started our hike for the day. It was very foggy and a cold wind, so we put on our warm gear and headed off. We started off by hiking along the hill tops at about 900m and every now and then the fog would lift just a little to give us a peak of the great views around us. After about 1 hour hiking the fog lifted and it came out fine and the views were awesome. We then dropped down to the valley below to where we visited our first hut for the day. We had morning tea at the Gentle Anne Hut by the creek and by now it was getting quite warm. From here it was all uphill to about 1300m and a 10km hike to our next hut but Maurice looked at the map and thought there might be a shorter root up a very steep and rocky Mt Stalker so Maurice, Robbie, Bill, Steve and Ann all headed off to have a look and we decided that we would all meet up at the next hut. The rest of us crossed the creek and started our steep climb up a 4.w.d track for about 1 and half hours till we came to the main 4.W.D track that comes up the Otepopo Spur. By this time we were getting a bit hungry so we stopped for lunch. From our lunch spot we had great views from the sea right up the pig root to the remarkable mountains. After lunch we carried on up the Otepopo Spur, getting up to about 1300m with some small patches of snow still lying around. We finally came to our next turn off the track that comes up the Cayenne Spur. This track carries on up to Obi, Kattothyrst and Siberia hill of which we had great views of but we were going down this track towards Cayenne Hut to where we would meet the others. We arrived at the hut about 2.45pm to find the other relaxing in the hut so we join them for about half an hour. They had been there for about an hour. This hut has had a major rebuild over last couple of years. It was a short steep uphill from the hut and then it was an easy hike back to the cars, arriving there at 4.30pm just as the fog was starting to roll back in. All in all this was a 21km round trip, with awesome views and great company.

Thanks to – Robbie, Els, Uwe, Sylvia Maurice, Phyllis, Steve, Ann, Sam, Bill, Linda, Colin

and me Neville

An Unauthorized Version
News has come through of  a remarkable first ascent of Mt Stalker in a remote mountain range in the South Island of New Zealand. The expedition group included 3 New Zealanders  and 2 English climbers  and the successful ascent was via the south face , previously thought technically impossible . The expedition was lead by Maurice Gray and the Verhoef  express and later the group joined 6 others in an equally arduous circumnavigation of the area . The day was marked by a complete absence of what has become know in elite mountaineering circles  as the Leidecker view.
Notices have been placed in the Times of London , The  Mail of Oamaru  and the Saint- Emilion gazette.  Congratulatory telegrams  have been sent by the Governor General of New Zealand and  the Queen ..