“On a Mish” #24 A Little Bit Different (Part Three). Mt Cuba(1449m). Fiordland National Park. 15.1.2019. While it is not a guarantee, doing something a little bit different to the norm in the outdoors can lead to an epic time out. Many flock to the popular places but there is so, so much more to see. I have learnt over time that you don’t need to go very far away from where the masses are to enjoy solitude. Luckily, this little country called Aotearoa New Zealand is still big enough for us to sneak away into the outdoors and have a massive area of beauty all to ourselves…
It only took a couple of hours for us to go from the chaotic scenes at the Divide car park, to a solitary situation up above McKellar Saddle. We had found the campsite we had required, and thanks to us having some daylight left we could take on the challenge of the hill behind our camp. The mountain’s name was its height, so we decided to rename it Mt Cuba. On the way to the start of our mish we listened to Dragon’s song ‘April Sun in Cuba’ a couple of times, and it seemed like an appropriate name at the time. After a quick refuel we were on our way up.
Exposure to storms rolling up the Hollyford Valley had left the mountain stripped back to its rocky skeleton in places. In alpine spots like this the landscape can paint a picture of what it can be like up here in a wild Fiordland storm. The higher we got the more eroded everything around became. By the time we got to the top we were on the toughest rock the peak had to offer. Thankfully we had barely a breath of wind and blue skies above.
After solving the puzzle of which gully to follow and what rocks to climb, we topped out and the view was like that seen at Key Summit, but on steroids! All the mountains I remembered fondly from my guiding days were on display and we could even see the tiny dots of people going up and down the popular track. There were still lots of people on the track but thanks to us doing something a little bit different, we had a whole mountain (possibly an entire range) to ourselves.
We soaked in the view for a while before clambering back down to camp for dinner and sleep. Slowly above us the blue sky turned to black, and the bright sun was replaced by an endless sea of stars. Because I chose to sleep outside in my bivvy bag, I only needed to open my eyes to see the epicness above. It was the perfect night to sleep outside.
Early-ish the next day we slowly got ourselves sorted before saying goodbye to our campsite and hello to the track over McKellar Saddle. We were treated to another day of excellence above and it was a situation where we would have loved to have spent another couple of nights in the Ailsa Range. It is safe to say that ‘doing something a little bit different’ had paid off in a big way and Dylan and I were now swimming in the feeling of a successful mission. Back at the Divide car park we were reinserted into the masses of people, but at least for a while we had spent some time alone, with nothing but stunning scenery around us. Maybe for your next mish you might like to think about doing something a little bit different, and see where you end up…
