“On a Mish” #420 Happy to be the Follower (Guest Post). Helicopter Hill, Craigieburn Range. Canterbury. 27.10.2024. As Mark’s mother it has not been easy watching him negotiate these last five years since his injury. Progress has been tough and inconsistent, but slowly and surely, he is regaining mobility and getting back into the mountains. One of the silver linings of his injury has been the development of his website and Facebook page which has led to speaking engagements. It was one of these speaking engagements that saw him return to Christchurch for a catch up with the whanau…
A visit usually means at least one family walk into the hills and this was no exception. The plan was to attack Helicopter Hill, a short drive from the popular holiday resort of Castle Hill in the Canterbury foothills. You can’t always plan for the weather though and no one would have expected that, this late into October, we would be driving into what was probably the heaviest snowfall of the year.
Things didn’t start out too well once we hit the track, as is often the way with ‘quality family time’! It soon became apparent that, although not short on enthusiasm, our 5.7kg Bichon/Jack Russel cross was short on the leg height needed to negotiate snow.
We tried putting her in the backpack but, given that many of the trees were bent to the ground by the snow, I had to walk behind to make sure she wasn’t accidently decapitated.
The decision was made soon into the trip for both her and Jeremy, who was battling the flu and had already lost a good glove when he slipped on the way over the first bridge, to return to the car. This just left Mark, me and a super keen Georgie dog to carry on.
I‘m an intermittent tramper at best and have never walked in snow this deep before, so I was very grateful to have someone else blaze a trail for me. As we climbed higher the snow deepened, and Mark’s footsteps became even more pronounced. Keeping a close watch on them as we walked, I became aware of several things:
1. It was way easier walking in someone else’s footsteps than being the person in front (I did try it for a brief time, but it was just too tough for my 67-year-old bones)
2. Mark’s tread was very even across both feet, a marked contrast to when I have walked behind him in the past post-injury and watched how much he has had to drag one foot
3. For the first time in nearly five years, I was the one following him. It was such a thrill for me to know that he had finally got back to being faster than me!
It was also very heartening to see how well 10-month-old Georgie took to walking in the snow (and yes, it is a dog-friendly area).
On the way to the saddle the track was easy to follow despite the snow and from here it was supposed to be 15 minutes to the top. However, the snow depth here, and the fact that we were the first people to do the climb since the snowfall, made it impossible to find the track. So, it was an arduous process to get to the summit, with several wrong turns. But the extra work made reaching the summit all the sweeter and we were rewarded for our efforts with the clouds breaking, giving us some magic views of the surrounding hills.
Downhill was easier, and slushier, and we started to meet others on their way up who hopefully got to enjoy the same awesome views – although I suspect us early birds had the best of the snow conditions.
Both Mark and I paid the price for our efforts with sore legs and backs over the next couple of days, and even Georgie spent longer crashed out on the couch than normal. But I am so glad to have had the opportunity to spend those special few hours walking in my very courageous son’s footsteps.
