“A Mish a Day” #57 Mt Philistine Bluffs. Arthurs Pass National Park. 28.5.2015. The ease of access to big peaks in Arthurs Pass has kept me going back again and again to this magnificent location and on this occasion I wanted to have a go at Mt Philistine(1967m) from the Otira Valley via Warnocks Knob and the Philistine Bluffs. I drove through Arthurs Pass Village to the Otira Valley car park late afternoon and was at my camp site in the snow just above 1000m after about an hour of walking. The Otira Valley sees very little sun and even in May there was a good amount of snow on the peaks and a thick layer of snow on the ground and during the night, to my surprise, another 1cm to 2cm of snow fell, which was definitely not in the forecast!
An early-ish start in the dark from my very cold camp had me zigzagging in my crampons up past Warnocks Knob(1167m) and towards the snow covered Philistine Bluffs. I have read about the avalanche danger on the bluffs after snowfall and after only 30 minutes or so of climbing up through the bluffs I saw an avalanche pour down a gully about 20 meters away from me. It didn’t take me long to decide to turn around and as I did another load of snow and rock smashed its way down the same gully and for the rest of the down climb I didn’t look up. I got back onto safe ground and stopped for a drink and a snack and just as I did the sound of a huge avalanche from some where near the top of Mt Rolleston echoed throughout the valley. The place was alive and as I quickly packed up my tent I had a feeling that humans didn’t belong in the Upper Otira Valley at that point in time. I wandered back down the track quickly, happy to be out of the valley and safely back at my car.
