“On a Mish” #20 Snow Business (Part Three). Mt Somers Track (Pinnacles Hut Track to Staveley Carpark). Hakatere Conservation Park. 25.6.2013. While the added difficulty of snow might deter most, I find it worth the effort to get the shot. The sights and sounds of a winter wonderland make a very cool scene. Not only do you get the bright white visual spectacle, but you also get a silence like no other. With that said, there are limits to how much snow is enough, as travel can become very difficult – if not impossible. My cousin and I found that out the hard way when attempting to hike to Pinnacles Hut…
The travel back up over Dukes Knob(739m) was a little bit easier as we were able to use the step holes we had kicked in from the hike over earlier that day. Although our day hadn’t gone to plan, we still had an incredible adventure and won’t be forgetting this outing for a while.
As we descended the track towards the car park, I decided we should take a short-cut to save some time on our hike back. The light was fading and speeding things up seemed like a good idea at the time (foreshadowing!). Instead of following the zigzagging track we took a more direct approach and pointed our feet down the final hill. As we smashed our way through the dense bush it was obvious the shortcut wasn’t saving us any time. I think it probably added time, and definitely more effort, on to a day which really didn’t need anything added to it.
Our day snowboarding around Double Hut seemed like a distant thought as we pushed, bashed, and crashed our way down to the Sharplin Falls Car park. By the time we got back to the car it was dark, and we were both completely shattered from a day dealing with deep snow and changed plans. Our day of dealing with snow business was over!
After returning home and getting a good night’s sleep I discovered that I had lost my beacon. Because I had no idea where I had lost it, I thought I would never see it again. However, to my surprise a very clever person discovered it about a week after our snowy adventure, and they were able to get it back to me using the beacon’s personal identification number. We might not have got to either hut we attempted to get to, but my beacon did manage to find it’s way home. We survived, got some very ‘cool’ pictures, and eventually we got everything back home. To me that is a successful day in the outdoor office!
