“On a Mish” #312 Sore and Satisfied – Part Four. Peak 1543m. Dore Pass / Glade Burn. Fiordland National Park. 8.12.2021. Is being stubborn a bad thing when it helps you achieve your goals? Recent times have put my love for the outdoors to the test with the grinding pain on my hip with each step. I have come to accept that I will be sore after any sort of a mish, and the real thing to think about is how sore?
As I scrambled up the last couple of metres to the summit the thought of being sore had been temporarily removed from my mind. Although I had climbed a couple of peaks since my hip accident, this was the first time I had stood on top of a real Fiordland mountain for a very long time. As I took in the view I also started to realise how high I had climbed and how good I was feeling about it. It didn’t matter what direction I looked in, it was all extremely epic. The deep valleys of both branches of the Clinton River hung far below the rock giants that tower above them. Over 1km below me were people tackling the Milford Track and they couldn’t have asked for better weather. The deep blue of Lake Te Anau acted as the centrepiece when looking to the west, and beyond the lake was a blur of continuous remote Fiordland mountains. The air was still and the sun was just at the perfect temperature to cool me down after a solid climb. After a bite to eat and a few photos I traversed over to the north peak of the mountain (Peak 1543m) and looked down at the tiny boxes of Glade House. Everything was leading to the inevitability of the descent. This part of the adventure I knew would really test the broken bits of my body.
What goes up must come down, so here we go. After a quick down climb off the summit rocks I was back at the top of the gut leading down to the track. It was here that I was happy I had my trusty walking pole with me for extra support. Slowly I crept back down the steep terrain to the highpoint of the Dore Pass(1390m) Track. Getting back on the track was a relief, and from there it was a lot easier ground to cover quickly. I knew my limp was increasing as time went on and this put extra pressure on my toes on the opposite foot. As you can imagine this got worse as the day went on. This is when my stubbornness goes into autopilot and I just slowly plodded my way back down to the valley floor. The sound of the Glade Burn (river) was sweet to my ears, and as I burst out of the forest onto the riverbed I finally was positive I was going to make it back to camp. I barely had time to remove my boots before I was taking a much needed nana nap in my tent. I woke up about an hour later and found it a struggle to stand up again. Eventually I did get up and began the process of packing up my campsite. After sorting my gear it was time to make my way back down the rocks of the Glade Burn riverbed to my ride home at Glade Wharf. It felt like an extension had been added to the riverbed, but finally I got down to the lake and flopped myself onto the boat. Success! I had somehow climbed a Fiordland mountain and a blowtorch couldn’t remove the smile from my face! I was smacked back into the reality of our world at the moment as I watched my poor workmate Hari trying to deal with the fact that his passengers didn’t have their Covid Passports… welcome back to the real world!
