“On a Mish” #215 The Mailman’s Way (Part Two). Homer Saddle(1375m). Fiordland National Park. 2.2.2011. When sending an email just remember that communication used to be a little bit more difficult than it is these days. Nowadays super remote locations have internet thanks to satellites however, back in the day mail was delivered on foot. This human driven delivery service even extended into wild places like Piopiotahi Milford Sound. Before the Homer Tunnel the mailman used to scale the cliffs either side of the Homer Saddle to get the mail in and out of a near inaccessible location. On my first mish up to Homer Saddle I didn’t have any mail to send or deliver, but I was wanting to go ‘full-send’ all the way up the route the posty used to use…
Early-ish the next morning I made my way up the Milford Road in darkness into the Upper Hollyford Valley. Thick inversion mist covering the entire valley didn’t dampen my enthusiasm as I kept telling myself that soon I will be above the clouds (fingers crossed). With a rough idea of where to go, I parked near the Homer Tunnel and then wandered into the mist.
Nothing is easy in this stunning part of the world and almost immediately the trail went from flat to Fiordland. I began to clamber over the endless piles of moraine and rock avalanche debris as I made my way towards the base of the McPherson Cirque. A lightly marked trail leads through the worst of the rocks up to the saddle, and nowadays after many trips up and down I know exactly where to go.
Unfortunately, on round one I didn’t and was left fumbling and nearly tumbling over broken boulders. In the mist, I came across what was once the phone-line, which made its way over the saddle before the construction of the tunnel.
I followed the tangled semi buried mess of wire in an angled upward direction. Eventually I came across a rock cairn, and I realised I had found the track up to the saddle. Not long after discovering the track I got above the inversion layer of cloud. Wow! Finally, the peaks of this magnificent area were on display and seemed like they were all floating in a sea of thick inversion mist. The sight was a powerful shot of motivation to keep pushing on to the saddle. Not long after breaking through the cloud I saw the crest of the saddle, and after one last scramble I got to the top. Or only halfway for the postman!
The massive drop down into the Cleddau Valley instantly gives you a feeling of excitement and nervousness, the same feeling you get at points of high exposure when climbing. If I hadn’t read about the ‘Mailman Route’ I would have believed that this was the way he went down using cables bolted to the rock walls. There have been several fatalities here and respect must be shown so you don’t become an article in the news.
After a food break, some photos, and a good sit down looking around at the epicness, I began the journey back down to the valley floor. As I began my descent the clouds began to dissipate, and I could see down the gigantic corridor of the upper Hollyford Valley for the first time. Pushing on through the clouds was a good idea, I’m glad I was so stubborn!
I managed to stick to the track on my way down and now with no cloud around I could see where I went the wrong way in the morning. Following the wire was a bad idea but eventually it led to success and to me it was just some rock / boulder scrambling training!
I had followed in the footsteps of the postman and been blown away by the way he used to go to get the mail into Milford. What a legend, I hope the pay matched the difficulty and danger of the way he went? Once the Homer Tunnel was finished so to be the need to go over Homer Saddle to get to Piopiotahi Milford Sound. Nowadays people can get there with their eyes closed while they snooze away in the back of a bus!
