The second Tuesday in November Charles Ross (CMC), Sam Newton (lapsed member of NZAC) and I found ourselves bouncing up the Clyde Valley from Erewhon Station with four days of stable weather in prospect. The objective was the Garden of Eden Ice Plateau and whatever else from there. As per usual with these kind of trips we were all carrying way too much weight so every inch we gained up the Clyde in the ‘Landie’ we were most grateful for. The first day was fairly uneventful apart from an hour and a half of bush bashing to get over Armada Bluff and avoid the lower reaches of the river. The river was too high to safely cross so we were left fighting the Spaniards and ferns instead. We were however able to cross the Francis near McCoy Hut so spent the night there entertaining ourselves with the hut book. We were blown away by the very small number of parties that actually go into the area. Perhaps it just isn’t as ‘sexy’ as it was to the John Pascoe’s and others of yesteryear. The highlight of the hut book had to be Don French’s 4 separate missions to climb Tyndall, all but one thwarted by rivers and weather. We hoped our luck would be better than his had been. The second day saw easy travel up the true right of the Francis River and on to the moraine of the Colin Campbell Glacier. It was obvious things were melting pretty fast as there was a lot of avalanche and rockfall debris around. We made our way without drama on to the Wee MacGregor Glacier, where the snow began to soften, the weight of the packs began to take their toll and progress began to slow. We ground our way up to Perth Col and were surprised by the strength of the NW wind howling through the gap and the scudding clouds over where the Garden was meant to be. The decision was made to bivy below the col, out of the wind and wait for the NW to blow itself out as it was supposed to. The rest of the afternoon was spend digging ourselves into the hillside, erecting a wall for wind shelter, tending to numb feet and hoping the tent fly would not blow away. Although three of us were crammed in under a 2-man tent fly the night passed reasonably comfortably and we were able to take advantage of beautiful weather and cramponing conditions in the morning to scoot over to the Garden, down to Adams Col for lunch, then back across to ascend Mt Baker before making the long descent back down to McCoy Hut. The Garden of Eden is a truly incredible place, nestled as it is above such steep rugged valleys as the Perth, Francis and Lambert; it truly feels a privilege to be there. We all wish we knew more about geological processes that formed the area, how deep the ice is and how it has changed since John Pascoe first laid eyes on it. Back at McCoy Hut we had another day of great weather up our sleeves so while Sam decided to go for a wander up the McCoy to have a look at the glacier and icefall, Charles and I climbed The Sentinel, adjacent to the hut on the Armoury Range. It proved to be a relatively straightforward scramble that we managed to turn slightly tricky as we cut the corner and found ourselves on an exposed sidle, before joining the preferred route up the ridge to the top. The view was magnificent. We were able to look back to the Garden of Eden, North-East to Arrowsmith, across to the Rakaia Peaks and out to the Rangitata. A swift descent meant the whole climb took us less than 7 hours, not bad considering how stuffed we had felt the night before. As expected the weather began to turn the following day as we set off for home. While the tops were still clear the NW was fair chasing us down the valley, promising any who were still left up high a very unpleasant experience. Back out to the ‘Landie’, a couple of beers and a pie at Mt Somers and surprise surprise we found ourselves discussing ideas for the next trip. I wonder what it is about getting out of the hills that one is never satisfied in just reflecting on the last trip but instead must be actively engaged in planning and dreaming of the next one? If this is any evidence of the nature of trampers and mountaineers we must be extremely annoying people to live with! Hayden Cox
