On the 21st November 2008 a mixed assortment (to say the least) headed down to Christchurch with the aim of spending 8 days in the Upper Tasman Glacier region and based at Tasman Saddle Hut. The crew consisted of Colin Cook (our unsuspecting leader), Warwick Hill, Jesse Bailey, Jayden Hill, Steve Merchant and Myself. The duration of this expedition was however, in jeopardy from the outset as the forecast was looking none too friendly for the first 4 days but since flights had been booked and paid for, annual leave arranged, there was going to be no stopping us?!. In reality, upon arriving at Unwin Hut in Mt Cook village on Saturday, we were indeed stopped (there’s just no arguing with mother nature sometimes). So in Mt Cook Village we stayed for 4 long days, surrounded by all these mountains (not that we could see any of them mind you) but with no where to play other than a few of the tourist tracks around the village. Come Tuesday, it all got too much for Steve to bear, so he decided he would rather not waste his annual leave sat in Unwin hut! If truth be known, I think we were all having second thoughts at that stage. Kevin Patterson, however, had spotted an opportune weather window and flew down Tuesday night to take Steves place. Kevins weather predictions proved founded, so 4 of us caught a ski plane into the head of the Tasman on Wednesday morning. Jesse and Jayden however, decided to save some cash by walking into De La Beche hut on Wednesday and then on up to join us on Thursday. While those 2 were busy negotiating the joys of moraine scrambling, the remaining 4 of us used Wednesday afternoon to scoot up to Hochstetter Dome. Thursday came with an early start to enable us to claim Ellie De Beaumont, a personal milestone for me, being my first 3000m peak. Not long after we returned, Jesse and Jayden arrived looking like they had just spent the last 2 days walking up a glacier! Colin rappelling through Ellie ice field Friday was Jesse’s and Jayden’s turn to bag Ellie, whilst Colin and Warwick claimed Mt Alymer and Kevin and myself nailed Mt Green, which included a pretty nice ice pitch half way up the final summit slope. Tasman Saddle hut Saturday brought about a change in the weather for the worse so the decision was made to get out. Colin, Warwick, Kevin and myself cheated again and flew out (this time via chopper) but we loaded up the chopper with all supplementary weight so that Jesse and Jayden had only the bare essentials which meant that they managed to walk out in 9 hours……an outstanding effort. Sunday brought with it another period of poor weather, so we headed back to Christchurch for a rock climb at the Port hills before catching the flight home. Although it was a slow start to the week, it was more than made up for with the 4 summits in 3 days. An awesome trip!! Mark Yeo
