Fantastic views, great people, good times, and excellent weather, summed up the 11-person trip to Mt Somers hut August 2003.

Day One - Friday 15th August 2003

It was another wet Dunedin Friday night and with a crappy weather forecast for the whole weekend. No one was too sure what they were getting themselves into, but when has weather ever stopped an OUTC trip. So off we went (Americans, Kiwis and Europeans) in the traditional but stylish Rhodes 11 seater van.

Timaru was the first stop of the Journey and to everyone's relief the weather had started to clear. While breaking for Mexican, Pizza, and a healthy helping of KFC we managed to score a bottle of Calite (cooker fuel) that Tom's Castle Hill bouldering group had left sitting on a table outside KFC.

Back on the road again with a dose of Jack Johnson, and after a minor detour due to Peter Wilsons excellent navigation skills we found the road to the track start.

The time was now just a little after 11pm

After a vote it was decided that to avoid a potentially wet night under a tent fly, we would tramp to the Mt Somers Hut and enjoy the comfort of a roof over our heads. While preparing to leave, two random Americans (from Dunedin but not members of the OUTC) pulled into the car park. We convinced them that they would be better off walking to the hut now, rather than spending a night out in the rain even though the weather had cleared up, the moon was out. Off we went, it was a little chilly but everybody was in a cheerful mood, until the first upward leg of the journey five minutes later. With Jackets and tops stowed away we continued to follow Peter who was our trip guide (for better, or worse) to the Mt Somers hut taking roughly twp and half hours to complete the trip.

Day Two - Saturday 16th of August 2003

During the night the wind pounded the little Mt Somers hut until the early hours of the morning, but despite the bleak weather prediction for our little weekend away, we awoke to a blue sky. After a late breakfast it was decided that a day walk, followed by lunch at the hut was in order. There was no climbing Mt Somers today as it was still quite windy, but we didn't bring ice axes and crampons for nothing so nine of our group plus the two extra random Americans set off on what was supposed to be a nice little day stroll up to the snow.

Four hours later and the time was now 3pm. We had managed to climb up what could only be described as a large hill and go over the basics for self arresting with an ice axe and walking in crampons. At the top of the hill we were greeted with beautiful views of the Southern Alp, so the day was not a loss.

By now everyone was hungry and seeing as the only food on our little adventure was a block of chocolate and a bag of farmbake cookies we decided to take the quickest route back, which of course would be straight down a small scree slope for a rather late lunch followed an hour later by Sweet Thai chilli veges and noodles for dinner.

Now for those who haven't been to the Mt Somers hut before would not realise that there is a small sauna to relax in after a hard days walk. As the evening progressed wine and other alcoholic beverages found themselves appearing and before long all eleven of us were squashing up against each other passing drinks around, and generally having a good laugh.

As the night progressed the alcohol and heat took there affect and one person who I won't name, but will say that she was a female Canadian, decided that squatting in the river that went past the sauna was best bathroom idea. Trying to explain to that we were drinking this water not more than 100 meters downstream didn't seem to discourage her in the slightest. Martin managed to sneak a couple of photos of everyone in the sauna much to the girls surprise and dislike.

Day Three - Sunday 17th of August 2003

Yet another late start to a gorgeous sunny day, mainly due to the festivities of the night before, and it was on the road again. Alex and Julia snuck in during the night (about 2am), and although he had mentioned to me that they might join us and summit Mt Somers on the Sunday, I didn't really believe him, that was until one of the girls came in and said two people arrived last night.

"How old are they?"

"I think they're a couple, and at least 30 years old." (Don't worry Julia we know your only a youngin.)

Slightly jaded I pulled myself out of bed with the intention of going with them. Our group split in two for the days walk out. Alex, Julia, Martin, Hollis, and myself headed for the top of Mt Somers, while the rest of the group led by Peter decided to walk back via the gorge track.

I think our group left around 11am. "See you around three o'clock Peter"

The first part of the days walk was spent on the "Bus Stop Route" following a beautiful river up the gorge and past the hydroslide waterfalls. From here we left the track and headed for the top of Mt Somers. There were snow patches all the way up and walking became slightly more tiring as every second step would result in falling knee deep into the snow.

We stopped around two o'clock, dropped our packs, had a quick bite to eat and chucked on our crampons, as it was getting a little icy. The rest of the climb was easy, arriving at the top around 3-3:30'ish for a brief photo session. The views of the Southern Alps, Mt Cook, and the Canterbury plains were amazing and made the hike up more than worthwhile.

With the afternoon sun quickly fading away, a fast decent to the car park was in order. But plans don't always work out and after making it off the snow Alex realised he had lost one of his gloves so he bolted back up to our lunch spot only to find nothing. With Alex finally back we carefully studied the map to find the fastest way down. I decided to get down as quick as possible to let the rest of the group know we were running slightly late.

On the way down, no by myself, I stumbled across a marked track. Thinking that this was the track ("Bus Stop Route") we were heading for I followed it up the side of a hill and waited to see if the others would find it.

Now for those who were at the annual dinner this is why I received and honourable mention for my navigational skills.

Somehow I had managed to end up on the wrong side of a gully, which to my defence had a newly marked track (not the one we were looking for). Half an hour of relay shouting through Martin and Hollis, I was still trying to convince Alex that I was on the right track even though he had the map. At least another 20 minutes went by while Alex did some recon before finding the correct track on his side of the gully.

"Whoops"

Side note. Telecom had coverage but Vodafone did not, and yes we were trying to communicate via cell phone in the middle of nowhere.

Finally on the correct track with the time now at half past five and darkness approaching quickly, all I could do was imagine a group of pissed off tired trampers who made it to the van at three, sitting around in the cold cursing my existence, so again leaving the others I preceded to make the steep decent to the car park as fast as possible.

Finally 6-8 hours (I lost count) after leaving Mt Somers hut the day minus the drive back had ended. I arrived in the car park to find Peter and the others gathered around a fire in the middle of the road chilling out and having a great time.

After a brief break around the fire, and a few jokes my map reading skills it was off home to Dunedin again, back to the real world. Mt Somers was definitely worth the effort.