Group members were Lucas Hebbard, Will Griffiths, Sean Mullins, Tyler Wolsky
Gnarly. The word of the trip. Traversing unstable steep terrain in the dark – gnarly. Slippery wet rock hopping – gnarly. Overgrown muddy tracks - gnarly. Getting a handline out to pull packs over ginormous boulders at 12 am - gnarly. Ivory Lake hut, the elusive backcountry hut that would break us JAFFAS, physically and mentally - Gnarly.
The plan for the trip seemed simple in theory, but oh, how wrong we would be proved to be. Spend 2 days making our way up the Waitaha catchment, staying at Moonbeam and Top Waitaha Huts before reaching Ivory Lake Hut on the third day. From there, we would follow the ridgeline up to Pt2056 and drop down into The Tuke before making our way out to a different road end, which Will’s parents had kindly agreed to move the car to. While the planned walk was no walk in the park, with several days predicted to be 8+ hrs, we had confidence and faith in the group’s collective ability and mental resolve.
So eager with ambition and expectation of the epic adventure about to ensue I got up at 4 am and hopped on a plane to Christchurch to meet up with the boys (Will, Sean and Lucas). By 1 pm we had reached the start of the trail on the West Coast and were greeted by ominous clouds that loomed up the valley, perhaps forewarning us of the trials ahead. With rain streaming down our faces but spirits high we began our journey onto Kiwi Flat Hut.
The first part of our trip proved to be uneventful. Grassy paddocks and well-cut 4WD tracks gave way to riverbeds, which we traversed with relative ease. We were making good time – on track to meet the expected time of 3-4hrs to Kiwi Flat Hut. Then we entered the bush, and our first obstacle on our quest presented itself in the form of a large slip that had cut off the original track. While a new track had been cut to circumnavigate the slip, it was significantly longer and steeper than the original track indicated on the Topo map. It was also evident that the portion of the journey in the bush was in serious need of some TLC. The combination of remoteness and low maintenance levels meant the track was overgrown and littered with treefall and minor slips – a bit gnarly. Nevertheless, after about 5 hours of travel, we arrived at our first checkpoint, Kiwi Flat Hut.
It is now 6 pm. I am mentally drained. I am physically drained. I’m running on 4.5 hours of sleep, 3 OSM bars and a wrap. I feel sick. I would give anything to pull out my sleeping bag and set up camp in the hut. So on we plod. We know that if we don’t reach the second hut tonight, there will be no Ivory Lake Hut. With the following day meant to be the most difficult, we would have to pull a 17-hour day at a minimum, which was just not possible. After a short 40 minutes of relatively flat walking, we reached the big uphill section. Lucas joked, “If it only took us 40 minutes to get here, we should be at the hut within 3 hours.” The response - silence. Walking on relatively flat ground is not the same as walking on steep, rooty cliffs. I knew that. He knew that. The group knew that. We trudged on. Up the slope, over the roots, through the mud. It seemed to go on and on and on….
We reached the river at 10 pm with head torches illuminating our way. A Topo check gave us a rejuvenated spur of energy – 1.5km of rock hopping before reaching the hut. Whether the energy boost was attributed to the additional 3 OSM bars I had eaten or the hope of the approaching hut, I don’t know, maybe a combination of both. We soldier on, bumbling and sliding over the wet rocks glimmering in the moonlight. It was tough slow going, but at least we were going. That is until we reached the behemoth that stood in our way like a final boss guarding the grand prize of a nice warm hut. A 5m high boulder blocked our path. With a near-vertical rocky cliff on one side and a raging river on the other, there was only one option: we would have to face it head-on. Any slip on the slippery granite surface would result in a trip into the raging river below. Will put it best, “This is fu**ed.” To our avail, Lucas had the forethought to bring a rope, which we resourcefully employed to set up a pack line and pull the packs up and over the boulder. Climbing up without a pack was not easy, but my limited bouldering experience tackling V3 boulder problems at BoulderCo had prepared me for such a situation. We expertly navigated the boulder and subsequent river sections albeit momentarily losing a group member. At 12:20 am, a mammoth 12 hours since we first left the car, a gargantuan 20 hours after I first woke up, we arrived at Moonbeam hut. Yummy bangers and mash quickly ensued, after which we collapsed into our cozy, warm beds and said sweet dreams.
Last night, it became apparent that we did not possess the technical ability to venture onwards. On a journey that should’ve taken at max 5 hours, it took 6 and a half. Combined with the fact that another party had informed us of the need for ice axes and crampons to get over the tops alongside the bad weather forecast for Friday meant that the group decided to return the same way we came and abandon the mission. However, this presented a new challenge: finding cell service to contact Will’s parents to stop them from moving the car. A 1000m vertical, steep and gnarly mish up the hill behind the hut solved this problem, and we were all set to enjoy the long slog out the following day.
The walkout was actually rather pleasant, may I dare say enjoyable with enough energy and water to sustain me. We managed to shave 2:30hrs off the total time due to numerous shortcuts, which we were comically oblivious to walking at night. Home for the night was Lake Mahinapua, where we enjoyed some well-earned shut-eye.
We decided to fill the remaining days before heading off back to Auckland with tramps to both Cedar Flat and Mt Brown Hut. However, those trails didn’t know what hit them because we just spent 3 days in some of the country's most remote, rugged, gnarly terrain. So, we absolutely crushed them, reaching both huts in under 4 hours and spent some beautiful nights watching breathtaking sunsets and relaxing in geothermal hot pools with great company. We even got shown the backcountry hack of using a rechargeable drill battery as a battery pack. Pretty sick if you ask me.
There is one slight problem though – an Ivory Lake-sized hole has been left in my heart, and I have a thirst for vengeance. It won’t be tomorrow and probably won’t be this year, maybe not even this decade, but one day, I will return to reach the ultimate prize.
Testing