Holdsworth monitoring

An email from Nigel heralds another rat monitoring weekend at Holdsworth.  Mike's skiing but Angela is keen so we head up Saturday morning pausing to pick up breakfast at the French Bakery in Greytown.  

We're only expected for the Saturday so I line up an option for a bit of a semi off-track explore on Sunday.  In the end we do monitoring both days so the exploration is curtailed, although we both get to see some new territory ...

 

What:    Rat monitoring
Where:  Holdsworth, Tararua Forest Park
Who:     Angela
When:   19-20 September 2020

There are fewer bodies lined up at the shelter this time as Nigel hands out cards, peanut butter, RTs, GPSs, maps and instructions.

A pest control operation is planned for the area so this will form some of the pre-monitoring. It's the same deal as last time: find the monitoring line, lay ink cards with a peanut butter lure in each of the 10 tunnels along the line and return to base. 

I'm doing the same lines as last time (3 and 6) on the spurs and gullies of Pinnacle with Eric (DOC contracted Ranger) and Steve.  Angela is heading about an hour up the main valley with Janet to do line 2 but will just be doing the half of the line on the true right as the Atiwhakatu is substantially up.

We head off in our various directions. The true left track is well familiar now - the day is promising to be good and it's a pleasant wander.  

Eric nobly volunteers to do the further away line in the gullies below Pinnacle on his own.  He picks a point on the track on the way up to send Steve and me on a sidle to line 6 - we find a bit of a game trail which helps and hit the marked stream about 50m up stream from where the monitoring line crosses.

It's a bit odd using a GPS - normally I would follow features, streams, gullies or spurs, to zero in on the desired spot. Following the arrow in a straightish line feels like cheating but works out quicker - provided you look at the terrain as well as the screen of course.

We proceed up the line laying the cards and peanut butter lure as instructed. At the top we dutifully radio in our status and bash around the slope to the Pinnacle track again - failing to see a game trail which Eric later asks us about.

We chat on the way back to the car park.  Steve has recently retired from JNL and now has more time to do things like this.  Eric, with the lion's share of the work to do, is someway behind so we take over his lounge and drink his tea while the other teams slope in.  

There are more people coming in tomorrow to clear the tunnels so in theory Angela and I are no longer required.  However, we work out that if instead of wandering around the informal tracks on Pinnacle Ridge tomorrow, if we stay at Atiwhakatu Hut we can lay out a couple of lines in the morning that would otherwise not be covered.  Nigel has another volunteer lined up that can clear them on Monday.  

Eric gives us the key to the hut's warden's quarters and we head up valley as it starts to try and drizzle a little. 

The warden's quarters turns out to be a small room with two bunks and space for one seated. However it means we can chat quietly away from the madding crowds in the main dining area.  We turn in early after dehy meals cooked on the penny stove (it copes fine with double the usual loading).

Angela wakes when another punter jumps out of bed to grumble at the young people in the dining room: "Don't you know there's a nine pm curfew?!'  The noise, just through the wall from us had been fine and it was the grumbling that disturbed the peace. 

We leave in the morning before anyone else is up.  The instructions are to head up the track a short way, cross the stream and follow markings up a spur.  'Short' being a relative term we are not entirely sure we are in the right spot when we line up to cross the stream which has dropped over night.  

We dutifully try to radio in to say we are about to cross but can't raise a response so cross anyway - it's barely shin deep but we link up just for practice.  On the other side there's reception from the Holdsworth repeater and I raise another team that is out and about early.  I report that we are about to cross, wait a couple of minutes and report that we are safely across - duty done and everyone happy.  

I drag the GPS out to confirm the correct spur and discover that our 'short way up stream' was slightly too short. We scramble up through reasonably open bush onto the spur which has a well marked trail leading up.  

It's a steepish grind up but the morning sun has not reached us yet so it's cool.  I've been past the top of this track a few times and have always meant to follow it down to the hut, but it has never quite managed to fit into an itinerary.  It's nice to finally knock it off and confirm that it is good option for getting to the hut.

At the ridge (8.30ish) we join the beautiful Pinnacle Ridge track at the handcrafted sign to the hut.  The monitoring line runs diagonally across the ridge so we use the GPS again to find the starting point then follow along setting the tunnels up.

Towards the southern end the line drops into a gully.  I'm a little ahead of Angela who calls something out - I don't hear fully but suggest staying put while I polish off the last tunnel and come back. It turns out that she has managed to gouge a respectable hole in her forearm on a sharp spike - probably old totara. Closer inspection shows a scrape and hole with a bit of welling blood. My seldom called on first aid kit has a suitable large plaster that serves to cover the damage, slow the blood and protect from further dirt ingress. 

We follow a wee spur back to the ridge and along to the intersection to Pinnacle, stopping briefly to admire the morning sun on the Holdsworth-Jumbo Ridge across the valley.  

At the intersection we follow the sign indicating an alternative route to Donnelly flat (SSW).  The ridge drops and we watch the map and clcok to identify the point where we will be departing for the next monitoring line.  

This track has a line of gas traps laid along it which I'm sure are new since I came through a few years back - but the cute wee hand-painted steel markers are the same.

We do pretty well but I drag out the GPS to make sure we are scrambling off the track onto the correct side spur. Things again go pretty smoothly, finding the first blue triangle in the wilderness then following back to the start of the line.  

This line is much rougher - it drops steeply into a gully then follows a wee stream before climbing the other slope. It's slippery and mucky. Angela has had to change from her foot-mangling boots to running shoes, which are no match for the terrain.  She runs into the wall on the scramble out - carrying weekend packs in this stuff isn't the smartest, however, we have plenty of time so we take lots of breaks on the way up the hill.

When we radio-in our status Eric replies and says he'll meet us at the bottom of the hill with a couple who have come in for a walk. I'm pretty sure he's just wanting to make sure that no-one has any troubles with crossing.

The track remains well marked to the bottom of the spur where it runs along a terrace a short distance before dropping steeply again to a stream junction. Below we can see Eric's flouro top glowing through the trees on the other side of the water.

We cross and join them.  There's a short scramble to the old track which runs beside the river a short way before rejoining the main track. It's a pleasant walk and good to chat with Eric who, as you would expect, knows the area inside out. He asks about the condition of the main track up to Atiwhakatu which he recently cleared over the space of 8 days.  We assure him that all is tidy and looking good. 

 

Postscript

Despite the volume of human traffic on the highway-like tracks, this little corner of the park is pretty, and every time I go I discover another hidden gem that is well familiar to the locals.  

Angela recovered quickly from her ordeal and the honourable battle scar is fading - she even seems to have forgiven (or forgotten) being dragged through the type of detritus you can only find in the bottom of a bushy gully.         

A few days later we get an email from Nigel with the results.  Compared to February, there's significantly less activity overall across the tunnels monitored, although one of the lines that angela and I did was 8/10 positive. The results suggest that rat numbers have declined over winter with less activity near trapping lines - both results unsurprising I guess. 

It's interesting to see just how much human hours are required to maintain trapping and monitoring across what feels like a large area, but is a vanishingly small proportion of the range. And even then, in a mast year the rats basically overwhelm the trapping efforts.  It does feel like it is having some impact though and with the assistance of an aerial operation every few years it may be possible for some bird species to maintain a toe hold - at least in this valley.

 

Baldy

I had an idea to explore some creeks off the back of the Broken Axe Pinnacles this weekend but there was a bit more snow, wind and clag than expected.  Still, a day trip up to see the snow wasn't an entirely wasted effort.

Rather than head up the Atiwhakatu Valley I've decided to follow Pinnacle Ridge, for which I have a bit of a soft spot.


What:    Day trip
Where:  Baldy (Holdsworth area)
When:   11 July 2020
Who:     Solo
Map

At 7.25am it's a moderate frost and clear sky as I leave a full Holdsworth carpark and head into the still dim bush.

I follow the trail up the true left for about 20 minutes where a bit of a slip gives a view across the Atiwhakatu stream to frosty flats.  The sun is just starting to toast the hill tops but of more immediate interest is the stunning amount of snow just visible on the flanks of Mount Holdsworth - extending some way below the bushline.  This is the first indication that the tops may be a bit more of a proposition than I was expecting.

A good trail takes me up towards Pinnacle (877m) - last time up was on a trapping trip and I note the tape marking the turn off to one of the monitoring lines we checked.

About an hour 20 from the car I pop out into the clearing at the top of Pinnacle and am a bit surprised to see the bronze clumps of dracophyllum sticking through a good wee dump of snow.  My intended high point for the day is about 600m higher than this and there's some suspicious looking cloud lurking around the range.  I start resigning myself to probably not getting there - still no harm in popping up for a look. 

I've only come this way once before in the opposite direction at the end of a long day. This time I enjoy the bush and the well trod track that drops to a saddle then climbs gently to pt 862. I ignore the continuation towards pt 800 and follow the markers left and down into the next saddle before climbing to pt 846 - about half an hour from Pinnacle.

The home made sign is a bit more faded than I remember but still in good nick. Left, the track runs down to the river just up from Donnelly Flats, I head right for the saddle below Baldy.

About 5 minutes from the junction there's a wee clearing giving a view up to the Holdsworth/Jumbo ridge.  It's hard to tell in the snow but I think I can spot Jumbo Hut.

Another 10 minutes and there's a pair of tidy signs pointing to a spur route to Atiwhakatu Hut and giving distances along the ridge.  I love the care that has been put into these.

From here the track undulates along through quite varied bush.  There's a few spots where the ridge broadens and you can drift off the trail amidst the fern, but it's generally pretty clear.  Once, a ginger shape catches my eye as a deer trots away ahead.  Another clearing gives a glimpse up to increasingly threatening looking clag on the ridge beyond Baldy. 

It takes an hour 20 from Pinnacle to the DOC track and two minutes further to the sign for the Baldy track.  At just after 10am it's about 2 hr 40 from the car so I'm not sure if it is faster than the valley route or not - but I sure do prefer this way. 

It's a good old haul out of the saddle so I take it easy.  A deer barks just off the spur at one point but doesn't react to my response.  It takes a bit over an hour up to the bushline with the last 25 minutes in increasingly deep snow.  There's a set of footprints leading up and back but they don't look like they're from this morning.  

Peering up through the last of the beech trees it feels like preparing to crawl out of a snow cave into a beautiful blue day.

However, within a few meters the wind starts to make itself felt and the circling ridges look daunting as the clag comes and goes.  I hunker behind a boulder to get some more suitable gear on and follow the foot prints higher.  Although I'm already pretty sure I know what the answer will be, I figure I'll at least get to the top of Baldy before making a decision.

I take my time pottering up the ridge, the snow is knee deep (occasionally more) and the wind does it's best to knock me over.  Despite the clag ahead it's sunny here with clear views out to the Wairarapa.  

The footprints turn back before the top of Baldy so I pick my own way on to the rounded top. What with the stops and floundering about it's taken an hour from the bushline.

The ridge up to South King looks steep and intimidating as it disappears into cloud - to the left the Broken Axe pinnacles fade in and out of view.  Although on one hand the forecast for today is good, and I know the terrain is not as bad as it looks - on the other; the northwester is clearly smashing into the range, it and the clag don't look like they'll be lifting anytime soon and the snow ain't going to get any easier with another 100m+ of altitude. 

The rounded top offers little shelter so I sit behind a ripple in the snow with my back to the wind. I briefly flirt with dropping down a promising but steep spur to the Atiwhakatu Stream headwaters but decide against it in favour of turning exiting in daylight.  A quick text home and a bite to eat and I start making my way down.

Rounding a knob I'm a bit surprised to bump into a couple of chaps.  They're heading up with the aim of popping along to Mid King then dropping to South Mitre Stream via Mid King Biv.  They have an ice axe and snow googles so are a bit better equipped than me. They also seem to be having second thoughts given the strength in the wind. I leave them to it and battle the wind down to the bushline again.

Additional footprints show that somewhere between the chaps coming up and me coming down, a couple of other someones have popped up and back.  It's amazing how much the track surface has been churned up into the snow by the various boots.  

I don't catch up with them on the way down and suspect they headed towards Mitre flats from the saddle.  A bite in the Saddle about 1.30 then I head right to drop to the Atiwhakatu Stream. 

 

It's about 10 minutes down to the swingbridge over a good sized stream a further 10 to the track up to Jumbo and 35 minutes from there to Atiwhakatu Hut.  An hour all up from the Saddle.  The sun is in the valley and it's a pleasantly easy wander.

  

A women and possibly son are chilling on the deck so it's a good excuse to take the weight off weary legs and chat about how the hut has changed to the mansion we see today.  She trumps me by remembering an old NZFS hut at the site.  They sound like locals and she has done a few trips into the interior - she mentions a helicopter trip to Tarn Ridge Hut and laughs when I ask if she hunts (no, it was a treat).  As always, quite a lot of people come and go while I rest for quarter of an hour or so.

The track from here is a highway - a bit of slippage means there are a few rougher sections but I think at least one of the sidles around a slip has been taken out since I last came through.

 

As always, I potter along ticking off the milestones: 35 minutes to the East Holdsworth Track (good fun steep descent all the way from the tops just shy of Mt Holdsworth), 6 more minutes to Mountain House turn off (to Powell Hut and access over to Totara Flats and further South), 37 minutes after that to the carpark via families camped at Donnelly Flats.

 

 

 

Postscript

At 4pm it's taken about 8hr 30 for the loop.  Although there was no new territory it was a nice wee day trip.  Pinnacle Ridge is as civilised 'off track' as you will ever find.  It's really pretty and without the crowds you get in the valley.  It took about 2:40 to the Saddle from the carpark via Pinnacle Ridge and 2.18m from the Saddle to the carpark via the valley at the end of the day (taking out the stop at Atiwhakatu).  So it's quicker by the valley - but there's that spur off the ridge to the hut that I haven't got around to yet.

 

Baldy was completely different covered in snow and windy (as opposed to the more usual clagged-in and windy).  I haven't done a lot of snow trips in the Tararua Ranges so was a bit risk averse about heading up but it was the right call.  The wind would likely have made the snow on the Broken Axe Pinnacles icy and without the right gear, too much risk of a fall. Not to mention how miserable it would have been bashing down through precipitous, snowy leatherwood.

 

I bumped into someone a few days later that had tried to get up to Powell and pulled the plug because the wooden steps at the bushline were just about impassable with ice and the wind was something fierce above the bushline.  They also discouraged a family in trainers from attempting to get to the hut.

 

 

 

 

 

Trapping - Holdsworth

Mike, Angela and I are looking at adopting ourselves into a trapping programme somewhere - Holdsworth seems to tick the boxes:

• not too far away
• a bunch of active volunteers so it looks like it is sustainable
• contributes to biodiversity in the Tararua Park (which really needs help)
• complements DOC's work in the area
• some tangible goals (reintroduction of north island robin).

This is a monitoring weekend so we're going to tag along to get a bit of an idea of what is involved.

What:     Pest monitoring
Where:   Holdsworth
When:    15-16 February 2020
Who:      Mike, Angela and I, plus a cast of thousands


We turn up bang on the dot of 15 minutes late and sidle unobtrusively into the back of the group of tramping types gathered around the road end shelter.  Mike and Angela are allocated to Phil and Annette and I'm foisted onto a group of Rathkeale college students and their teacher Shane (or 'sir' as they call him - even when he isn't there).

The instructions are simple: go and find your monitoring line (a randomly generated transept marked by blue triangles with monitoring tunnels at set intervals), follow the line and put a baited ink card in the tunnels along the way, then return to base. The next day return and pick up the cards to see what varmints have scuttled across it.

Angela and Mike will be heading across the river to climb to Holdsworth Lookout above Gentle Annie Stream (not Rocky Lookout - the track to Holdsworth Lookout is not marked on the map). My group has two lines between Pinnacle and the river that are in steepish country and a little off the local trails. 

My weekend wandering - monitoring lines approximately in red elipses

Putting the cards out

Shane has done it before so sends us to the top of Pinnacle. There are traps on the way up and the remains of rats around many of them.  At the top we stop for a while and watch the cloud slowly lifting - after a few snacks the lads go for a reccy to find the top of the spur we want.

The students are quite happy working out how to use the GPS and leading down the slope - taking every opportunity to knock over rotten trees on the way.

The GPS drops us in the right vicinity and as soon as we see a blue triangle it becomes rapidly apparent that the line is well marked and there is a faint foot trail. Because it is a transept it takes the straightest not easiest line which is a bit of fun for all.

After an initial bit of farfing about, the students get into the swing of it - first one up opens and clears the tunnel, second folds out the card, third applies a liberal portion of peanut butter to the centre of the inked area, second places card in tunnel, and first and second reset the tunnel and peer in the end to make sure things are ship shape before they crash off to the next point. Shane and I watch on.

At the end of the line we radio in and cut diagonally up slope to avoid a bluff and reach the Pinnacle track we came up. Time for another break and bite to eat.

The next line (AV6) is on the way back to the carpark. There's a marked pest trail leaving the track and we follow it a little too far before dropping down a spur and having to sidle back. This is a steeper line but the lads are well practiced now and we rattle through and have a break at the bottom.

It's quite hot and I'm glad of my light shirt - I'm also glad of my trousers as it is basically bush bashing the whole way (fortunately it's not scrubby).

The bottom of the line is not too far from a marked creek - we bash down slope, cross and climb to the saddle on the next ridge. It's pretty open so easy going and there's a trapline that follows the ridge that we can follow all the way back to the camp. It turns out to be a line that I stumbled on once before. Once the lads have a whiff of the final downhill they (mostly) stop smashing things and hare off down the track. Shane is clearly used to the antics of midteens of the male type and brings up the rear.

We're the last team back and Eric the contract DOC ranger dispenses cold water and tea while we compare notes before I head to the lodge to relax for the rest of the afternoon.

Mike and Angela have finished an hour or two earlier and we eventually catch-up and head into Masterton for a pub dinner.

Bringing the cards back

The next morning, a little wiser and in the interests of efficiency, Shane allocates me two lads and he takes a third. I've already claimed newbie privilege and offered to do the closer line.

We head up the trail on the true left of the Atiwhakatu until the stream just short of the slip - here we part company with Shane.

The lads are relying on the GPS which is insisting that we haven't reached the side stream yet but it's clearly the right one. As expected, although it isn't steep there is a lot of treefall and it is slippery. At one point there's a wee water fall and we have to do a bit of a scramble up a crumbly slope to sidle above. The lads appear to enjoy this bit immensely.

Rather than use the GPS to navigate straight to the start of the line, I try to get them to follow the lie of the land and follow a wee side stream to where the blue triangles crossed yesterday. The GPS is a bit too alluring though and we end up leaving the stream early and following the electronic arrow (with a bit of an overshoot).

I dutifully radio in our arrival at the start and (after a snack break) we start the line. The first card is absolutely covered in prints and the peanut butter is completely gone. And this is the case for all of the following nine. In a couple of cases the rats have chewed through the card completely.




Ink cards that have been ratted
Photo credit Holdsworth Trapping

Doing the line uphill means that we get a breather at each tunnel and we make good time to the end of the line. Rather than return the way we came we follow a spur up to Pinnacle track and another snack/breather. Shane radios in that he has finished his line and I figure he will be about 50 minutes behind us so we head on out.

Dividing the two lines means that we are back around the same time as the other teams. Nigel exhibits cards from other lines that have mice and weta prints, and we drink more of Eric's tea.  The lads are clearly famished and tuck into a dehy meal each and a tin of spaghetti. There's a cut in half A24 that gets handed around and we dissect one of the new(ish) lure capsules that have an ingenious system of extruding lure over a prolonged period - it involves a magnet, a resister, a battery and a ten cent piece - we theorise that it works on an electrolytic reaction that produces a gas.

Lure capsule
Photo credit Holdsworth Trapping

The results are in ...

A few days later Nigel emails to say that the results are pretty grim - rats everywhere with a few exceptions that seem to link to the most intensive trapping. They have a bunch of new A24 traps to put out so hopefully things will improve.

We've confirmed to Nigel that we're keen to adopt a couple of lines so we'll see how that goes. 

Cone SAREX - 2

An email arrives out of the blue from Wairarapa Search and Rescue (SAR) noting that I'd been a missing party for an exercise a couple of years ago (more than three as it turns out) and would I be available to do so again.

It's good to be able to help out in some small way and you always learn a thing or two on these sort of outings, so I'm more than happy to oblige. 

A few days out, Tony (Police) touches base to confirm the briefing for the missing persons party is at the Masterton SAR base at Midday Friday and we'll be heading up to Cone to camp for the night before deploying to our locations. We duly convene and receive our instructions ...

What:   SARex
Who:     Paul, Fiona, Cameron, me
Where:  Cone area - eastern Tararuas
When:   15-17 November 2019
Photo credits:   Fiona, apart from the bad ones of the inside of my fly and the clematis   
Maps:






Saturday details - camp at triangle, broken leg at arrow, F&C purple, cancelled route blue

Tony has outdone himself with the creativity of the backstory. Paul, Fiona, Cameron and I are a group of Christian aid workers just returned from Vanuatu and headed into the hills for a bit of adventure.  Paul's wife is not too thrilled about the prospect given his fitness but has dropped us at the Waiohine road end - she has some vaguely outlined intentions that will be fed to the Incident Management Team at the appropriate time.

We're supplied with written story lines, injury descriptions, RTs (with a scramble channel as well as the same channels as the rescue teams so we can follow progress), grid reference to be missing at, GPS unit and ration packs for the weekend before a member of the constabulary (in the role of Paul's wife) takes us to the road end.

In real life, Paul is an experienced tramper who has been the missing person on quite a few SAR exercises including the one I went on. Fiona and Cameron are Wellington SAR volunteers who are looking forward to the experience from the other side of the fence.

Just before we head off we take a group photo which will be supplied to the IMT.





We take it slow on the way up and over the familiar route to Cone Saddle. Although there's been a bit of rain, the mud is still el dente. We check in with Tony from the saddle and start up to Cone itself.  As we climb it gets colder and windier. The forecast bad weather is starting to come through so we keep an eye out for possible 'plan B' camping spots should the high camp be untenable - there's not much in the offing though.














At the bushline we disperse through the low goblin forest to try to find our own wee niches. The wind is whipping across the open top of Cone and driving the first of the drizzle through the sparse cover of the forest edge. It's looking like a very uncomfortable night is in the offing.

The others find their positions and I plumb for the spot I used last time - it's a bit damp underfoot but flat and has some usefully spaced trees. The fly whips in the wind and the para cord ties itself in notes to frustrate increasingly numb fingers.

Eventually I have a low pitched fly with a jury rigged wind break down the sides from a stack of branches left by the last track clearing party. It looks wholly inadequate but I will be sleeping in my bivvy bag as well so I consider it done and pop over to Fiona and Camerons' rather more salubrious digs. They have a three sided fly with some actual head room and water boiling for dinner, I cadge a cup full and we sit in the gathering gloom watching Paul's fly whip in the wind. I can feel the roots of the tree I'm sitting against lifting as the tree flexes.

Chez Paul - the lump in the middle is him

Room for two

How low can you go?

It's a restless night. The wind batters my position with rumbling signalling when a particularly strong gust is barreling in across the tops. The fly is below the worst of it but is taking a beating and there's enough rain that water starts flowing underneath. I'm warm but definitely hunkered down to endure the night and don't get a lot of sleep with the nylon flapping a few inches above my nose.

Snug?

Tony calls up on schedule in the morning to say that there will be no helicopter flying today - this means ground teams will have to walk to our location to start the search, adding about four hours. He outlines a slightly changed scenario whereby Paul will be found more quickly but the rest of us will stick to the original plan. I radio Cameron and Fiona (about 12m away) to liaise on a get up and out time - they're keen to get moving as our target locations are in the lee of the ridge. I've already had breakfast so this gives me a bit of time to contemplate my next move.

The big down side of bivs in bad weather is the logistic complexity of getting into and out of them with out getting your dry gear wet and muddy. I spend the last few warm minutes in my sleeping bag stepping through the process.

Although the wind is still strong with belts of rain coming through, it's not too cold so once we get moving it's not bad. We leave Paul under his fly - he'll wander down the track a wee way when the search team approaches and pretend to be suffering the effects of a diabetic attack. His story will confirm our direction of travel and our intention to leave the marked track.

A brief stop to pick up water from the tarn which has an active spring in it today and shortly after we are back in beech forest and out of the wind.

There's no hurry so we amble along until where my spur diverges and I say goodbye to Fiona and Cameron. They are destined for the next major spur where they will be overcome by a violent bout of Campylobacter rendering them non-responsive - me; to break my tibia off the side of my spur.

Christian aid worker Fiona prepares for the ordeal ahead

The somewhat devout Cameron and me

With plenty of time I wander down making no effort to hide my trail. It's a bit of a tricky shape to the spur in places - left to my own devices I would have just pottered along with compass and map, but I crack out the GPS in a few spots as I don't want to stuff the exercise up by ending up in the wrong spot.

Part way down an explosion of white flowers draped through a sub-canopy tree herald a clematis vine. They glow in the low light but are tricky to get a shot of due to the wind. I assume it is Clematis peniculata or puawhananga which flowers around now.

Around the 600m contour there's a wee knob, it's about where I'm supposed to have wandered off the main line of the spur and followed a side spur north east, but for now I decide to stay put knowing I have radio coverage until a search team gets close.

It's windy but the cloud cover is trying to break - I wrap up and settle down on my sleeping mat for lunch with sleeping bag and fly spread out to dry. Every hour Tony checks in and I follow the progress of the search parties. Fiona and Cameron report that they have found a lovely flat spot on their spur and set up camp.

Fiona and Cameron - very comfortable

A party eventually radios in that Paul has been found - he dutifully delivers his messages then tags along as they are redeployed along the ridge. Time for me to head for the site of my accident. I discover that my sleeping mat has a puncture - an added incentive to be found in time to get to a hut or road end.

In the end I prop a little way up slope of my final objective and sit and read my book with half an ear on the radio. At his next call in Tony agrees that the chances of finding me here tonight aren't good so I redeploy back to my previous spot around 600m - no reading though as there are spots of rain. I don't have to wait long before another change in plan - it seems one rather than two parties will be searching my spur so I need to relocate further up, and quickly as 'there are a couple of grey hounds in that group.'

I race back up, find a plausible spot to have taken a fall (on the leeside of the spur) - and settle in again. This time in clag with the bad weather feeling ominously close.  I'm worried that the team may have beaten me and headed down to 386 according to the revised search plan (blue dots on map) but Tony calls in and confirms they are still on their way.

Soon after I hear voices from up the spur - I blow my whistle and shouting ensues. I am most decidedly a responsive patient with every intention of not having to spend another night out.

The team turn up and do their thing - assessing my condition, asking what I know about the others, reporting to base etc. They are quite proud to report the signs they have found of my trail - foot prints and scuff marks (yep - should be lots of those), a wee coloured rubber band (never seen it before), and a mock camp site (sorry - not me either). They also ask if I heard their whistling (nope - just the voices).

After a while I am miraculously healed and we proceed on down the spur - apparently the team has been retasked and we will be following the spur to Totara Flats and not the side spur to 386 (so I didn't need to race back up the hill after all).  Periodically they pause and spread out, block their ears, blow their whistles then listen intently. One of them is sure he hears a whistle but as the party closing in on Fiona and Cameron are well over a kilometre away with a strong wind it wasn't from the search exercise..

The team are still looking for signs of the other missing persons so in the interests of speed I break role and point out that I've been down and up the spur so don't get too excited by all the marks. 

The search develops a twist with the notification of a real missing person on Mt Reeve - south of the search area. A teams is duly dispatched to Tutuwai  Hut with instructions to set out early and search in the morning - another couple of teams are located to the Waiohine road end for possible deployment in the morning (however the chap walks out under his own steam in the end). The rest of the exercise continues.

At 600m the spur shape gets confused so the team follow their GPS but towards the bottom we drift off and the last 40 vertical meters is through supplejack and kiekie in the gathering dark.

At the bottom we are abruptly on flat ground and within 40 meters I'm standing on the track. It's starting to rain in earnest.

The team confer on next steps - bivvy up here or head to the hut. I'm mildly interested in their conclusion as I have absolutely no intention of spending a night out in the rain and wind with a flat sleeping mat.

Fortunately they come up with the correct answer and we head out on what will be (after one wee terrace) a flat three kilometres to Totara Flats Hut.

My headtorch batteries are just about had it but I'm not going to hold the party up to change them so stick to the leader's heels, the rest of the team strung out behind. Doing a quick count we realise that there are too many lights - it looks like another team is behind us. It turns out to be Fiona and Cameron who were left behind by their rescuers to strike camp - they seem to have recovered as well from their D&V as I have from a broken leg.

Eventually a tinge of woodsmoke in the air followed by the smell of the loo herald our arrival at a crowded Totara Flats Hut.

There's quite a few of the SAR teams in loc as well as the usual punters. A Meet-up tramping group is also settled in and I exchange a few words with Scott but am a little bit more intent on getting out of the wet and into some dinner.

There's no mattresses to be had so I settle on my deflated mat on the common room floor. Outside the wind slashes rain against the hut.  The morning can wait but we are required to be at Holdsworth road end by 10am so it will be an early start.

I sleep surprisingly well - aided by the near miraculous lack of snorers (the bunk rooms didn't fare so well apparently).

The SAR parties start heading out so the missing persons link up again and set off into the elements. The Waiohine is up and turbid - there would be no crossing it today. The track up Totara Creek is mostly a running stream until the footbridge and the start of the sidle up the hill.

One of our party is not 100% so we take it slowly and let the other parties past. It's unrelentingly soggy at the start.

The track is well marked and of a good standard. After the first steep climb it ambles along and down to the saddle between Totara and Carrington creeks. This is where it hooks up with the old route that followed Totara creek. The next section is interesting because, although it is on a bit of a spur there is often a wee stream running down the track. It is also the longest climb in the Tararuas - not because it actually is, just because you want to have it over and done with but it just doesn't seem to want to end.

Our afflicted party member is making heavy weather of the climb so we redistribute some gear and I end up with a pack on front - fortunately two ridiculously light packs make up a normal pack so it is no hardship.

The end of the climb is signalled when the track flattens and sidles east across the slope - we pop out at the junction with Gentle Annie track for the long downhill. Gear is redistributed to its rightful owner and we head on down at a good pace.

Paul points out some useful side spurs to the Atiwhakatu river and links up ridge to the old track - he clearly knows these parts very well. The weather gets progressively better as we head for the valley floor and we start bumping into day and dog walkers.

At the last bridge I hear over the radio that the van is full and is leaving - bugger, we'll have to wait for another to be dispatched.  It's not so bad though as there are patches of sun breaking through and the time passes quickly.

The SAR base is a hive of activity with the IMT winding down, teams debriefing and gear being checked in. I make a beeline for 1. the car (dry clothes) then 2. the BBQ.

Pretty soon I'm warm, dry, fed and have returned the electronics. The volunteers are exchanging notes about their various taskings; they are friendly but it's a little like any club when you're not a member so I slip away and leave them to it.

Wairarapa SAREX 2019 - Missing persons team

Postscript

I said you always learn a thing or two during these events - so,what were they?

There's how SAR teams and events operate - I'm bound to need them one day and it's good to understand what to expect. On the pragmatic side, I used a GPS in anger for about the second time in the bush and I learned the hard way how robust my sleeping pad isn't. I also have a better idea about the limitations of my fly.

The main thing that struck me though was the psychological difference between SAR team members, tramping parties and me. SAR operations are large, command and control affairs; for it all to work teams have to trust that IMT will make the decisions and do the tasking - too much autonomy would be a bad thing. The team members themselves have to be able to stick to their subtasks and work together to be effective. Decision making is by necessity through group processes within externally defined parameters and religious attention to safety. Team member skill levels are definable in terms of formal training undertaken, experience and assignment to leadership roles. It's a little like working with the army but, as volunteers, the uniform/civvy divide is less pronounced.

Tramping groups share a lot of these characteristics but without the same external command and control element and with varying degrees of formality around group decision making. Competence is often harder to gauge, highly variable and leadership self-assigned. They can be great or downright dangerous.

As a solo tramper I find group process and progress to be slow - not having the advantage of group discussion I'm used to analysing a problem while I'm walking, and only really stopping to assess a hazard or make navigation decisions. Although free of the problems of group think and risk threshold shift I have to try to avoid pitfalls like personal blind spots and failing to recognise impaired decision ability. I reckon you think differently when there's no one there to watch your back and need to be mindful about how this influences how you behave when in a group.

Although my views on the net increase in risk associated with solo tramping are on record, I did observe how being in a group changed my risk exposure.  On my own I would have stayed in Cone Hut on Friday night and headed up the ridge early Sat morning - thereby avoiding a rough night out. I would also have been off the spur and to the hut in daylight hours and less exposed to the elements by being out faster on the Sunday.

So what? I'll probably carry a bit more kit when I'm in a group as there is more standing around getting cold and higher chance of getting into some situations I would avoid on my own.

But overall, the main thing was getting a better appreciation of the hours and effort that a lot of volunteers put into SAR - I sure am a helluva lot happier knowing they're out there practicing for when I might be needing them.

Winzenberg hill and a few other spots

My Tararua spot-height collection has reached a point where there are large areas with just a few scattered points that remain unvisited. These are left overs from trips predating this unhealthy obsession. The density has become low enough that the other day I bothered to do a count - 107 remaining give or take.

This weekend, I have two days available so look for a trip that will knock enough off that it might even be worth starting some form of a count down. There are eight near Holdsworth which, with a bit of creativity, I string together into an interesting looking excursion.

What:     Weekend navigation trip and spot-heighting
Where:   Holdsworth / High Ridge
When:    15-16 September 2018
Who:      Solo
Map:

Large scale view

It's promising to be a fine day as I leave the car at dawn (6.50am) to head up past the recycling center.  I blundered onto a formed track one night around here and am hoping that it leads up Winzenberg Hill. I'm confident that a hill of modest proportions with such a distinctive name located above a busy camp ground will have a well beaten track to the summit. I carefully don't think about my last excursion in the area or a diverting trip report I read some time ago from SWTC.

The hill they call Winzenberg

I assume the name is from an early family - a half-hearted search unearths references to an old building of that name in Masterton and a local photographer from early last century; Albert Winzenberg.

Winzenberg and 535

The access road stops at a shed and the cut path continues to follow the stream. It's all as I remember, up until the water intake where the track runs out. My recollection of it disappearing up the hill has proven to be unreliable. The forest looks pretty open so I happily potter up the spur on the true left of the side stream. The forest rapidly turns into scrub. I struggle up an old fence line telling myself that where my spur meets the main spur there will surely be a track. Wrong.

It's mixed going up to a saddle and clearing at 670m where it's a little more open and there are some signs of old trails, but nothing you would call a track.  At the top (729m and 8.45am) there are clearings among the scrub but again nothing obvious in the way of tracks. It seems that the summer crowds have little curiosity. Almost 2 hours to get to the top - definitely not easy going.

Looking back down the spur - note the absence of tracks
535 in middle distance

From the top looking up the Waingawa - Mitre with snow on horizon

Selfy balanced in gorse bush at top of Winzenberg

The chances of finding a better route down are high (on the grounds that it would be hard to find anything much worse). My theory is that there will be higher canopy in the stream gully, so I drop north west along the ridge into a saddle before striking down slope. It's much easier going, quickly dropping out of the scrub.

The view from the top confirmed that my next hill (535) has a scrubby east face so I follow further up the main stream to what looks like better forest up valley. The stream is pretty enough and easy going. And sure enough, the route up, whilst steep is open. I leave the creek a little before 10am.

At the top there is a pest control trail with A24 traps which takes me tidily to the top (no view) then all the way back down to the camp ground.  As I emerge from the bush a handful of kamikaze tui barrel past at head height oblivious to all but their fierce competition. It's 10.50am as I potter back to the car.

The day is well hot now. I exchange my day pack for an overnighter and head for the foot bridge. A sharp left off track - over a high bank with the Gentle Annie Creek beyond, cut deeply between its banks. I join a track that runs above it - follow it down and across then strike straight up hill and soon have to lose my shirt with the heat.

Holdsworth to Gentle Annie, Carrington Creek and over to 496

There is an old track around here somewhere but I miss it and can't really swear to being on a track again until about 600m. From here there is a strongly worn path with even an occasional orange triangle.  It's used for trapping but is so strong I would have expected to see it on the old maps (it isn't).

Over 670 and I expect to have to do some navigation but the trail is obvious and there are even little signs in places that take me unerringly to Gentle Annie Saddle at 12.45pm.

"Towards Gentle Annie Saddle"

Markers dissuading you from heading down spur to 637

As soon as I hit the saddle I hang a left and wade down through ground ferns as trickles join to become a large stream. It's a relatively gentle stream valley with a few terraces and generally on the wide side. A couple of times I find old sawn branches in a log jam and the odd bit of tape. Lower down a path develops and follows the true right. Fresh boot prints indicate recent use.

I sidle around the ridge into Carrington Creek and follow it up until it turns north and a stream on an old shingle fan joins from the true right. This marks my point to start climbing. There's no trail to follow and the lower slopes are steep with some areas of kiekie and supplejack. Eventually it opens for a solid climb to 550m (about 3.20pm), then a gentler climb to 728m.

550 - still hot

728 is one of those points which is just off a ridge top so, on an earlier trip I blithely wandered past without even thinking to pop across to it. There's no view so I bag it and head on to the ridge where I know there is an informal track.

Solid track on the ridge top

It's five to four so I'm not pressed for daylight but I need to find just the right spot to drop onto the misshapen spur leading down to 496. I overshoot deliberately and come back - but don't see any obvious markings. The ridge top rolls gently off and I can't see far enough to detect any spur forming. It will be very easy to end up in the wrong place. In the end I 'aim off' - dropping deliberately early and angling down slope to climb onto the spur from the side when it starts forming. It works a treat and I potter down rather chuffed with myself.

496 is spot number six for the day - I don't bask long though as I want to be on the valley floor with plenty of daylight to find a spot to camp. A bearing takes me to the strongest looking spur down (NWish from 496). This drops to the track (5.10pm) near the bridge for a scramble down beside the stream (definitely not in it - too steep) to Totara Creek.

Totara Creek is sizable and, given the debris I've seen in it, I generally give it some respect. Today it is at moderate flow but I find a suitable spot and just manage to get across with dry feet (it would be aggravating to end up with wet boots right at the end before the climb in the morning).

The old track on the true right is still marked and well trodden. I wander up valley a short way and find a flat spot near the track to pitch the fly. As the light fades I sit at the stream edge munching on time expired Backcountry dehy and feeling every metre of climb from the day past.

It's mild with no rain forecast so I should have a solid sleep. But aching muscles mean I sleep like a rotisserie chicken - waking regularly to turn and find a more comfortable position. Still - 10 hours later I feel well rested. The stream is loud in the valley so I don't hear the sounds of the bush bar a nearby ruru in the early morning.

After porridge I strike camp and am heading down stream by 6.30am. I had thought to potter up Red Rock Creek a ways but on studying the map decide the valley sides are the sort of steep I can do without today. I drop down the steep bank to Red Rock Creek to fill my camelback then start climbing.

High Ridge

The climb is steep and again there is little trail. It's relentless and I have soon lost the shirt again. The wind starts getting up.

Pt 834 at 8.10am is cause for celebration - in theory this is my 100th-to-last spot height. Really, it is a welcome flat spot for a long breather.

834 - lots down and 100 to go

The wind is decidedly cool now and the shirt is back on as I roll up and on to the wide flat ridge top. It's proper goblin forest up here - it looks like everything is wearing 1980's leg warmers; including the ground. It's quite a way across the top before I see what I am expecting to see - a piece of orange tape. At about 8.45am it has taken about 2 and a quarter hours to get here from my camp.

High Ridge - top

There's no reason to stop so I turn left and try to follow the trail and the tape. Both come and go a bit but I'm relaxed so potter along til I find my way back onto the trail again.  The norwester is barreling into the other side of the ridge and surging through the tree tops making a few creak and groan. The odd trunk moves a little more than you think would be healthy for a tree with an eye on longevity.

In a few spots there are some wonderful old-school markers attesting to the long standing use of this route.

From when trampers ate beans from really big tins

There's a spot where the ridge turns south and it's not immediately apparent where the trail runs due to some tree fall - I remember it from last time so work around and quickly pick up the way again.  Another piece of tape here would be helpful.

At Flaxy Knob (9.10am) someone has set the old sign up to point down the spur to Totara Flats.  I suspect I would find the navigation a lot easier now than last time. However, I head past and SW to follow the spur down to 814. There is an old marker near the top and what seems to be an old trail - I'm a bit surprised as the spur doesn't look to have a good entry to the Waiohine river (which would be the only destination from here). It could be that people used to drop down to Hector Forks though. Worth an explore perhaps?
[A few weeks later I found that the route is marked on old maps as a way to Hector Forks]

The signed has been moved since 2 years back but same route

The exertions from yesterday are taking their toll so I recline among the mossy roots of a tree and take stock - it's 0945 so there is plenty of day left but I am pretty knackered.  The original plan had me dropping down the spur south from 1134 then heading up Totara Creek to climb a spur to Mountain House Shelter - about 800m down then 300m up. Heading up High Ridge towards Holdsworth on the other hand would be 200m up and 600m down - a no brainer then.

I think it's important that I sit here for a bit

The main range to the west across the Waiohine has a dark cloud ceiling at about 1300m, to the east the Wairarapa is basking. Northwards the south faces of Isabella and Mt Holdsworth are snowy to below the bush line.

The trail remains good all the way up the ridge, just getting a little messy as it passes through a short scrubby band.  This is the moment to hunker down and gain a few layers, plus balaclava and gloves. I've slowed down a lot so take a long break and have a bite to eat, it's after 12.10 so not fast progress.

The wind is strong across the ridge but it's pretty easy going through the tussock with a bit of a foot trail coming and going. To the right are some steep erosion chutes into the Totara catchment and the roof of Powell Hut soon comes into sight.

Down High Ridge (from west side of ridge)

Isabella and Holdsworth

Up ridge - Holdsworth on left

Down ridge - Waiohine in distance

The final walk up to the intersection with the Powell-Holdsworth ridge sees me there a little before 1pm. Despite being much higher than the snow line on Isabella and Holdsworth, there are only a few drifts remaining behind tussocks on this exposed section. These continue all the way down to Powell Hut about 8 minutes later.

From Powell.  Pinnacle and Pinnacle Ridge in the mid-ground

The hut is empty so I sign in, take a few photos and 10 minutes later head off down hill. The day gets hotter as I head away from the range down the well groomed track, arriving at the car a little under 1 hour 25 later.
 

Postscript

8 down and 99 to go - definitely a milestone weekend. A bitsy tramp in some ways but it filled in a gap around Gentle Annie Saddle and Carrington Creek - quite navigable and I suspect frequented by hunters and trappers. And a weekend cannot be regarded as wasted when it involves a mild night fly camping by a creek.

Winzenberg Hill I wouldn't get too excited about - nice enough views but easier and better to be had elsewhere. If I had to do it again I would go up the way I came down although there could be an easier route up the ridge from the east (with some marked farm tracks to get most of the climbing out of the way).

814 was pretty much a waste of time in that it was just a there and back - but it would be an interesting route to or from Hector Forks or even a hairy scramble to cross the river higher up to get to Middle Spur.