Day 2 of the Routeburn Track - 9th Dec

Today was our longest day walking close to 10miles over 6 hours. We spent the first hour of the walk climbing out the hanging valley of Lake Mackenzie and up to Ocean Peak Corner. We were lucky to have such good weather as from this point we saw the Tasman Sea in the distance.

Whilst climbing we watched a helicopter delivering supplies to the lodge which took a pretty spectacular bit of flying.

Next we followed the side of the Hollyford Face which was a pretty exposed section of the track however again because the weather was beautiful this part of the walk was really enjoyable. This took us to the Harris Saddle Shelter where we had lunch. At this point we were 1,300m above the sea.

After lunch we both opted for the optional climb up Conical Hill. This was still a closed footpath because of avalanche risk but because we were part of a guided walk we were allowed to climb it. We still couldn't go right to the top because of snow but climbed high enough to get some spectacular views of the mountains.

Back down at the hut we retrieved our backpacks for the final section of the day. This included an initial climb around Lake Harris before dropping down into the upper Routeburn Valley and our next and final hut for the night, the Routeburn Falls Hut.

The roof of our hut is in the bottom centre of this picture

The Huts were again spectacular and we had our own room which was nice. After going for an icy dip in the river (Andy not me), and completing our washing chores we all had a beer followed by another 3 course meal. Andy had Steak and I had Salmon.

Even the Japanese ladies tucked into a beer

Dessert was fun – the guides all heated and then tossed pancakes for us to catch. Andy dropped his, he claims I pushed him however video evidence proves there was NO pushing involved and that he did indeed drop it.

 

It was lights out again at 10pm so we settled into bed with the trusty snowman torch Hayley and Richard gave us as a leaving present. We started with hats but it really wasn't cold enough to need them.