raggles.kiwi

Sunset Saddle

I had a couple of days to kill up in the Nelson Lakes area, and so I decided to take myself on a little journey across Angelus Peak and Sunset Saddle. I headed for Speargrass hut just after 10pm, and it was raining heavily. Nevertheless spirits were high, and I wandered about merrily in the darkness for three and a half hours and arrived at the hut just before 1am. The hut seemed quite busy, so rather than wake everyone up I just set up on the deck and settled in for what remained of the night. Unfortunately the rain intensified during the night, and the dry patch of deck that I was sleeping on got progressively smaller as the wind pushed the rain underneath the veranda, however I just managed to stay dry (if not a bit cold!)

I woke early just before it got light as I was quite cold, and cooked up some noodles for breakfast then scampered off before the hut woke up. I was up to Angelus hut for second breakfast, and got the low down on route conditions from the resident hut warden. There was an unseasonable amount of snow on the ground, and I was not really equipped for snow with just my approach shoes and no ice axe, but a couple of others mentioned the route was manageable, so I continued on towards the Sunset saddle. It seemed rude not to nip up Angelus Peak while I was going past, however this took much longer than anticipated as the snow/scree combination was rather loose and slippery. After a quick survey of the surrounds, I was off down the other side into Hopeless Creek.

I found this area stunningly scenic, with steep sides to the valley, picturesque tarns and surrounded by mountains. It would be a great place to bivvy another time. Good progress was made to Hopeless creek hut, with just a few interesting spots negotiating the headwall between the upper and lower valley.

Hopeless creek hut is a great design, built by the NZAC so not like your typical Forest Service or DOC hut and it is in a great location. Unfortunately it has a bit of a mouse problem, and after I caught one rummaging through my pack I declared war. I found a mouse trap, baited it with some cheese, and 10 minutes later... **thwack** 1 down. I had to get up several more times during the night as the trap went off, and I slept well knowing that the little critters were not raiding all of my food.

I departed early the next morning a couple of hours before dark, so I could complete the loop back to Mt Robert by lunchtime or just after so I would be able to drive back home before dark. It was a fairly uneventful journey, only seeing a couple of other groups on the way. All said and done this would have to be one of my favourite easyish two day trips that I've done in a while - great tracks, barely any people and awesome surrounds!