With a couple of weeks off of work for the Christmas and New Year summer holiday, we decided to take advantage of the block of time to do some more hiking trips. On Boxing Day, we loaded up the car and headed west into the mountains; our first stop was Mount Cook National Park. As we drove through the MacKenzie Plateau we started to notice that the sides of the road were lined with wild lupins.
We made our way to the Visitor’s Centre to check in with the rangers and get our tickets for the hut where we would be staying. The ranger warned us that there was bad weather forecast and that we needed to be prepared to spend an extra day in the hut. With winds of up to 120 km/hour and rain, it looked as if it would be a pretty stormy night. However, the weather for the hike up to the hut was looking great and the storm was meant to pass quickly, so we decided to head up to the hut. We drove to the trail head and loaded up our packs with some extra food before starting our hike.
The valley was looked really beautiful and much greener than we had seen on previous visits. With just a little high cloud we had perfect conditions to start our hike up to Mueller hut. The first part of the trail is part of a popular day hike, and consists almost entirely of steps.
In fact, there were 1,714 steps based on Eric’s careful count on the way back down. The steps meant that we were able to gain altitude pretty quickly and had great views of the Hooker Valley (where we had hiked in August).
After a while we arrived at the Sealy Tarns and stopped for a quick break to admire the views and catch our breath. The track from this point becomes much more rugged and requires careful climbing over boulders and scree on the way up to the saddle.
As we started to make our way up the steep upper slopes, we had great views across the valley to the glaciers on Mount Sefton. From time to time we would hear a crack that sounded like thunder as another section of ice broke off of the glacier and sent a spray of snow and ice down the mountain side.
On the way up we were entertained by a Kea (a native Alpine Parrot) that was busy rummaging around in the bushes at the side of the trail. Luckily this one seemed more interested in the bushes and not the food we had in our rucksacks, they are known for being quite inquisitive and persistent when it comes to getting food.
Despite the steepness of the track, it was hard not to be amazed at the views which seemed to change almost constantly. As we made our way up the mountain, we would catch glimpses of the end of the Mueller glacier far below us; the turquoise pools contrasting with the surrounding grey rocks.
After picking our way up the steep slopes through patches of tussock grass and then crossing a large boulder field we make it to the final scree covered section of the track.
As we got to the ridge line we had amazing views in both directions up and down the valley. Looking back down the valley to Mount Cook Village, we could just about make out the car park where we had left the truck (in the bottom left of the photo two up). It was easy to see how far we had climbed, it was also great to know that we had completed the worst part of the hike.
We stayed on the ridge for a while taking in the views of the surrounding valleys. Eventually we decided it was time to make the final trek to the hut as the winds were really starting to pick up and we could see cloud moving into the valley high above the Muller Glacier in the distance.
After dropping down to the other side of the ridge we followed the track along the side of the mountain until we caught a glimpse of the hut in the distance. The snow on the final section of the track was soft after having been in the sun all afternoon, but it made for a welcome break after having spent much of the hike picking our way over rocks.
We arrived at the hut and were surprised to find it empty except for the warden. Normally the hut is fully booked in summer, but the bad weather forecast meant that many people had stayed home. We got ourselves settled and then headed back out to explore the area.
The hut is perched on a small rocky plateau just below the summit of Mount Ollivier and with rocky summits in every direction, you really feel as if you are in the mountains. We had beautiful views out towards Mount Cook as well as to the upper portions of the Mueller Glacier. The glacier is around 12km long and because it makes a sharp turn below Mount Sefton the area around Mueller hut is one of the few places where you can see most of the glacier, even although it is covered in debris.
The wind continued to pick up and so we made our way back to the hut to make dinner. As we ate we enjoyed watching the light changing on Mount Cook from the windows of the hut.
The evening’s entertainment really started when a group of Kea arrived and started playing around the hut. They seemed completely unaware of us sitting in the hut looking out as they played in the snow and tried to eat everything in sight; from rocks to wood to plastic!
Eventually the Kea took off and we were left watching the last of the light over the mountains. The wind had continued to build over the evening and the clouds were starting to increase in the valleys. We were woken several times in the night as the wind shook the hut and we could feel the whole structure creaking and groaning in the storm. We woke up to wind and rain lashing the windows and as we sat having breakfast the rain occasionally turned to sleet.
We relaxed at the hut until lunchtime when we noticed that the weather was starting to clear. After talking to the hut warden we decided that the weather was good enough to risk heading back down. We packed up our rucksacks and pulled on all our wet weather gear before heading outside.
As we crossed back over the ridge and dropped down into the Hooker valley the clouds lifted and we were once again able to enjoy the views. The wind was still quite strong as we made our way back through the boulder field.
Despite retracing our steps, the route back down gave us a different perspective and the different views were able to distract us from the steep downhill sections.
As we made our way along the final section of track, the clouds lifted off of Mount Cook and we had a beautiful view of the mountain contrasted against the lush green lower slopes.
We arrived back at the car, in the warm sunshine, the weather having completely changed from the wind and rain that we started our hike down from the hut in. We were so pleased we had enough food with us that we were able to plan on spending the extra night in the hut if necessary as we really enjoyed our time at the hut and felt very lucky to have the place almost to ourselves.
We left Mount Cook National park behind us and headed out towards Wanaka ready for the next hike we had planned. We stopped briefly to admire Lake Pukaki which seemed to almost glow in the afternoon summer sunshine. We arrived in Wanaka just in time to get a nice big take away curry for dinner which we took to eat on the beach before heading out to a cabin for the night.