Ultramarathon #20

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Siberia GullyLooking back down Siberia Gully
New PB and new course record! I went into this year's race publicly intending to do 7h20, but privately hoping for 7h15. I was very happy to do 7h:14m:49s in a race where the last 25km were into a southerly head wind and the last 15km were in heavy rain.

Pre-StartCold and wet at the start.

The Saddle Shrouded in CloudThe top tunnel passes under the saddle. This year it was shrouded in cloud.

Burn Hut

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Sometimes the DOC times turn out to be about right...

At a loss for what to do, we thought we'd try Burn Hut in behind Mangahao Dam. The ParkMap said 3 hours from the road end, so we guessed it would actually be about 2. Plus another 2 hours to complete the other side of the loop and we should be right. After a very long drive in (13km on gravel roads) we reached the No. 2 Dam. When we got there the DOC sign said 3-4 hours to the hut, but that didn't overly concern us.

Mt Hawtrey

Saturday, January 9, 2010

P1090020View across flowering rata of the harbour entrance.
There are two track systems in the northern part of the East Harbour Regional Park: the Mt Lowry tracks and the Butterfly Creek tracks. The relevant Regional Council publication shows these two systems connected by a "route" across Mt Hawtrey, and the "Vasque Extreme" edition of the Mt Lowry Challenge uses the same route. A traverse of the two track systems, taking in Mt Hawtrey, seemed in order...

Battle Hill via Mt Wainui

Monday, January 4, 2010

P1040034Looking back at Campbells Mill Rd
Back in April Jan and I had walked from Campbells Mill Rd up to Mt Wainui: a hike that not many people are aware of. While on the top of Mt Wainui I had seen that the marked route continued over the other side. Now it was time to return and find out just where the route went.



The Mountain That Wasn't: Mount Lowry

Friday, January 1, 2010

Northern Rata
Mt Lowry lies in a low range of hills behind Eastbourne on the eastern side of Wellington Harbour. The weather was forecast to be lovely and sunny, but with strong winds, so a walk in the hills (under the cover of bush) seemed like a good idea.

2009 In Review

Thursday, December 31, 2009

A busy and varied year with 5 ultramarathons, including 2 trail ultras in the South Island; 2 overnight hut trips; 2 short hikes into the snow; 5 rogaines; and PBs at the mile walk, 5k walk, and 10k walk. My full calendar is summarised below.

Early Morning Sun

January

View from Atiwhakatu Hut

February

March

P4100073

April

Photo-0044

May

P6200114

June

Brooklyn Rogaine 090722

July

P8020064

August

P9260079

September

PA250009

October

Mt Vic Rogaine 091117

November

PC050089

December

Exfoliation on the way to the Waimata River

Saturday, December 26, 2009

PC260144The Waimata River mouth, looking south
From Herbertville we drove south west along Seaview Road to Papuka Stream. We parked up just before the stream, had lunch, and then set off in a south west direction along the beach. Although a warm day (24-28 C) the wind was always strong and the gusts would sandblast us with the dry sand from the dunes. In some places there were also small (sharp) fragments of shells that added to the effect.

PC260148North towards Cape Turnagain, wind blown sand.
 
As tempting as it was to turn back, there is always something bracing about adverse conditions. I also recalled seeing a river on the map and was keen to get to that before turning back. We got there, took a few photos, and then walked back to the car. Thankfully the wind was now at our backs, but the sand still stung on our legs.

That was just a short walk so we followed it up later in the afternoon with a further 5km at a brisk pace on the road.

More photos available on Flickr.