TA Day 28

TA Day 28: Wednesday 15 January 2025

Coal River / West of Round Hill - Stone Hut

We went up early this morning to walk as much of the ridge as possible before the sun would come out and blaze us as usual.

It was fun passing Barry and Rose early in the morning, and we also said hello to the other guy camping with them, because he seemed to be the only one awake.

We soon passed Camp Stream Hut, and here there was a tent outside - it looked exactly like the tent that the German couple had, that we passed south of Twizel. Maybe they had biked from Twizel to Tekapo and passed us that way?

We also didn't go inside the hut because it was so early in the morning and we were afraid we would wake someone up.

This morning was very foggy, and even around nine, when morning fog is usually gone, it was still very thick.

It was very interesting to walk up the ridge in the fog, the world felt so small. It was also nice and cool for once, and we actually enjoyed our hike up.

We took a break to have breakfast, and then continued. Once we were almost at the top of the ridge we found a geocache and had another break, hoping for the fog to lift if we just waited a bit longer.

After waiting for almost an hour, the fog had cleared slightly, but we couldn't wait any longer, so we climbed the last bit up to Beuzenberg Peak, 2070 m.a.sl, and almost 100 metres higher than Stag Saddle, the highest point of the TA. From the peak we could see Stag Saddle and Rose and Barry down there. They were so tiny and it felt mighty to see them from up there, but unfortunately we only had views towards one side, the other was still covered in fog. We have heard that you can see all the way to Tekapo in clear weather, so it was a bit disappointing to not do that.

On our way down, we could have just taken the same route down as up, and then continued to Stag Saddle. We didn't do that. We saw traces of other people "shortcutting" down the steep scree slope, and we did the say. Do not recommend! Sand, gravel and rocks moved beneath our feet and rolled down the steep slope. Lukas moved quickly and swiftly down and then spent quite some time waiting for Kim to get down. But we both came down to Stag Saddle without a problem in the end.

Here we only stopped briefly to look for a geocache before continuing towards Royal Hut, where we had some lunch/dinner. From here we continued to Stone Hut together with Barry. Once we arrived it was time for a swim (for Barry and Lukas) and some shoe repair with the pretty sunset as backdrop.

Today's:

Distance: 25.25 km

Ascent: 1133 m

Descent: 1193 m

Tent nights: 19/28

Weather: Foggy morning, cloudy and sunny later in the day