TA Day 68: Monday 24 February 2025

Boilles Flat - Nichols Hut

We had an early alarm this morning because we knew that today would be a looong day. But unfortunately it was so nice and cozy in the morning so we couldn't get up...

When we finally set off, and we had passed the hut, we saw the backpacks of Lulu and Jules, but we never caught up with them.

On our way we stopped for breakfast - a nice one with pancakes! Then we walked along an old tramway from the 1930s which was quite cool. Sadly we didn't follow it all the way to the hut due to several slips along the way. So first the terrain was great but then it just got slower and slower... After what felt like forever, and well into the afternoon, we reached the first hut. We weren't too happy with each other here. Lukas was stressed because we were here so late, while Kim felt stressed being in a hurry, and just wanted to take it a bit easy today.

We had some well-needed late lunch/early dinner before starting the long way up the hill. The hill was longer than we'd ever encountered before, much longer than the hill up Traverse Saddle. But we fought our way up and now we were a lot happier with each other - maybe because we had just had food...

When we left the forest and came out on the open ridge, the sun was about to set. Everything was beautifully golden and absolutely breathtaking! We had to slow down so many times and just absorb the views.

Unfortunately, sunset doesn't last forever, and it quickly got dark, but also windy. We turned on our headlamps and walked the last few km in darkness. It wasn't scary or tough at all, just a bit annoyingly slow-going, and we also felt a bit bad that we would arrive late to the hut, in case anyone was sleeping early.

From the ridge we could see some lights. We guessed it was Lulu and Jules, from the hut. And it was.

We reached the hut, cold and completely covered in sweat from the long uphill earlier, but had decided to not clean ourselves today and just go to bed as quickly as possible...

Today's:

Distance: 21.39 km

Ascent: 2147 m

Descent: 1091 m

Tent nights: 41/68

Weather: Sunny, then windy evening