Of Wild and Wonder

21/9/2019 - 22/9/2019 Party: Torea Scott-Fyfe, Maddy Whittaker, Tom Hadley Not quite knowing what to do with our weekend, Maddy and I did the classic “throw-gear-for-everything-in-the-car-and-head-for-the-mountains” and rolled up at Torea’s house around midnight. Turns out we were both tired and Torea was tipsy, so not knowing what to do, we went to sleep. We woke the next morning and after handling a Grade 5 faff situation, we embarked on the ambitious trip of fastpacking the whole Rees-Dart in one go (which Maddy had done before in 3 days). We started off running up the Rees river at 11am. We were all feeling light and speedy, moving consistently through the beech trees and popping out into the expansive valley. Approaching the top of the valley (4 hours in) we encountered a bit of an obstacle. Seeing as it was September, there was a lot of snow. The next hour or so saw us cover ground a lot slower through waist deep snow, getting us pretty cold and knackered. Maddy and Torea...

9/9/2019 - 10/9/2019 Party: Conor Vaessen, Maddy Whittaker, Tom Hadley This mission began on a Monday afternoon when an irresistible weather window presented itself to us for climbing Mt Brewster. There was the promise of clear skies, no wind and great snow conditions. Maddy, Conor and I packed up our stuff and jumped in Conor’s corolla to begin the journey to the Brewster track. I think we all tried to sleep at different times but the stoke of mountains meant none of us really succeeded. After a record minimum of faff time, we arrived at the bottom of the Brewster track at 9pm before heading off into the night. As we began the climb our layers came off, breathing quickened and we were sweating hard. Emerging from the bush line we were presented with a panorama of snowy mountains, softly glowing in moonlight. After the final trudge up through the snow we reached Brewster hut around midnight, it seemed we were sharing with some skiers. We jumped into sleeping bags to grab a short na...

27/8/2019 - 1/9/2019 Party: Tanja De Wilde, James Waetford, Torea Scott-Fyfe, Maddy Whittaker, Tom Hadley A collection of memories from a mind blowing place  Driving through rain, stars, excitement and New Zealand.  Sitting in the van drinking tea with new friends, preparing for missions ahead.  Driving through iced puddles, anticipation and clearance both high enough. Looking over the moraine in the morning light, seeing mountains carved by a turbulent yet sluggish river of ice.  Onto the ice, flanked by tumbling ice falls and towering mountains, we felt small as we traveled against the glacier's flow.  In the dark we plugged ahead, is it a star, is it a hut, I didn’t know. We moved past the light, threading our way through dimples of snow.  Water bottles frozen, feeling light headed, feet and shoulders sore. Strange tracks in the snow guided us ever closer with each step.  Finally a red box materialised out of the dar...