Rintoul

January 11 12.8 km 8 hrs 10 mins

A fine sunny day for the highlight of the trip - Mt Rintoul and Little Rintoul ... not to mention a whole day of ridge top walking with no streams to cross ! First a walk along the ridge towards Bishops Cap, and then on to Purple Top where we had a mid morning stop to admire the views of Mt Rintoul, and the Mt Rintoul Hut on the ridge at its foot. Some wispy clouds about, so best to move on.

So down and along the lovely mossy ridge to the hut, and a brief stop before starting up the hill. The steeper part of the climb is only 400m from the south side, and at least half of that is on another bush track zigzagging up the hill, before emerging onto steep loose rock slopes up further. But soon enough the gradient lessened, and we had a good view of the top not too far away. The well poled route took us down and around some bluffs, and then up again, and from there a gentler walk up to the summit 1731m for a welcome lunch stop facing towards Little Rintoul. Although we never did get a full view of it because of the clouds blowing to and fro.

We did have some good views, especially out to the east, including to the Wairau Valley, and at times views back the way we had come, to the nearby steep valleys, and most parts of the narrow ridge leading to Little Rintoul.

Soon enough we set off onto the ridge, and then followed the markers that took us down the east side below some more bluffs, before starting on the climb back up again. Met Deb and Rob McColl and their companions just below the top and a final push had us at the Little Rintoul summit 1643m with good views onwards.

Down the rocky ridge and into the bush before soon reaching the turnoff down to Old Man Hut. Another lovely hut, just a shame that it is 200m down from the main track, and then 240m up the next morning !

Weather not improving - through the rest of the afternoon we watched the clouds being blown rapidly around the ridge, down the hillside, and often enough all around the hut. The forecast for the next day was no better, so we decided on an option for a later start, depending on what the new day brought.