January 4 14.2 km 8.5 hrs
A wonderful brisk but sunny morning to head on up the Waiau River - track marked, but now getting a bit rougher as it sidles across a number of loose rocky slopes. Arrived at the Waiau Forks in good time, with Willi and Rob commenting on the increased amount of cleared camping places compared to a few years ago. Also a completely new track cut up through the scrub for the first part of the ascent.
A reasonably straight forward polled climb up onto a ridge, followed by a bit of scrambling up some rocky areas, before coming out onto a mix of scree and rock to sidle around all the way to the top of the Pass. A great place to stop for lunch with great mountain views in all directions - back down to the upper Waiau valley, a small part of Lake Thompson, and then the beautiful Lake Constance now in view.
Eventually time to move on down a mixture of scree sidling and steepish zigzag paths all the long long way to the little stream that runs into the head of Lake Constance. Time to relax and drink for a bit before moving on to the shore of Lake Constance. This is followed for a while right on the lake's edge, before a steep climb up, and then up some more, over bluffs and some - more rocky areas to cross up, down, sideways to reach the large moraine area at the other end of the lake.
Then a very gingerly following of the track down, trying to be kind to aching knees, ankles and feet, with more views of the superb gem that is Blue Lake to make it all a fitting end to a most perfect day on what must be one of the great highlights of TA .. if the weather is in your favour.
Finished the day relaxing on the warm rocks beside Blue Lake, with superb mountain views wherever you looked.
No comments:
Post a Comment