19th - 21st of February 2019
Our first trip of the year! This was the second week of the term and we were already off on a grand adventure. All 27 COE students came on this trip, however we were split into three different groups of 9. We loaded into the vans on Tuesday morning and set off for the Arthurs pass. No one in our group had done this tramp before so we had no idea what to expect. My group started at the Cass Saddle end so our first day was uphill the whole way, walking up a river bed until we reached our campsite on the edge of the bush line. The next day was definitely the most spectacular. It involved walking from our campsite on the edge of the bush, up into alpine tussock country. We reached Cass Saddle about midday and stopped to soak up the views and do a bit of nav training with our maps. From this point we had stunning views up the whole valley, there were huge magnificent scree slopes and sharp peaks that made everyone feel as small as ants. We made our way down the other side of the saddle to the valley floor, roamed through some golden fields, dense bush and beach forrest and set up camp for another night. Tama Made a brilliant vege curry and we sat round a campfire eating and chatting away.
The last of our trip day involved following the river up to Lagoon saddle, it got very steep and treacherous in places. I can remember our whole group tying to scramble our way up this scree slope, and every step you take, you move half a step back and roll rocks down the hill onto people below you, eventually we made it up. As we carried on past Lagoon Saddle Hut we were surprised to find the other group making pancakes under a fly haha. We didn't stop too long and made it too lagoon saddle. There was a howling wind that made the drizzle fall sideways, and the temperature had come right down. We did some more navigation exercises up there but didn't want to spend too long as it was really freaking cold! From here we made our way down the valley floor of Arthurs pass where the vans were waiting, and met the other groups for lunch!
Check out some photos from the trip below.