Not one to turn down a challenge, I decided to do the hike up Mount Roy. I went back to my room and told Toby and Jonny about my plans. I packed a bag consisting of my wallet, ipod, camera, a loaf of bread, a tub of Vegemite and of course Hubert (my plastic green squishy fish) who comes everywhere with me. I put on my hiking boots, a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, hoodie, wooly hat and my sun glasses. I then headed out the door and was off on my way. I quickly turned back to grab a coat. Although it was not particularly cold, I thought it was worth taking just in case and I certainly made the right decision.
To get to the base of Mount Roy, I had to walk approximately 6km along the coast of Lake Wanaka which provided some beautiful views. I was then led along a trail, which involved walking along some privately owned farm land, however I wasn't trespassing. After a final 600m stretch of road, I reached the base of the mountain, ready to start my ascent.
I quickly realised just how steep the climb was. Mountains have a funny habit of looking rather small from the bottom, as though it won't take particularly long to reach the peak. However, I was very much deceived by this illusion, as the trek seemed to last forever and was extremely steep all the way. There was also no sign of human life at any point during my ascent. This didn't worry me too much, as I've often been known to attempt things that perhaps didn't make sense to most other people. As I continued up, I found myself regularly needing to stop to rest my legs, catch my breath or eat some food for a couple of minutes.
I could see the clouds beginning to change and the sky started to look a little more ominous. Above me, the top of the mountain was covered in a grey mist which simply looked like cloud cover however, as I began to get closer to the peak I started to realise that this was in fact snowfall. Along the way, I often whipped out my camera for a quick shot of the scenery and when I began to see signs of snow, I was eager to take some photos as evidence that I had managed to hike high enough to reach snow! The snowfall and wind quickly picked up and pretty soon, I found myself in the middle of a snow storm and rapidly getting very cold. The summit was't much further so I decided to persist on. I can't remember the next 30-minutes too well, but I'm certain that it was sheer stubbornness and adrenaline that got me to the top of Mount Roy.
Once at the peak, I let out a huge yell: 'Drago' - as a tip of the hat to Rocky 4. By this point, I had been hiking for over 4 hours and the mountain ascent alone, had taken more than 3 hours. My hands were frozen, I could barely see from the heavy snowfall and my thighs were completely numb. The snow got heavier and began to settle on the cliff edge around me. The wind speed picked up to the extent that I was in pain from the snow hitting my face. The next 30-minutes were the scariest of my life. I needed to get down as quickly as possible. I hadn't seen a single person while climbing-up, I had no communications device, I was inadequately clothed, without any water and I could feel my body seizing-up as I became colder. I decided to jog down as best as I could to stay warm and reach the base quicker. Because of the sheer decline of some of the hills, I found myself regularly sprinting uncontrollably. As I got lower down, the snow was melting and had turned to slush, so I was also sliding and slipping a fair bit. I eventually reached the base, with all my clothes completely saturated and mud all the way down my legs.
As I walked down the 600m stretch of road, I stuck my thumb in the air in the hope that someone might give me a ride back to town to avoid a further 6km walk. Fortunately, a businessman named Anthony, originally from Yorkshire but living in Melbourne for the past 8-years stopped and gave me a lift. He was in town for 4-days of skiing. I can't imagine what I looked like but I was extremely thankful for his help. He dropped me off at the hostel and I looked over to the mountain to see the top third covered in white snow. I couldn't believe that I had got stuck in the midst of that!
In total, I had climbed 1300m vertically to the summit and reached an altitude of over 1500m above sea level. I had hiked 17km and completed a climb classified as 'very hard' and 'should only be attempted in clear weather'. All this in a pair of shorts and no waterproofs.
I'm sure I'll wake up rather stiff tomorrow morning!
Much love!
Sam
No comments:
Post a Comment