references
21 Peaks in 21 Days
Nathan Watson
In February this year Nigel and I embarked on what was to be a great adventure – the outcome was a little different to what was intended but, nevertheless, it was still an adventure we’ll remember for many years to come, and it was all in the name of kea conservation! After nearly a year of planning – staring endlessly at the maps, reading guide books, searching on the internet and drawing on the personal experience of friends, family and strangers – the first morning of our expedition dawned fine and sunny. Our aim was to spend 21 days in Nelson Lakes National Park and climb all of the 21 named peaks over 2000m. Starting in the Matakitaki Valley we planned to work our way north-east along the Spencer Range, through to Blue
Lake into the Sabine Valley, over Travers Saddle into the Travers Valley, finishing along the Robert Ridge close to St Arnaud. Our extensive research gave no record of this having been achieved before, let alone even attempted. With a minimum of 220km to travel and an estimated combined elevation gain/loss of 16,000m we knew we needed more than good planning and fit bodies to see us through. Any prolonged spell of bad weather, injury, illness, or the reality of fatigue, could spell the end to our dream. After what felt like an endless 4wd trip up the Matakitaki Valley we finally got moving and started climbing up towards the Ella Range, with mildly heavy packs (our support crew was heading further up the valley to leave our 26
first food drop). We made good progress as we climbed higher following a defined but nonmaintained track to a basin west of Mt Ella. The summer had been particularly dry and we struggled to find any water above the bush line over the first few days. The first night we camped at about 1400m and a huge thunderstorm rolled in pelting us with rain, hail and lightning that felt like a cracking whip right on top of us. It had been a great first day with Mt Ella in the bag (we turned around a few hundred metres from the true summit due to the rock conditions on the South Ridge). Over the next two days we summited Mt Magdalene (2187m) but unfortunately had to give up on Mt Dorothy (2194m) due to dense