Mt Bruce

It sounds sturdy doesn't it? Mt Bruce. And it is, tucked in between the Craigieburn Range and Arthur's Pass National Park.

hpx is still building her mountain fitness after months of dealing with houses. I don't seem to do well climbing through beech forest but the higher I get I find a better rhythm albeit a slow and methodical one.

There is usually a lot more snow up here by now and that is going to change this week. I suspect too much snow will be the problem next weekend.

The view here is looking down into the Waimakariri River, Cora Lyn station, and across the river and some of beyond is Arthur's Pass National Park.

It was surprisingly mild (mild being a relative thing of maybe a degree or 2 above 0). About this point a light breeze was blowing and that made all the difference.

At the top we dropped into the shelter of a rock buttress and look up in the Arthur's pass and into the head of the Waimak. We checked out the snow slope on the back side of Mt Bruce. It's often a sheet of ice but today the snow as light and fluffy.

That was all very nice until ran out of snow and then it was frozen scree with a light topping of ball-bearing like stones. Thankfully we descended that in one piece and my good merino long johns (the ones with no holes no air conditioning) are in tact.

No one was willing to skate on a small froze tarn so it was downwards some more through giant tussock. Ever since I broke my foot in large tussocks fishing I've taken a different view of ploughing through what I can't see. I let the boys charge on ahead while I carefully picked my way through them.

We dropped in Broad Stream which is anything but. It's a deep gash and it's dark, gloomy, and often icy at this time of the year. There was no ice but it was wet and slippery. I was glad when it started to widen and the last river crossing was done.

There was just one slip and fall (not me) and my feet were dry at the end of it. A bonus.

I'm rubbing my eyes and I need to stretch, then I can go to bed.

A great day. And you even get an extra panorama today :-)

Today's gratitude: For eyes to see the beautiful country I live in and legs to take me there.