The weather forecasters had predicted "the perfect storm", an unheard of event for Wellington which included southerly snow to sea level. Well Carl and I had planned an early morning bush run to avoid the weather that was due to arrive mid afternoon, but as is often the case things don't always go according to plan.
In any case we met at Wilton Bush at 3:00pm with grandiose plans; Johnsons Hill, British Peak, Crow's Nest and back. Carl had done this once before in around 2hr 15min so we were confident we should make it back just on dark.
We made quick time to the ridgeline near Johnsons Hill in reasonable weather. Deciding we'd top off Johnsons Hill if daylight and weather allowed on our return, we made tracks for British Peak. We soon found ourselves dropping down what turned out to be the wrong (or is that not the normal) spur, so put the footwear into 4x4 and continued on down the untracked spur, sliding through rough manuka to arrive at North Makara Stream and back on track. The climb to British Peak heads up from here and is an unrelenting climb of around 270m up a clay quad-bike track. This took some time, and it wasn't until we neared the top that we noticed the worsening weather.
The final climb to the cairn is a 50m scramble from the track and once there we had to take shelter on the north side of the cairn to gear up - gloves and a jackets on and hats pulled down over the ears. The forecast snow was here in spades.
Here's a shot from the top of British Peak just as the snow started to drive in from the south. Within 15min the ground was white and a couple of inches thick.
We didn't waste any further time and took off for Crow's Nest, somewhere to the north. Last time Carl was here it was in fine conditions and with mates who knew where they were going. Things were a little different today; a mate who had no idea whre he was, whiteout conditions, near horizontal snow from the south and to top it off a whitening ground cover so all perspective was going! Run on - and we did, using a mix of intuition and foolishness we boxed on heading in the general direction of Crow's Nest.
By now I was conscious that darkness was looming and that we still had some time in the bush to go. At this time of year it's dark in the bush well before 5:00pm.
Finally we found what Carl believed was a track skirting Crow's Nest, so skirt it we (or at least thought we) did. We'd given up on our original grand plans and were now concentrating on getting off the tops, and out of the white out before nightfall and with bodies intact.
Well just when I was thinking we were in for a seriously long day out the goat track we were on dropped quickly onto a 4X4 track and a sign telling us we were but 20min from Crofton Downs and civilisation. It was with a mix of sadness and relief that we headed down to the safety of known country; sadness at leaving the tops, the storm and the thrill of not knowing when this run would end.
By now the tracks and country side were well coated in snow and it was coming down solidly. As we trotted easily toward the roadend, yarning and enjoying our time out, we disturbed a hare which must have been enjoying its first ever snow with some surprise. At the road end were families with children enjoying the rare Wellington snow, however it wasn't long before Carl suggested another off-road loop and a little more climbing to end the day, so it was back into the slush and snow.
I don't know the name of the gully we headed up; but it was beautifully snow covered as we ran past mallard ducks which didn't want to fly - I'm sure we could have caught a few - and horses sheltering in patches of gorse and natives. We soon turned off the 4x4 track and into the bush proper where we had to duck under snow laden fern fronds and accustom our eyes to the darkness. From here it was a quick 10 minutes to the "flax clearing", a well known spot in Otari-Wilton's Bush, then another 10 minutes along tracks well known to us to arrive back at our vehicles and the end of a great couple of hours out.
In the end we were out for 2:11hr's and had travelled a mere 16.6km. The run traversed between 85m and 400m elevation. We recorded the elevation on MapmyRun.
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