| Leader | Mentor | Tail Ender | |
| Standards | Selwyn | Chris S | Frank |
| Alternates | Lynne R | Bev | Janne R |
Distance and altitude: Standards 16km and 750m; Alternates 10km and 456m
The Camp Saddle trip with its high ridge walk close to the Craigieburn Range and scree run down to lower altitude is the favourite of many club members including me. I’ve completed it several times since becoming a club member and my memory is that the April weather has invariably been fine, sunny and calm albeit with a patch or two of early snow on the ground sometimes. Yesterday was forecast to be fine and warm in Christchurch and portents were good for another great trip. Unfortunately, the Canterbury nor’wester had other ideas.
As our group of 23 made their way to Camp Saddle (altitude 1490 m) we were sheltered in the native bush and only vaguely aware of an increasing breeze. Our walk up the Broken River Skifield road from the starting point at Mistletoe Flat was briefly interrupted by two of our group who decided to head up the wrong side track. After leader Selwyn had shown them the error of their ways we carried on up the road and then headed right up the steep track to the saddle where lunch was eagerly anticipated.
It was windy at the top and so we headed a bit higher in an attempt to find a lunch spot sheltered from the increasingly strong and gusting nor’west wind. After a very short lunch break we began the journey along the ridge but it soon became clear that the very strong wind gusts were going to make it too dangerous to continue. The experienced scree slope runners reluctantly had to face the fact that they would not be enjoying the initiation of the newer members in the joys of scree running today.
So we turned around and (somewhat reluctantly) retraced our steps to the saddle and back down to the skifield road and eventually back to the bus – a total journey of nearly 16 km and an elapsed time of almost 5 hours. It was a good workout but disappointing that the original plan had to be abandoned.
In the meantime, a smaller (13 strong) group had completed a 10 km route up the Broken River skifield road and the Luge Track to the base of Helicopter Hill. All of the group managed the steep scramble up (and down) Helicopter Hill (1256 m) and reportedly enjoyed their lunch on the top in relatively calm and warm conditions, unlike those being experienced at Camp Saddle. After descending they returned to the bus at Mistletoe Flat by way of Craigieburn Edge Track, the Craigieburn Skifield Road and the Sidle 73 Track.
We were a bit late getting back to Christchurch because of a delayed start earlier in the day. Soon after starting from Bishopdale, our Tranzit Coachlines driver Phil noticed a warning light on his dashboard and a decision was made to change buses alongside Nunweek Park in Sawyers Arms Road. This delayed our start by about 45 minutes but everyone was glad that Tranzit put our safety first and were able to supply another bus at short notice.
Text by Warren
