| Leader | Mentor | Understudy | Tail Ender | |
| Standards | Alan | Chris | Jan Bbr | Selwyn |
| Alternates | Ray | Norma | Wendy | Leonie |
Distance: 13.5/10.9km Time: 5 hrs 15 Ascended: 850m Descended: 850m
It was a perfect day for one of the favourite and most challenging tramps in the BTC schedule for the Standard Group – Camp Saddle. The Alternates were heading up the Luge track to the Lyndon Saddle, lunching at the top of Helicopter Hill and returning via a slightly longer route using Sidle73 to return to the bus. It was cloudless and windless, with a predicted 19C, when the bus deposited both groups in the car park at the bottom of the Broken River ski field road, just off SH 73, where we were to reunite several hours later.
Once aboard the bus in Christchurch, President Keith advised that we had 41 trampers including 2 visitors. A further announcement from Chris, helpfully informed us that NIWA had recently revised their earthquake predictions for the Alpine Fault. There is now a 75% chance of a major magnitude 8 (Richter scale) earthquake in the next 50 years. Given that we were spending the day not far from this fault line, this information was far from comforting!
The 6k walk up the skifield road is through beech forest and the group was certainly ready for change when we turned off onto the Camp Saddle track. This is a wide well benched track, and it is a steady climb up through the beech forest. The effort was complemented by the serenading of numerous bellbirds (korimako) along the way. Clearly the result of excellent local pest trapping.
Out of the bush and into the brilliant sunshine, we were treated to the most stunning of panoramic views. Behind us was the expanse of the Castle Hill Basin surrounded by steep mountains with the Torlesse Range in the distance and ahead were, the yet to climb, tussock covered slopes towards Camp Saddle. These mountains are covered in scree slopes and we had to cross several. Looking up while crossing these, one didn’t want to dwell on the recently revised NIWA probabilities! Camp Saddle was a perfect place for lunch, with views that we all struggled to find appropriate descriptors for. Someone joked about it being a great spot for the office, a comment that understudy Jan must have taken literally as she was soon spotted talking on her phone. Where the hell was the cell phone tower? Maybe down the other side of the Saddle in the Craigieburn ski field.?
With quite a bit of rugged terrain to traverse along the ridge, Leader Alan didn’t let us dwell too long after lunch and all too soon we were off again. This is the adventurous part of this tramp as the route negotiates several rocky outcrops along the ridge. Some of these are quite challenging and it is to everyone’s credit that we all made it without a fall or any injury.
The ridge finishes with a steep descent down a shingle slide. Like lemmings, the group leaped off the top with varying degrees of enthusiasm and with many different techniques. Some reached the bottom before others had left the top but eventually everyone negotiated it safely, some with boots full of stones. Leader Alan provided wonderful physical support for those struggling with the descent.
After the stark and stony environment of the ridge, we were suddenly back into the beech forest for a steep descent to Lyndon Saddle and then the well-formed Mistletoe track back to the bus. The afternoon sunlight created a lovely, dappled picture in the beech forest. Unfortunately, the Alternates had been waiting for over an hour, but they had also had a great day and enjoyed their lunch absorbing the scenic beauty at the top of Helicopter Hill. Several times during the day, including on the bus ride home, Chris regaled us about his recent Zip line experience at the Christchurch Adventure Park and encouraged us all to take the ride. There was a suggestion he was on their payroll!
There was universal approval that we had had a very special experience in a most beautiful environment. Txt by Selwyn
