Dome Peak- Arthur's Pass

Dec. 16th

  Went on a day hike with the Christchurch Tramping (Hiking) Club up Dome Peak (elevation 1938m) in Arthur's Pass.
  It was a great day!  The group was large- 15 (!) people.  We didn't run into any other trampers outside of our group.
  The route was completely untracked on the way up (no trail); we only joined up with a trail along the river at the very last bit of our loop.
  It ended up being a long day- 9 hours of hiking, and about 2-2.5 hours to get there.
  Forecast was possibly cloudy with strong winds; it ended up being a lot nicer than the forecast.

Here is the start of our hike- lots of blue lupin (an introduced species here....).  We crossed a railway bridge, and definitely saw a few trains go by- this is part of the TranzAlpine route.

First part was up a steep slope with slightly soft/loose moss/soil.

 Then bush-whacking/crawling through these dense (short) trees.  Called "bush-bashing" here.

 This was the view once we emerged from all the bush-bashing- as you can see, we gained quite a lot of elevation from the river valley.

 The rest of the way to the peak was very open.

The Southern Alps extend quite a way.

I am posing in front of what we thought was the summit for Dome Peak.

Here we are on top of what we thought was the peak- but we looked ahead-

And there was the real peak!
The group debated only for a minute before continuing on to the real summit. (we followed the ridge line- just to the left of all that snow).

Here I am at the summit.

Instead of bush-bashing down, we made a loop- for the descent, just going straight down the slope via a tone of loose scree (loose rock).  It was a bit steep and intense.  Apparently going down scree can be really fun- kind of like surfing the rocks; these rocks were a bit larger, though, and more pointy, making it more difficult.

In addition to the scree, there were fields of dry grass and snow grass- apparently very slippery when wet, but I slipped a few times with it dry!  Luckily falling didn't hurt- very soft landings there.

When we reached the river valley we ended up crossing the river a few times (when it was more narrow than pictured here).
  Apparently most New Zealand trampers expect to get their feet wet and cross rivers multiple times on tramps.

 Last bit was on a trail along the river through some lovely Beech forest.  You can follow the trail up the river and stay at a hut out here.

   At the parking area- there was a Kea!  Hadn't seen one of these- Keas are mountain parrots only located on the South Island of New Zealand.
  Rather curious and bold, they are notorious for picking at the rubber on cars and destroying windshield wipers.

Near the hotel/restaurant where we stopped for a bite there was this sculpture of a "Moa".
  I had not heard of the Moa before coming to New Zealand.
  Here is an excerpt from the wikipedia article about them:

The moa were nine species (in six genera) of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus andDinornis novaezelandiae, reached about 3.6 m (12 ft) in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about 230 kg (510 lb).

Moa belong to the ratite group in the order Dinornithiformes. The nine species of moa were the only wingless birds, lacking even the vestigial wings which all other ratites have. They were the dominant herbivores in New Zealand's forest, shrubland and subalpine ecosystems for thousands of years, and until the arrival of the Māori were hunted only by the Haast's Eagle. It is generally considered that most, if not all, species of moa died out due to over-hunting by the Māori, by 1400AD, and habitat decline before European discovery and settlement.

  Now you know!

Things I learned from the day's tramp:
  -it is helpful to wear gaiters- not to keep your feet dry, but rather to keep the small rocks out of your boots when bush-bashing and going down scree slopes
  -expect to do river crossings- some safety tips on that-
      --don't attempt to cross a river that is going at a speed faster than you can walk along the shore at
     --start going upstream for a bit, then go at an angle downstream as you cross
    --link together with a partner if it is at all deep (each person links an arm though the other person's backpack, grabbing the far strap)

All in all a great day!  Probably about 20km, and 1500m elevation gain.

-EDF