Silly Billies Return to Roam

Frost formations in the Routeburn Valley Inspired after our amazing weekend at Barker Hut Chris and I were eager for another adventure and the school holidays plus a very fine high sitting right over the country meant it was time to go. As well as that we had another two keen beans to join us - Georgia was excited about coming after spending the last week stuck at work. John (Chris's bro) managed through some intensive last minute organisation to get flights down to Christchurch for the following day. The pressure was on and we ummed and ahhed about what to do - weather on our side.... daylight not... glaciers not... The Poseidon Ski Tramp was dreamed up. An ambitious trip, we would head down to the Rockburn. A considerable amount of gear flaff and driving later we found ourselves parked at the start of the Routeburn Track. The snowy peaks surrounded us and even mid afternoon the temperature was cold. We headed up valley, laden with skis, tents, glacier gear and much more. ...

The forecast lately has been quite wild with some good southerly storms making their way up the country. For the first weekend of the school holidays we decided a mission was in order and luckily our friends Matt and La were keen to tag along. We spent most of Thursday night at my brothers getting absolutely nowhere with planning what to do and where to go. Everyone wanted to do something different and the weather didn't look good for our original plan of a mission in to Barker hut (hopefully with skis). Chris and I are still hooked on the idea of ski tramping, although since breaking my very light weight skis last year he has been a little less ambitious with his ideas. By the end of Friday the weather had changed again, enough to convince us that Barker hut was a go. So we whisked home from school, organised our gear and jumped in the car to collect Matt and Lara. We were taken back to China for a brief period as we stopped at Church corner to sample the menu at Yummy's...