Lesser mortals would have stayed home but we—Vesna Mojsilovic, Wang (SP), Alan Ross and Kerry Moore—ignored the forecast of occasional showers and brisk wind. Our foursome parked at the Broken River camp-ground shelter very close to the main road.

A track goes up to Lyndon Saddle on the flanks of Helicopter Hill and took us nearly an hour.

We carried on from there to connect with the Craigieburn Valley Track. Before climbing up to Camp Saddle we stopped in trees for an early lunch. Alan had seen some wilding pines on a previous trip and this time carried a saw to deal to the pests. He still managed to reach the saddle before me. Discounting the misty day with occasional drizzle we decided to head along the ridge in a light breeze. Nearing Lyndon Saddle with poor visibility we debated the route, decided we were heading too far east, back-tracked a little and scooted down the scree to the track that leads further down to Lyndon Saddle. On the final leg back to the car there is scree area where pines have been chopped but little pines were popping up so we spent ten minutes pulling them out. Driving home we encountered some serious rain near Porters Pass but arrived home to a dry Chch. In spite of needing our raincoats on all day we still had an enjoyable time in the hills. (KM)