Unfortunately, the hut booking system hadn’t started up yet so the hut was a bit packed but luckily there were some spare mattresses. In my opinion, one of the best views of the trip was seen that night with the moon illuminating the lake and snow with an ethereal glow.

The next morning, unfortunately, clouded in and the views were limited, but after a hearty breakfast we headed off into the drizzle and down into Speargrass valley to the hut. Once we reached the valley, we were out of the cloud and luckily the weather cleared up a bit and we had a great view of Speargrass valley. The track then followed the stream down the valley, periodically crossing it. This was slow going as most of us were trying to keep our feet dry which required some creative path planning, thanks to Kerry for throwing his poles back across the stream to help me get across. However, in the end only two out of the six of us actually keep or feet fully dry. We reached the 12 bunk Speargrass Hut around 1pm, and were lucky enough to have the hut to ourselves. After lunch, Angela and Alison decided to head up towards Sabine hut for a few hours while the rest of us stayed behind and chilled out.