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Wipers were needed briefly as we crossed the Hope River bridge on our way to Boyle Village but our three set off in clear weather.
We escaped a cool breeze and found a sunny river flat near the row of poplars about halfway to Boyle Flat Hut for lunch and reached the hut by mid-afternoon. Merv busied himself tidying the woodshed and around the stove then attacked a 20cm diameter branch with the little carpenter’s saw. Peter and Kerry had a cuppa and then joined in the working bee. The hut was getting cold in late afternoon so Merv coaxed the fire to life and burned some of the wood we’d collected. Dinner was instant soup, macaroni and smoked salmon followed by hot custard.
The team arose at 0600 to a ripping frost and were away up a nicely marked track towards Faust by 0715. A peppering of snow on the trees hadn’t melted despite the sunny Saturday. Kerry set the pace and at one point got off the track and had to push through dense re-growth. Correcting took about 10 minutes, aided by Merv who’d stayed on-track.
Emerging from the trees we were greeted with a still, sunny day and minimal snow to impede us. Further up, the snow was deeper but very manageable. Crampons stayed in our packs. Hare-prints seemed to precede us in the new snow almost everywhere we climbed. We were on Faust well before lunchtime and got down to the bushline just after noon. The forest track had us guessing initially but we found the start and made good time. Low down at a clearing we got off-track and an old marker pole seemed to give us a bum- steer, so it was fifteen minutes before we got back on track, down to the outdoor exercise equipment and onto a track alongside the Boyle River to the road, then the village. A recommended trip with a climb from Boyle Flat Hut of 900m and a descent of 1100m. With less snow you’d see the tarns, not just flat circles of snow.
We were: Merv Meredith, Peter Umbers and Kerry Moore (KM)
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