Mt Horrible

Sunday 15 August 2021

We met on this frosty morning and drove west, surprised to note that inland, a breeze had kept the land frost-free. We parked at the Mt White turn-off and ten headed up the hillside in a mixture of tussock and scrubby manuka with the occasional matagouri to tangle with. Lisa, Kathrin and Stuart went the extra distance to claim Corner Knob, then joined the rest of us as we went down to a minor saddle before the steady climb up a spur. We briefly got onto a Transpower service track, then chose the line of least resistance to the top. The height of Mt Horrible is as easy as 1-2-3-4 to remember.

On top, the cold wind made people want to eat a quick lunch and head down, so Kerry had a very quick lunch after taking time on the way up to saw though a multi-branched douglas fir. Back on the service track, we chose to follow it back to the main road, though it meant wet feet at a stream-crossing near the road for many of us. John was at the road, well ahead of the bunch, so was able to take the drivers 1.3 km back to the cars. In spite of the peak’s name, this circuit made a good day out and believe it or not, Canterbury has four more Mt Horribles for us to visit.

Horrible people were: Wendy McCaughan, KyungSang Lee, Shiping Wang, Kathrin Mueller, Stuart Payne, Peter Umbers, Rich & Lisa Ainley, John Robinson, Kerry Moore. (KM)