Hanmer Base
2 – 4 September 2022
Back to Hanmer, this time for a spring base, later in the year than previous bases and snowless. It still proved to be a good time to be there. In past years our Hanmer bases stayed at the Hanmer Springs Forest Camp but these days (since 2019) we have a good system of closing numbers early, then shopping for a holiday home to suit our team. This time we booked a nice two-storey timber house in St James Ave, very handy to the centre of town. Glenda and I arrived about 3.30pm Friday and opened the house up to air on a rather lovely afternoon. What we hadn’t picked was that the only heating was the log-burner, so it fell to me to chop kindling and split logs with their blunt axe.
Base trips are usually interesting logistical exercises and this wasn’t any different when it came to transport. Car-pooling was limited. Anyway, we ended up with our full complement there on Friday and Saturday nights, which made for a sociable weekend. On the Friday night some of us made our evening meals, while others supported the local food industry.
The forecast for the weekend was looking so-so—maybe cloudy with a nor-wester on Saturday, then sunnier but a stronger nor-wester on Sunday. So, on Saturday we ruled out anywhere up-wind such as over Jacks Pass to walk up to Fowler Pass, then climb Mt Seymour. Or even more westerly on Dumblane. Instead, we drove up Jollies Pass Road to the corner beyond the Trust Camp and started walking at 9am, up the road to the pass. From Jollies Pass we took the ridge track to Isobel. As we climbed the cloud blew away but then a series of misty, damp clouds came down-valley from the west, each with its own rainbow.