Red Hill 

Saturday 22 June 2024

Seven of us gathered at Church Corner on this cloudy day for the trip to Red Hill in Korowai/Torlesse Tussocklands Park. This time we chose the northern approach from the Porter River via Coleridge Pass rather than the route from Lake Lyndon. We got off to a confused start by heading up the true left of the river, but several of us crossed the river to find the track up the true right. In partial sunshine and with all on the right track, we approached the pass as the track became less defined. A nice spur led up from Coleridge Pass towards a clouded-in Red Hill. The track was quite steep and as we neared the top we were seeing patches of snow.  Our group was quite spread out along the spur, so when white-out conditions engulfed us, we made a stop, allowing us to regroup and check our location by GPS. We had been on top for ten minutes when a cool breeze pushed the cloud aside, revealing views over Lake Coleridge and the Rakaia Valley. It was just after noon, so we decided to get away from the wind to have lunch. There was some debate about taking the alternative route along the tops, but the decision was to avoid the steep snowy slope and cold wind. We quickly descended a spur, had lunch part-way down, then moved down to the valley floor. The route was followed through waist-high tussock and shrubs as we avoided stepping in the many streams that converged on the valley floor. We got back onto the track and reached the cars at about 3pm. Despite the gloomy forecast we (Graeme, Jessie, Daniel, Peter, Wang, John and Dorota) saw a good deal of sun and had a pleasant day out.