Mount Haast

---

It was a fabulous spring day today - 18 degrees and fine. To nice to spend indoors. So I abandoned my indoor chores, packed a lunch and headed down the highway toward Springs Junction to climb Mount Haast.

Mount Haast is a prominent triangular peak clearly visible from the highway about 20 minutes from Reefton. The summit is 1,587 metres above sea level. It is a steep but manageable climb. The track winds up a mixed beech forest for about an hour. The vegetation then gradually changes and thins out for 15 minutes until you emerge above the tree line. From here the peak is deceptively close, but still another good hour away. I was grateful to have my trekking poles. The snow was melting in the spring sunshine making it very unstable to walk on. Where the vegetation had been exposed it was very wet and slippery. I was amazed to see the wide variety of vegetation all the way to the peak, often peeking out from underneath a blanket of snow. At one point there were several grasshoppers jumping about. At the top, you are rewarded with fantastic 360 degree views of the Southern Alps. The visibility was superb. I could see Reefton (about 30 km away) and Springs Junction in the next major valley. The climb down was in many respects much harder than ascent. By the time I got to the car I was exhausted and quite nauseated, but glad to have conquered this modest peak.

In the evening, Astrid and I went to Rotary where local adventurer Tony Fortune gave a slide show of his recent climb up Mount Elbrus (in the Caucasus). Mt Elbrus is the highest peak in Europe (5,642 metres). It was a very interesting presentation but took all the wind out of my sails from my conquest earlier in the day. To add insult to injury he mentioned that that he has run up Mount Haast in less than an hour.

---

Photos

Mt Haast
A view of Mount Haast from the highway approaching from Springs Junction- not to be confused with Mount Ross which is a mistake that anyone can make.