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Early morning and we're all up on time, and trying hard to pack what we 'think' we'll need for the next four days up at Caroline hut. After two or three unsuccessful attempts, I finally give up and resolutely pack 'everything' again, and announce that I am done.

To my relief, the others also stop fiddling with bits of gear and clothing and in high spirits, we load it all back into the car again and drive off to the bakery for breakfast. With only the unexpected before us now, we agree that this could well be our last 'hot' food for the next few days. Alpine Recreation is our next stop for the morning. Here we meet the Gottlieb, owner and head guide, who is already waiting for us in the brisk morning air, and quickly directs us to park near the shed in the back yard.

What a shed.... Chock full of equipment old and new, skis, boots, crampons, ice tools, ropes etc. etc. ...
The gear freak in me is stirred.
The bower bird in me is stirred.
The 'Why is my own gear so inadequate' part of me is stirred.

A short while later our guide/instructor for the course arrives and introduces himself as .... 'Roy' ....
In a milling mood we fill out the required course registration and indemnity forms and ask quiet questions about what we might expected to take. Soon it becomes pretty obvious to Roy that we have packed a bunch of stuff we don't need, and to our immense relief we are asked to empty our packs and start from scratch ... together, and with Roy directing. 15 minutes later we've dumped about half the crap and each of us acquired a few odds and ends to supplement the minimum gear we would be needing, as well as created space for the food for the course. Caroline hut was providing comfortable beds, sleeping bags, cooking and eating gear. Whew! All that stuff back in the car!

As for climbing gear? Apart from the obvious, our racks were stripped down to the basics. A few screw gates, a few snap locks and two slings each. Even the jumars, that I had borrowed at the last minute from Mark Peters, were eschewed due to weight. We all managed to sneak a few bits of extra gear in though!.

I'm feeling good about the gear now. That and the fact that we're on our way for the hour drive to Unwin Hut to grab the food and Mt Cook Village to register our movements with the Department of Conservation (DoC) is making me feel positive and confidant. We are about to start...

Mt Cook Village is surprisingly big ! The main resort facility is the Hermitage, but also encompassed here is DoC, Alpine Guides, a backpackers, some private lodges and even a small pub. A short shopping spree (Zinc cream? What's that?) and internet email frenzy and we're dashing back to Unwin to meet Roy again and get going. The last pre departure task ... slipping into our mountaineering boots, and we're ready.

A short drive in the battered 4WD takes us up the Tasman Rd and awakens a memory of visiting this area 5 years ago with my family, and walking up to the tourist lookout with 18 month old Nicky on my back ! I remembered thinking back then about the view of the peaks we could see up glacier, reading a little about them and wondering at the concept of 'just walking up there' and about the people who did so...
They seemed so close then.... And now was no different. Just another long walk. Just how naïve could I be ?

As we passed the sign marking the end of the road, I even remembered looking at that sign 5 years ago, warning vehicles not to continue past the tourist shelter, looking up at the avalanche and scree slopes lining each side of the valley, and wondering then 'what did lay beyond?'.

We bounced past the sign and the rough road became a reasonably well defined track over the gray moonscape of moraine. Snaking it's course in and around piles of loose boulders and stones, dropping roughly into washaways and revving it's way up the other side. It appears to us that the only maintenance this road ever receives is the passage of the 4WD vehicles and whatever their occupants need to do to continue. It seem incredulous to us that up until only a few years ago, tourist busses used to travel this route. In the distance a large dark shape takes form and Nick leans forward excitedly and yells... "Is that Ball Shelter ?".
Roy just laughs back ... "No!.. I think that's a rock!"
We all laugh, and from that moment on, anything Nick points at becomes "Nick's Rock Hut" ... We pass another huge rock beside the road precariously balanced like an inverted iceberg. Roy yells that only a couple of weeks ago he drove past here and saw a couple of backpackers having a picnic lunch in the shade below the overhanging bulge. They obviously hadn't walk around the block to see just how perilous their position really was... It seems you really have to be careful about EVERYTHING here ...

It wasn't long before we reached Husky Flat, which, arguably, is the end of the vehicle track. From here we were to walk to Ball Shelter and then on up to Caroline hut. As we were ready to go Roy suggested that we head off, following the track along the moraine piles and he would quickly pack, sort the vehicle out for it to be picked up and catch up to us at Ball Shelter. So with that and a sunny day above us, we shouldered our packs and began walking. Pretty soon it was clear that Nick and John had a gift for this kind of walking and Geoff and I slowly lost ground behind them. Especially on any loose steep ground. Hurrying along a flat section to catch up I was surprised to see John holding up a boot in his hand and looking annoyed. As I approached I could see the explanation for both at once. One of his plastic boots had simply disintegrated, leaving him with just a shell and a sole... as separate items. With only a moment of confusion, we convinced him to leave his pack with us and hightail it back to the truck to drive back to Unwin for his leather boots. That done, the rest of us took turns hefting the fourth pack and ambled along to Ball Shelter.

Roy arrived a couple of minutes behind us and confirmed he did meet John going back the other way and simply gave him the keys to the truck, and let him know we'd all wait for him at the shelter.

Inside the shelter we found a small neat room with a single desk, large mattress bunk and loft with equally large mattress bunk. I guess eight or ten people could comfortably spend the night here. In addition there is a water tank and a radio to contact DoC with. Looking out the door Roy points out a number of feature along the glacier and we eagerly thumb through an old hut book of photos and history and compare the view now to days gone by ...

The previous days events are fast catching up with me and the others seem a little weary too. Roy looks as tired as we feel and half heartedly asks if we want to go over some theory from the text book while we wait for John, or do we want to just 'Kick Back' for a while. Unanimously we opt to Kick Back and a new expression is born. I decide to wander outside into the bright sunlight with the text book (to use as a sunshade), and bask. Roy climbs into the shelters loft, and one minute and twenty-two seconds later, the tranquil sounds of the lower Tasman Glacier are complimented by a three strong choir of snores from within the hut.

It seemed I had only just closed my own eyes when I heard the sound of someone approaching. All too soon John had caught us up and with much mirth we woke the slumbers in the shelter, and within minutes our walk had resumed.

The easiest part was now over. From Ball Shelter (800m) we now had to climb Ball Spur to Alpine Recreations private hut, Caroline Hut, at 1800m. Towards the end of our march, I had to sit and catch my breath. My legs were feeling less than rubbery and for the first time I started to have serious doubts about my ability to continue. It occurred to me then that mountaineering is quite probably a lot of simple hard slog up ridges just like this... only for days at a time ... It was a very sobering moment. Not too far after that I reached the flat leading to Caroline Hut and was very relieved to stumble inside and drop my pack.

Caroline Hut is owed by Alpine Recreation and sleeps 10 in comfort. There is also an emergency shelter for public use, attached. The view the hut commands is nothing short of spectacular. From the North-East to the South-East sweep views across the Tasman Glacier. Mt Tasman itself is visible to the north. The Minarets, Zubriggens Ridge and of course, the Caroline Face itself. already tired and weary, we all slump at the table while Roy fossicks around in the huts food store. Re-appearing moments later with giant packs of pasta and cans of tuna, fresh veggies and other assorted goodies. Nick and John volunteer for tonight's cooking detail and between them, whip up a fantastic feed using everything offered. We eat EVERYTHING, then Geoff and I clean up and, we four weary souls collapse into our bags and snore till morning....

Day one has been difficult for me, I wonder dreamily about the rigors of tomorrow. Tomorrow we touch snow and ice for the first time here...