Monday, December 2, 2019

Coal Hill, Alpine Wind Storm

Sunday 01.01.19. Via Mesopotamia Station road, after parking my car near Coal Hill Station gate & a DOC roadside sign: Coal Hill Summit 3 km 3 h, I wandered past an Oregon Pine shelter belt, through 3 undulating paddocks, & 4 gates. One terraced paddock was desertified beige by herbicides, the other 2 paddocks grassed. Another grassy paddock behind the shelter belt had a herd of inquisitive red deer. With my backpack containing my usual tramping gear, I weighed over 80 kg.

A DOC sign at the fourth gate said:

Department of Conservation
Te Papa Arawhai

Public access through
private land

Keep to marked easement
Please close gates
Do not disturb stock

No dogs. No shooting.

Further on, attached to the red deer fence a sign said:

                                                         STEW POINT STATION

                                                             NO TRESPASSING
                                                  POLICE. NO HUNTING. POLICE.

                                          TRESPASSERS WILL BE  PROSECUTED.
                                         SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS OPERATING.

         MEMBER OF SOUTH CANTERBURY LANDOWNER'S SURVEILLANCE GROUP

I climbed Coal Hill, exposed snow-tussock ridge, Coal Creek & another steep ridge NW side & steep ridges the other, several steep shoulders, incl celmisia daisies & spear grass all the way up Tara Haoa Range to DOC Conservation Area, 600 m - 1600 m+, 6 km return. I followed a DOC goat track easement by the red deer fence, (1 shy tahr seen) 4 h up several shoulders, 5 h down. Some matagouri, coral broom, & dracophyllum scrub en route...

The hike began calm & windless with high cloud. Grand views of Canterbury Plains, hazy Banks Peninsula, Pacific, braided Rangitata River & Alpine Ranges: Waikari Hills, Moorhouse Range, Harper Range, Ben Macleod Range, Two Thumbs Range... Winterslow Range, Mt Somers Range, Old Man Range...

On the way up Coal Hill, a norwester started rippling snow tussock, soon becoming gale force. Near the top, a strong gust raked off my blue polaroids, flying them over the ridge, never to be seen again. The norwester whacked me down twice on stony ground. I ended up twice briefly dazed, after loose stones arrested my falls. I had a grazed knee, black eye, scabby nose, egged, grazed forehead. The norwester gale tried to topple me for at least 6 hours during the wind storm. I didn't make the summit, 1617 m, as it would've been fatal to continue following the red deer fence through exposed snow-tussock from the DOC Conservation Area sign to the top. Tomorrow's another day...

I returned to my car down Coal Hill, mostly crabbing alongside the red deer fance, arresting my descent, stopping me being blown off the mountain. I grabbed fence wires, full of fluttering tussock strands & grabbed fence poles thrumming in the gale. When my hands were sore, I slid on my bum on snow-tussocks, safest descent, using my booted legs to guide, like on a snow sled, watching out for castrating spear grass & prostrate matagouri. My aluminium walking sticks were useless in the gale, as the wind blew them sideways when I tried to walk. Trying to walk was too dangerous in the gale, bum-sliding & fence-grabbing was the safest way down the exposed ridge.

On the way down, when seated in snow-tussock for rests, I watched the gale making instant clouds by blowing clouds straight off the Rangitata River, the clouds hitting the NW end of Waikari Hills then veering eastwards down Rangitata Gorge. The gale blew topsoil off a tilled field near my car, the plume of dust disappearing over Waikari Hills towards Canterbury Plains. Way to go Farmer Brown, your poisoned, eroded land will soon be a desert inheritance.

On passing the shelter belt again, many wind-blown twigs were on the paddocks. On my 72 km return drive to Pleasant Point, via Peel Forest & Geraldine, many twigs, branches, leaves, cones & overturned, plastic, rubbish bins were on the roads.

Google Rangitata Gorge Images to show Alpine terrain & braided Rangitata River in the Coal Hill vicinity.

Coda:

Heavy norwesters would continue to blow the next week & on Friday night, 06.12.19, a heavy rain / thunder storm in the Rangitata catchment caused the Rangitata to flood, 3 Rangitata bridges at Arundel & SH1 closed on Saturday, 07.12.19, for Civil Defence to deal with flooding.

On Friday, we'd driven to a literacy teacher meeting at Christchurch: Arundel bridge was OK Fri morning, the Rangitata flowing strongly. Late that afternoon return drive, a heavy norwester battered Canterbury Plains, rain already shrouding the Alps, so we drove back to Pleasant Point on SH1 via the lower 2 Rangitata bridges, still quite safe. Only the following day, Saturday, after heavy night rains did Civil Defence wake up & close the 3 Rangitata bridges, a State of Emergency declared in Timaru.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.