Mueller Hut

            This weekend we headed back to Mt. Cook for an adventure to Mueller Hut. Levi, another kid from St. Lawrence, joined us with his friends, Meredith and Shelby, who had been studying on the North Island for the past five months. After a big celebration for Melanie’s 21^st birthday, we left Dunedin around noon. We loaded up Peggy with five girls and had a beautiful drive all the way to White Horse Hill Campground near the Mt. Cook village.

     
We had our coldest night of the semester camping. We sat around cooking dinner and star gazing until we couldn’t bear the cold anymore. We woke up early to get our hut passes and start breakfast. Once the sun was out and the snow had softened up a bit, we hit the trail.

We started on the Sealy Tarns track, which consisted of 1,800 steep stairs that switch-backed straight up the hillside.  It was such a beautiful day, that we barely noticed how many stairs there were. When we were about half way up, we stopped for a great lunch overlooking the Hooker Glacier.

The next part of the track didn’t have a set trail, but we followed markers through the bush and up the snow-covered saddle. It was amazing to see snow again, and the views of the Hooker Valley were unreal. At the top of the saddle we walked out to an overlook where we had a complete 360-degree view of the area. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and we were all so pumped to be in such an isolated place.

When we finally reached the hut, we spent the afternoon sitting in the sun drinking beer. The hut had about 30 bunks, a nice rap-around deck, and a big common area/kitchen with gas-burning stoves. In the hut, there was a poster with huts from all over New Zealand that was titled “Rooms with a View”.  We were all grateful to be staying in such a desolate  hut with surreal views in every direction.

The next morning we woke up early to catch the sunrise. After some breakfast, we decided to break the rules and take the mattresses out of the hut and go sledding. We built a jump and had the time of our lives. I can definitely say that was the most picturesque place I have ever been sledding.  We spent most of the day playing in the snow before we packed up and headed back down.

On the way down, it was so steep and there was so much snow that we slid down the whole way on our butts. After awhile we had made a well-defined slide down the mountain. Coming back down all 1,800 stairs was definitely a challenge, but we were all so amped on our great weekend that we barely noticed. On our way home we stopped at a great take-away place for fish and chips and burgers. Definitely a weekend I will never forget.