Ode to the Wind

The southern alps and glacier lakes are absolutely incredible. My pictures cannot do it justice. We had warm weather, but the wind, the wind was horrendous at times! I really thought our 6-person, dome tent would not last. Our first attempt at setting it up did not work, then we found a tree to set up behind which helped loads. We were quite a spectacle, as was confirmed by a group of Danish lads the next day. I was not able to sleep more than a couple of hours both nights because of the wind. Another effect of the wind was many avalanches! We got to see a few on Saturday morning, but most of the time we just heard the thunderous sound of them.

End of an avalanche...you see the snow disappearing into the V...



The end of another avalanche that was on the right and this is the cloud that came back up the mountain...



Saturday we did the Sealy Tarns trail - the steepest of all the day tramps - and as it was my first time hiking in a mountain, I seriously wondered if I'd make it. But the views of the peaks and the lakes were spectacular and well worth it! The painful part - at least for my left knee - was the descent...thankfully Deanna had loaned me her walking stick 'cause that helped tremendously! Late afternoon, the girls headed out for more hikes, I tried to nap but couldn't, so I made friends with the Danish boys that Rachel was swooning over. On Sunday, we packed up and then walked to Hooker Lake. The wind made this tramp feel like an amusement park ride, with two swing bridges and gusts so strong you had to widen your stance to stay upright and the wind at the lake was un-describable! In the videos, you will see I even have a hard time holding the camera still, but the videos don't do the wind justice, because I could only step out from behind the rock when the gusts died down a bit to take pics and videos!

This is a shot of the Hooker River right before reaching the lake...talk about wind-resistance training!



Hooker Lake - hehe! You'll see a bit of the rock we took shelter behind when looking down the full-length of the lake and at the very end of the lake is Hooker Glacier...I had hoped to see some of it fall in but there was no hanging out to watch for it.



My only disappointment was not getting to see a Kea, the alpine parrot. I did get to hear a Morepork (an owl).