It’s great being the editor of these photos. That way I can highlight the few where the photographer (i.e. me) is actually in front of the others. You would be forgiven for thinking that I led the way on this trip, but nothing could be further from the truth. Generally speaking nearly all of the photos are of the backs of Nig, Trev and Silvano as they disappeared into the snowy distance. It’s very peaceful there at the back, but at times its a little discouraging as my legs just don’t seem to be able to rev any faster (of course, they are all MUCH younger than me – I’ll leave it up to you dear reader to define “much”.)
We drove up to Memorial hut on a pretty good road in a Mitsubishi Outlander, which took about an hour from Glenmore Station turn-off. The road is pretty good, so not too many scrapes or need to shift rocks out of the way. Better if you have a real 4 x 4, but a soft SUV will most likely make it. (Check with the farmer for the condition of the road)
Both Huts, Memorial (sleeps 8) and Lady Emily (sleeps 4, has gas and log fire, wood supplied – update: Lady Emily now has 6 extra bunks in a newly built addition ) are owed by Glenmore station and you have to book them. Lady Emily was $40 (now $50 2016) per person per night, and Memorial was $30.
Here’s a map for the location of Lady Emily Hut. Here’s my route down from Memorial to Lady Emily. I was a little too far south, better to be about 20 metres north of my route. It took us about 2 hours to climb the 400 metres or so from Memorial to Lady Emily. Down took us more like 40 minutes.
I recorded each days travels using the Strava app. Under each day there is a route link, which gives times, distances and total elevation.
The Topo 50 map you will need is BX16: Mount Elie De Beaumont.
All photos were taken on a Fuji X30. Seems to be a pretty good little travel camera.