28km / 13 hrs. An alpine walk, day 75, leaving Blue Lake and climbing past Lake Constance dam and lookout. The alpine flowers were a lovely sight hugging the track high above the lakes. As I crossed an open upper valley floor toward the 500m sidle and climb over Waiau Pass I could see the clouds rolling in. Poor visibility as I neared the top and at the pass the clouds had arrived and visibility was zero, I saw nothing. The steep drop down over bluffs on the other side of the pass meant finding the safest way over the sharp and steep drop offs.
The light rain kept me moving past a dedicated camp site where I decided to continue to the new Waiau Hut, 8km, 4hr further on through alpine scrub. This track followed the Waiau River past more avalanche prone areas and difficult to see the markers. Scree banks were unsettled and climbing over the large boulders late in the day was challenging. But I made it, a great achievement to be over Waiau Pass.
