Object D’art CASECADE OF DREAMS

"STARK, TERRIFYING, MORE THAN A DOZEN PEOPLE HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES ON CASCADE SADDLE."

"THE VIOLENCE IS MESMERISING."

Funny how some things strike a chord. I first saw a picture of Cascade Saddle many years ago, in an old copy of Wilderness Magazine lying under a bunk in a hut that my possum-trapper father and I were staying in. Stark, terrifying, more than a dozen people have lost their lives on Cascade Saddle and many tales of near-fatal encounters abound. In that shameful voyeuristic tendency unique to humans, the image rolled around in my mind like a boiled sweet over the years.

There are a few routes to the Saddle and I chose a three-day fastpack over the 70-kilometre Rees-Dart. Located in Mount Aspiring National Park, Otago, this horseshoe route climbs up the Rees Valley east of Glenorchy and descends the Dart Valley, circumnavigating Mount Earnslaw. It is wild, isolated and beautifully rugged; the area is prone to flooding and avalanches, and at