Beyond the Brass Monkey
Reliving past memories and making new ones is surely one of the joys of tramping. It was 16 years since I’d last visited Brass Monkey Bivouac, on a solo trip that included a climb of Mt Technical and a visit to Nina Hut – at the time one of DOC’s newest huts.
My tales of the diminutive bivouac, the modest but challenging mountains, and the chance of seeing fresh terrain had been enough to encourage Wellington climber Peter Laurenson along on a four-day excursion. We packed a rope, harnesses and helmets, thinking we might get an opportunity to climb the north ridge of Mt Technical (1870m), and maybe an ascent of the Grand Duchess (1703m), too.
The weather played the game, at first, and in high temperatures we tackled the brief ascent through the stunted beech forest above Lewis Pass. After breaching the bushline, and reaching the first knoll, range after range came into view, revealing more peaks than you could point an ice-axe at. The Spenser Mountains, the Victoria Range, Travers Peak, the Opera Range and Philosophers Knob.
Philosophers Knob: what a name, I thought, so typically Kiwi. Grand enough to call it after those who ponder life’s
