GAINING TRACTION
Snow, silence, sunshine, and mountains all around – as lunch spots go, this was a good one.
To the west, beyond the broad braided flats of the Godley River, stood the Southern Alps/ Kā Tiritiri o te Moana. Glistening, stoic. Behind us was Stag Saddle, Te Araroa’s highest point.
It was September, late in the season for snowshoeing yet here we were, on Snake Ridge in Canterbury’s Two Thumb Range, having scrunched our way up behind local guide Peter Munro.
Most of our group was new to snowshoeing so we’d booked a four day guided trip with Alpine Recreation. We stayed in Rex Simpson Hut, on the edge of Te Kāhui Kaupeka Conservation Park just three hours’ walk from the road. The hut was warm with its big potbelly stove and its
