Rivers have always scared me. My worst nightmare is being trapped upside down underwater - whitewater kayaking fulfills that terror perfectly. Yet paddling down rivers in all its forms has still fascinated me. Packrafting has taken off in popularity in the last decade owing to the proliferation of rafts used in GodZone and other adventure races.
I met up with fellow GodZone team-mates Rhys John and Emily Wilson for a weekend packrafting trip in Mt Cook. We devised a route that would cover every discipline: 5km paddle down the Tasman River, 25km trek up Gorilla stream and over a saddle into the Jollie, camping by a derelict hut, and a 20km paddle out the Jollie to the Tasman Delta by Lake Pukaki. To finish the loop, a 30km bike ride returning to the Tasman Lakes carpark.
Rafts inflated, we steered towards the outflow of the Tasman Lake, straight into the first major grade III rapids. Emily flipped out in her raft, and floated down river towards us. We helped her to the bank. Despite being in just a tshirt she seemed in high-spirits.
In the next powerful rapid, Rhys and I ended up sideways and flipped out into an eddy. Rhys managed to swim after the raft and I was left standing in the midst of the torrents, standing in a small calm patch of river. Eventually I had no choice but to jump back in and swim through the gurgling river, choking on inhaled water. I crawled onto the rocks, gasping for breath.
 |
| Approaching the rapids |
 |
| Rhys swims after the raft |
Phew, what an intro! I was glad to be back on foot, warming up on a long hot grind up the Gorilla stream. Hazy air mirrored off the river gravels in the searing heat.
 |
| Emerging from bush in the lower Gorilla |
 |
| Gorilla Stream |
At the head of Gorilla, we veered towards a saddle into the upper Jollie. The crossing involved a few hundred metres of easy angled snow either side. Ideal terrain for aluminium crampons on running shoes, especially for the glissade below the impressive east face of Nun's Veil.
 |
| Ice bergs in the lake below the saddle |
 |
| Team shot at the saddle |
Lyttle's Hut is a derelict hut in the upper Jollie valley, quite thrashed and forlorn. We camped outside and enjoyed the warm summer evening in the quiet valley.
 |
| Camping at Lyttle's hut |
Despite low water, we were able to jump back in the rafts just below the derelict hut and begin the paddle out. Just as we prepared to enter the water, Rhys made a disastrous discovery. His paddle blade had a huge crack across it. Oh no. How did that happen? It must have been in the Tasman, or bashing up the bush in the Gorilla.
He applied a mass of duct tape to tension the blade back, but it was still very weak for a long paddle home. Rhys was the stronger paddler, but without a good paddle he could not steer. I presumed the rear position and started to learn the art of navigating the packraft down the bony and continuously technical Jollie River.
The river gradually gained flow, and twisted through many short bouldery sections which was fun & challenging. After three or four hours we merged with the lower Tasman heading towards Pukaki. Wind was picking up so we opted to walk across the lower braids towards Glentanner, carrying the raft and putting in to cross the glacial braids.
The final 30km road bike into a blustery nor-wester finished us off for an excellent weekend of adventure racing in the Mount Cook region.
 |
| Jollie River ambience |
