Routeburn, Day 2

Dawn of day two - beautiful, clear, and cold, which was EXACTLY what we'd been hoping for.

Today's trailhead - yes, the trail is, at the beginning, rock. Which is especially exciting when said rock is covered in ice!

An outside view of the DOC hut we stayed in the night before. Decent accommodation, including gas burners and flush toilets. And, in theory, lights until 10 PM, although it seems someone forgot that the weekend before was daylight savings ...

Peter taking a nap before we head off ... we got a later start than we anticipated.

These are the emergency shelters at Harris Saddle. Because most of day 2 is above the treeline, these shelters are set up for dangerous weather that prevents trampers from continuing. It's also the start point for a side trip up Conical Peak, a very snowy peak that we nevertheless decided to climb because the DOC sign said that it was a one-hour return trip. We apparently hadn't figured out that those estimates rarely apply to us ... Nonetheless, 90 minutes later, we made it to the top - and the views were SPECTACULAR!

Apparently, there's not a lot of snow in Cape Town, so Tim insisted on building a snowman before we headed back down.

Back on the main trail TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER, we stopped for a quick lunch and then carried on. The path was mainly clear, level and windy, and of course the views still amazing.

And not ALL of the ice had melted, even by 2:30 in the afternoon.

This is pretty representative of the path for a good hour or so. As Jamie said, "I don't think an obese person could make this hike. They might fall right of the mountain!"

This is the first view of our hut for the night, nestled at the upper right corner of Lake McKenzie. Of course, it was another hour before we made it down there ...

Finished another day! All a bit sunburned, but happy to be next to the fire and done for a few hours ...