Neish Plateau-McKinnon Peak, 23-30 December 2009

This eight day trip over Christsmas brought us to the Neish Plateau at the head of the Godley. Day 1: We gravel bashed up the Rangitata and Havelock from Mesopotamia Station to reach Growler Hut. Day 2: Up the Forbes Valley and over Easy Col into the Murphy. Camp at its head. Day 3: Over the Murphy Glacier to climb Mt Forbes (2583 m), down the Ballium Snowfield to reach Separation Stream. Gravel Bash down to its confluence with the Godley. Day 4: Pit day at Godley Hut. Day 5: We traversed the ridge above the Godley Lake to reach and dropped down to the moraine, then up the west branch of the Godley glacier, camp below Sealy Pass. Day 6: We climbed to Sealy Pass at dawn and and traversed the Neish Plateau to climb McKinnon Peak (2504 m). Then rushed back down to the Godley west branch, walked up the East Branch to reach Terra Nova Pass. Day 7: We dropped down to Saint Winifred Stream, which we followed to its confluence with the Havelock, which we had to cross in order to reach Curtis Memorial Hut further downstream. Day 8: We crossed the Havelock again and walked back out to the car. Team: Danilo Hegg, Lara Wilcocks, Ben Hepp, Annelies Ingelbrecht and Nina Dickerhof