Aspiring Guides

Guide Pete James and crew at Baron Saddle Hut, Mnt. Cook National Park

No it is not a discarded soup can, it is the hut at the head of the Mueller Glacier on the east side of the divide.  This is a great area for ski touring and climbing.   A relatively short helicopter flight and the ability to ski out to the village makes this a popular hut to base a trip out of.  This location has an interesting if somewhat frighting history. 

The previous hut was called the Three Johns Hut.  In 1977 four members of a North Island tramping club disappeared, along with the hut!  The were in contact with the Park on the radio and several days later when they had not been heard from, the authorities were horrified to find that high winds had sheared the hut from its footings.  The hut and victims were later located deep in the Dobson Valley where the wind had relocated them.  The Three Johns tragedy lead to a major overhaul of how huts are anchored and in the the ensuing 30 years there has not been another accident of this type.  Knowing that huts are now safe is comforting but late at night when the hut is shaking and the wires are humming it is hard not to spare a thought for the poor people who perished when their hut blew away.