Thread: Hutt etiquette

Off the OP's original direction, but "hut etiquette" just the same.

Was up the Macaulay river last weekend, being groundie and transport for a couple of young fellas I know that climb, Sibbald and Ross were the targets for the weekend. Rocked up to the Macaulay hut, sorted put the gear and off we went to set up a camp at the tarn up in the Upper tindall. I later walked back to the hut after we discussed the need for an updated weather report. Macaulay has a mountain radio and I could get an area specific weather update that I could radio up the mountain in the morning.

Imagine my surprise to arrive at the hut 1130 hrs to find it packed to the rafters with drunken Christchurch white trash in full party mode. Walked in the door after deliberating outside for a minute or three, and was hit with the 35 degree heat from the fire on full blast, stereo on full tit, the shouting bellowing racket of a typical drunken piss up, the stench and wreckage of several drunken massive fry ups, and the site of multiple 40 ounce spirits bottles in various states of emptiness. I stood in the open doorway and looked them over for a minute, then shook my head in disbelief and went back out side. Made a meal and a brew and sat outside under a sky that had suddenly cleared over the valley and watched the stars for a while. Unfortunately for me, my bivvy bag was up on Sibbald and rain was on the way......... So I grabbed a pair of earplugs, stuck them in, went and grabbed a bunk and pulled a set of earmuffs over the top and attempted to sleep.0230 before they packed it in for the night. Felt the need to sleep with my hunting knife under the small of my back, in case the silly fucksticks got brave while I was asleep, I had felt the undercurrent, but none of them quite brave enough to openly challenge me ( was fairly clear what I thought of them, but at 11 to one not in a position to sort them out)

Next morning at 0500, made breakfast and a brew, gave their poor dog a bowl of water and a pat, then went to get on the mountain radio to get a weather report....... no radio, just a busted cable that used to connect to the solar panel on the roof. Them? dunno, maybe/maybe not. Sorted my gear and set back off up the valley, got comms on at the Upper Tindall and talked to the boys who were well on the way to the summit, but had been stopped by reduced visibility, down to about 5m for them, below the tarn about 50m for me, we agreed to wait out for a bit as I was going to work out if it was going to lift before they did, weather deteriorated and they retreated in zero visibility for a while, but made it back to the tarn.

Back down in the main valley around midday, seemed like a good idea to walk up the to head of the valley and glass on the way up and generally have a look around. headed back to the hut as the next target was to be Mt Ross and the plan was to grab the truck and camp well away from the hut, we get to the hut around 2100, to discover one vehicle had left but the rest were still there and in piss up mode still. They had set up targets at the hut that they had been hammering at with at least one .22 semi, I checked the truck for holes.........

We would, at that point pissed of down the valley but: a couple from the Chech republic had walked in from the road end during the day, and did not have tent or bivvy bags, we actually considered they/she would be at risk from them if they were left , so we stayed, he was a nice guy, an experienced European climber on a working climbing holiday here, she mostly stayed out of sight in the bunk house section, we let him know he could come to us for support if anything rang his bell, the odds were still steep, but manageable as mutual support was available, one of my boys is a current serving infantry corporal originally trained by me in close combat, so push come to shove it would have been interesting for all. They shut down about 0130.

We left early, (while the drunken trash snored and farted in the sleep that would probably last till lunchtime) to set up for a go at Mt Ross, the young couple were going to gear up to walk out again, and indicated they were ok, so we left to carry out our plan.

I haven't bothered with public vehicle access huts in a long time, the wrong people go there. Don't see me using one ever again if this is now the typical NZ'r behaviour in the back country. I will use huts you have to walk to over or through difficult terrain, that weeds out the rubbish I reckon.

The Macaulay is a beautiful hut in a great valley. sigh....