TA 79: Rintol Hardships

Date: January 25, 2020
Starting kilometer: 1863.8
Ending kilometer: 1881.5
Kms tramped today: 17.7
Kms to Bluff: 1123.8
Elevation at camp: 1031 m

The sound of flies buzzing wakes me around 6:00. The soft glow of sunrise is behind us and the sky is full of wispy cotton candy clouds. It’s cold so we eat breakfast in our sleeping bags and stay in them till the last possible minute. Alpenglow gives way to fresh golden sunlight and we’re back on the trail around 7:15. 

We’re still not done with the ridgewalk of dreams. At a high point where two trails meet, there is a barrel of water with maybe 20 liters at the bottom of it. We top off our bottles and it saves us from having to go down to Old Man Hut. There’s no natural water on trail for idk how long today. My boogers are dry and bloody--it’s the dry mountain air I suppose. 

There are views in all directions at the ole water barrel. The day is still young and we’re bright-eyed and excited for what it might hold. There is also service at this peak so I download my podcasts along with an ebook of 1001 questions inspired by the book at Captain’s Hut. We ask each other questions and laugh as we continue following the ridge. I also sync my Fitbit and learn that I got less than six hours of sleep cowboy camping which is even less than the previous night. I’m in sleep debt now. 

How do you like your trails in the morning? 
Scrambled.

The trail dips down into some trees where we do some light bouldering along the ridgeline. We listen to an old Zolof album together as we begin the ascent of Little Rintol. At the edge of treeline we stop for a sunscreen break. And it is here that our troubles began. The ascent is super-steep, hot, and exposed. What makes it hard tho is that we’re walking on talus the whole time. Talus slows me down more than anything in my little slippers of Vibram and mesh. I am paranoid about twisting an ankle or stepping wrong and having rocks tumble onto me so I deliberately place every step. This is only Little Rintol tho so it’s just baby-hard and a short climb. 

The descent is similarly v steep, hot, and exposed. But on this side the talus is loose and mixed with gravel. J waits for me to get a good ways ahead of him so that the rocks he is knocking loose don’t hit me as they tumble down. At the bottom of the V in today’s elevation profile, we stop for a break at a rare flat spot. We watch Maree absolutely barrel down the descent and then she joins us on our break. J shares his mat with her and she asks us if we want cheese bc hers is melting too fast in this heat. I think she can tell that we’re borderline starving. She’s carrying an actual head of lettuce and gives us a big chunk of soft warm cheese wrapped in crisp lettuce. The concoction is legendary and we talk about it the rest of the day. “Do you remember how good that lettuce wrap was?”

The climb up proper Rintol is again steep, exposed, and hot. We follow orange marker poles over more sharp talus. I look up and see the little toothpicks way up where we are going. At the top, we can see the ocean again. It’s windy and some stormy-looking clouds are blowing in. There are alien lifeforms up here--some weird fungus that looks like it should be on the bottom of the ocean. The descent is scary again. It’s not as bad as Lil’ Rintol but it’s longer. This one doesn’t have as many sketchy boulders and large rocks that could crush you, it’s more just loose gravel on a steep descent. When it is too loose or too steep, I squat and slide on my feet. Towards the bottom, the trail is all rutted out. 

Later when we see the mountain from a distance, we can see the big gash of the “trail.” The route and people hiking down it is definitely not healthy for the mountain. It’s eroding heavily. You’d think they’d install check steps so that several kilos of soil/rocks aren’t being displaced by a single hiker. A note from the future: something I noticed on much of TA is that since it pieces together existing tracks, the tracks that it uses aren’t used to seeing hundreds-thousands of trampers per season and aren’t equipped for that much traffic. 

I’m ready for a break by the time we get to Rintol Hut at 3:00. This was our goal hut for yesterday lolol. We’re back in the trees now. There are a few people already in the hut and camped outside. There is a “get off my lawn” kinda dude who is monitoring everyone’s water usage and is grumbling about how there are too many TA walkers using the hut so the tank water is low. Maree is set up and she has the same tent as us. The three of us sit at a picnic table and read from the questions book, learning a little more about each other. Maree is a sweetheart and offers us hot tea. It’s a treat even tho it’s still hot out. She asks if we’re Mexican! I tell her she’s the first to guess correctly since we’ve been here. And she offers us a place to stay when we get to Queenstown. “We will cook you green spaghetti,” we tell her. We’ve been wanting to make it here but it requires a blender for the sauce. 

After like an hour and a half, me and J head out. We’re both exhausted but the rest of the day isn’t difficult. There is another small summit but the talus-y part is v short. Even tho the hiking is rather easy, it takes us ages to get to Tarn Hut bc we are tired and hungry. J is especially tired and he’s beating himself up for being slow. It’s been a v hard day tho. Another note from the future: this was prob the hardest day physically on TA for me. A combination of steep climbs and descents on talus, warm weather, food rationing, and sleep debt. 

The last km or so, I take the tent poles from J and forge ahead to Tarn Hut, a small rustic hut. Two European TA hikers are in it. As I’m outside scouting for a tent site, one of them comes out to let me know that there’s room for me. “No thanks, I’ll sleep better outside,” I call. When I go in to sign the intentions book, it’s oppressively stuffy. Besides that, I’ve read a few Guthook comments recently about scabies in the huts 🤮. No thanks! 

I set up at the far end of the clearing and J arrives soon after. I eat alone at the picnic table and take inventory again. It’s looking real sad. I’m gonna be spreading it thin. But I did this to myself. The others have left smoldering coals in the fire ring and I pour some water on it. It makes me nervous even tho I don’t think wildfires can be started easily here. I join J in the tent and we continue reading from the question book. It’s nice and cool in the tent. Strange insects or birds chitter in the woods around us. It’s 11:00 by the time I get done writing.