A few years back a trip to the West Coast was planned over a long weekend with Mt Greenland being one of the main focuses. That weekend it rained, and then rained, and just for good measure it rained some more. Needless to say the track conditions were wet everywhere we rode including Mt Greenland. The thing to note about Mt Greenland is that it is a tough track in the best conditions, but when it is wet the greasy slippery clay faces can be hard to stand on, let alone ride. The short of it was, Mt Greenland defeated us. This had been eating away at me for quite some time as this was the only track I had started but never finished.
That was the catalyst for this trip, to have another crack at Mt Greenland. The trip was set and 6 riders were lined up but as a front forecast to bring over 100mm of rain approached the trip was brought forward in aim to beat it. This meant only three of us were able to make the dates and set off to the Coast...
Paul and I kicking off the trip through Athurs Pass under dreary grey skies
Jacksons Hotel was the meeting spot completing the team of three: Paul, Ian and me
Prepping in Ross for the start if Mt Greenland
Approaching the clay faces
This photo with Paul standing at the top gives a fairly good indication of the severity of the clay faces. Steep, undulated and slippery
Where possible, picking lines around the slippery clay gave the best traction to get up but in some places it was either clay, or clay!
Clay faces done! That was one challenge sorted, now onto the next
One of the next challenges was some of the boggy sections. I'd seen footage of 4X4s being winched through some of them but we managed to get by without too much drama
These photos seriously don't do any justice to the steepness and rockyness of the track. It was tough going fully loaded with cooking, camping and sleeping gear
A power connector failure had me with no power and no go
15 minutes and a couple of wire connectors later the DRZ was ready to roll but just when I had about finished Paul and Ian rolled down the hill saying with what was ahead, down was the way to go. The recent storms had messed the track up good and proper, what we were riding on was steep, lose, washed out, rutty, rocky terrain that was progressively getting worse. In 5 1/2 hours we only managed to make about 5km (a little over half way) and with daylight fading we were not going to make it before dark. The reality was, we underestimated the time needed and this is not the place to be riding in the dark. So, we opted to head to the Ross Hotel for a hot shower, a good old pub meal and a beer. Fail you may say? Well, to be fair we didn't make it to the top, but the fun we had riding this far (albeit very tough) was in no way a fail in our books and it has given us even better insight for planning the third trip to knock it off once and for all
Riding the water ruts on the edges of the clay faces for "some" traction
Just 50 metres from the end of the track and fairly well knackered by this stage, the steep, lose, slippery bouldery section took two victims with front wheel washouts!
Great value cabins at Ross Hotel, only $20 a night
The next day we had a number of tracks planned and Carl joined us on this leg
After pruning a few trees we made it so far up this track but heavy windfall meant we would have needed to spend hours on the saw to progress any further. We opted to ride elsewhere rather than play forestry workers
After a day exploring some West Coast tracks we ended up at good old Jims Flat Hut
The next day saw us exploring more new tracks
It's funny, until you realise you have to help pull it out!
A couple of locals and their young boys out for a ride and shoot
Back in Moana for lunch. I was keen to try the Stationhouse Cafe as I had never been there before. Nice location and view, but to be honest, lunch was fairly underwhelming, the Moana Hotel is my pick for a lunch stop option in Moana
A brief shower heading through Athurs Pass
Heading to a track Paul had lined up
I believe we found the road with the most gates in New Zealand. I could be wrong, but it felt like we opened and closed over 500!!
Magic views from the top of the track
A few washouts in sections meant a bit of line picking to carry on
Stopping for a bite to eat before heading home
All in all it was a cracking trip. Admittedly we did not reach the summit of Mt Greenland but we had a great time trying. The next plan of attack is to organise a trip that starts at the base of Mt Greenland early in the morning allowing a full day to knock it off. More on that to follow…
