Running Three Passes in a day

Chest deep in the Makarora river at 145am begs the question, are we sure we know what we are in for? We had spent Christmas poring over maps and gathering route information and fully expected to meet the Makarora abruptly after starting. So yes, we were fully aware what lay ahead and confident in our skills and abilities to tackle it. Holding our packs overhead with socks and shoes high and dry, it still felt ironic that the entirety of ourselves were soaked only fifteen minutes after starting.

Our plan A was a guesstimated 20-hour trail run over 90km with 4000m of vertical gain crossing Gillespie Pass and Rabbit Pass, hence the hellish alpine start. I’d read about Rabbit Pass and its waterfall face ascent months ago and felt an instant longing to tackle it. I had done the research and made the plan, the weather window was there, the Christmas holidays had arrived, and my adventure buddy was game, set and match. But then we discovered on the day, we just weren’t feeling it. Nothing specifically went wrong; in fact, everything went just fine. We made it to Gillespie pass as dawn broke and were graced with stunning views. ‘Just fine’ however wasn’t really what we were hoping for. Rabbit Pass was going to be tough and in the blazing summer heat, feeling ‘just fine’ wasn’t going to cut it. We placed our melancholy on fatigue hangovers from work and training in the lead into Christmas. Plan B was using the Wilkin River as an exit route. We made the call that Rabbit Pass would have to wait for next year. Still a good day out but not entirely what we had intended.

After a few days of rest, the odd beer and multiple cups of tea that didn’t quite see us into the new year, adventure Plan C unexpectedly emerged: running the Three Passes in Arthur’s Pass. Meg had longed to do this route for years; she knew part of it well and the rest on paper like the back of her hand. An unexpected opportunity, but effectively years in the planning. Toted as one of New Zealand’s iconic four-to-five-day tramps, the Three Passes encompasses Browning, Whitehorn and Harper pass and crosses the Main Divide. It sidles a glacier, traverses wild backcountry, and has multiple river crossings. With more than 3000m of vertical gain over 64km, feeling ‘just fine’ wasn’t in the brochure. In the days prior, rain had blown through Arthur’s Pass and the weather looked perfect to embrace the challenge of running it in a day. Fortunately for us we were feeling just grand and ready to give it our best shot.

However, there were a few things we weren’t feeling as grand about. Firstly, the steepness of descending Browning Pass. Multiple sources advise going east to west starting at Klyondyke Corner to avoid such a steep descent. Our intended route was west to east, starting inland from Hokitika. Travelling from Christchurch, this made car shuttle logistics much easier. Browning Pass would be the first crux of the mission, could we safely get down? The second crux would be Whitehorn Pass. With it being early summer there was potentially still too much snow, could we safely get over with just microspikes? And finally, the third, river levels in the Taipoiti, could we ford it safely? We knew water levels would drop quickly but as quick as we needed, we weren’t so sure. Knowing we’d have to safely assess multiple factors; we had our Plan B escape route down a different valley and our last resort Plan C was to turn around and go back the way we came.

Reaching the top of Browning Pass and staring straight down the Main Divide was awe inspiring. The wind helped pin us to the side of the pass and we descended without issue. Spotting two tiny moving dots in the distance caused a rush of excitement, if those tampers had made it through the rivers, then we certainly could! We skipped (quite literally) in mircospikes over a sun-drenched Whitehorn and emerged from the fog on Harpers Pass into a land of waterfalls and turbulent turquoise waters. We were doing it; we were going to make our plan A! Running through fields of beautiful purple lupins at dusk felt like a treat, until it was followed by clambering through half a kilometre of skin murdering matagouri in the dark. Accepting the yin for the yang we emerged unscathed yet looking like we had been dragged through a hedge backward. Cut shins and thorns in hands we arrived at Klondyke Corner just after night fall and high on life. We stripped off our wet clothes, threw on some warm ones and dived into a bag of chips.

Three Passes is one of the most epic trails we’ve ever done. The variety of terrain was phenomenal and the amount of water flowing only added to the intensity of the experience, both visually and personally in testing my river crossing skills. It was naturally stunning, awe inspiring and simultaneously mind blowing. Knowing we had the prior knowledge and skills to achieve what we had set out to do, being aware of all the variables and then aligning them on the day to accomplish our mission, left us feeling grand, and just for that day, like queens of the mountains.

If there is a moral to this story, it’s about great planning, planning to be flexible and planning for a change of plan. It’s important not to get too attached to the idea of completing the full mission, especially when safety is in question. The same goes for listening to your body and the tell-tale signs that maybe today just isn’t the day. Having an idea of a plan B and even plan C before setting out can really help decision making when your brain fatigued from lack of sleep and physical effort. At the time of retreating down the Wilkin after Gillespie Pass, we didn’t really have a plan C, apart from just enjoying the day for what it was, a decent mission with a good buddy. Missing out on one mission can open the door for another and even better when it leads to something so unexpected and mind-blowingly epic.

My best piece of kit for the day aside from my beloved Amp trail pack, were Macpac’s Brrr arm sleeves. The wind and sun were harsh so wearing them as a protective layer proved golden. I could slip them down around my wrists as I pleased without needing to take my pack on and off to remove layers. Such a simple item of kit but from now on I won’t be running far without them.

Click the links for video trip highlights: Gillespie Pass at dawn & Three Passes in a day.