New Year at The Pass

Here we are 737m above sea level just one day after swimming in the sea (at sea level). We have driven up from Dunedin on an epic journey which Les has wanted to make ever since his 30th Birthday Party when his friend Marion (nee McGregor now Bohny) sent a video of the Chalet Hotel here at the Pass. We arrived in time for Hogmanay celebrations and were duly invited to a party at the Senior Warden's House. I know that sounds like a Character from Anthony Trollope but he is a real person. After the Stroke of midnight everyone jumped up to ring the Village Bell and I think there were 13 strikes rather than 12 but nobody was sober enough to worry about that sort of detail. Arthur's Pass is a bit like Papay 50 people live there but 3,000 people call it home and come back for the New Year.

Last night we had a talk from Father Michael Mahoney who climbed on Mount Everest in 1977 without sherpas and he got dressed up in his actual climbing gear and sweated suitably throughout his talk in a packed auditorium. He was highly entertaining and could remember every detail despite having worked in Brazil for the intervening 30 years.
It has also been 30 years since Les and Marion were at Edinburgh University together so her husband Michael and I are amazed at the details they remember at odd times of day. Marion can't find her mini kilt however so that remains a dim memory. Michael knows every stone and stream of these mountains so he has been an excellent tour guide, well able to predict the weather even 4 miles away. He and Les are climbing the Devil's Punchbowl at the moment so expect good photos any day now.