Visiting Homer Hut For The First Time
By Lisa Donning
Climbing in the Darran mountains sounded like something people like me didn't do. And by 'people like me' I mean a hobby climber that loves a social climb but isn't exactly pushing the grades. I'm 100% ok with not being a Send-a-saurus Rex, while I love the physical challenge, for me climbing is also about hanging with friends and being in beautiful places.
So when a friend (a veritable Send-a-saurus Rex) said he was heading to Homer Hut for the break, my suggestion of gatecrashing his trip was largely tongue-in-cheek but the idea took root. So, cut to Christmas Eve and a group of us headed to the hut and off on an adventure.
We arrived to pretty persistent drizzle and after getting settled into our respective bunk rooms or tent sites we gathered in the communal area to eat and work out where we'd head the following day.
Walking into the kitchen felt a little daunting. These people were, after all, climbing in the Darrans so they must all be badasses! Well, they were. They were also welcoming, interesting, and non-judgemental about everyone's goals. I'd talk to people about their high-20's project who would then excitedly give me advice on lower grade routes they thought I'd like. Everyone was just so invested in people having a good time and pushing themselves in whatever capacity worked for them. One thing that struck me was how many wāhine were sending some seriously hard routes. I'm talking up to grade 29 here. Mind blowing. It's fantastic to see our wāhine out there smashing it and still providing a space for others to share, be celebrated, and get to know each other.
We heard most people were heading to Little Babylon the following day and after a very amusing conversation about onsighting the approach (sub-10. IYKYK) we decided to join everyone up there. This was the start of some of my favourite climbing experiences to date. Not only is the rock phenomenal and the views breathtaking, but everyone you saw at the crag was from the hut so it was like climbing with an extended group of mates. Evenings were spent poring over guidebooks, discussing the routes you'd attempted, or playing games. And the weather! I was prepared for rainy days spent lamenting our choices of heading to Fiordland, or even heading back into Wānaka if the connies were on there, but we pretty much had wall-to-wall sunshine. We used our rainy day to rest and enjoyed a very competitive game of Codenames and ate many, many snacks.
Here's how I spent eight days at the hut:
Day 1: Little Babylon. While there isn't much at this crag for me to climb the vibes were fantastic. Definitely one of my favourite Christmasses. There were hammocks hung up, speakers playing, snacks being shared, and so many climbs being sent. My friend set a top rope up for me on Multitude (21) and after getting up that I spent the rest of the day belaying, yarning, and watching my friends attempt Rua Tahi (23). Seeing the harder routes being attempted was awesome too, this is such a beautiful, dramatic crag where watching the senders involved lounging around on perfectly placed trees. So arduous.
Day 2: The Chasm. After a slightly unnerving via ferrata, off we went up what we thought was the first two pitches of Jack the Biscuit (17, 18) but what actually turned out to be Granite Gringo (22). Lessons were learnt about taking guidebooks with us...
Day 3: The Chasm. Back to rescue the gear we left on Granite Gringo, we headed up the actual first two pitches of Jack the Biscuit to the chillout ledge to enjoy the views and celebrate successfully reaching the ledge.
Day 4: The Chasm. Back again, this time for the first two pitches of Contact Neurosis (16, 18). With three of us it took a little longer but we all got up then set up a top rope on Another One (20).
Day 5: rest day. Codenames and wine. Lush.
Day 6: Te Anau. Some people headed to the rodeo and I took the opportunity to do some washing (don't judge, we'd been on the road for a while by this point) and catch up with a friend.
Day 7: Shotwell Slabs. This place absolutely blew me away. We onsighted Eureka (20), a 5-pitch sport multi slab of goodness. I've got the blisters on my hands to prove I'm a Darrans climber now. Being New Years Eve we got into the wine when we got back to the hut which somehow led to a pull-up competition with everyone, regardless of the number they got, receiving raucous cheers and applause. We then pitched our hip flexibility against each other in the cereal box game where, lets just say, the ground definitely got licked.
Day 8: a whole lot of faff (ahem, some of us were a little dusty) to get ready to hike the Hollyford. After initially leaving my boots and poles at the hut (again, dusty) we were off. We stayed in three huts then jumped in a jet boat and, because the river was so low, a helicopter back to the first hut to hike out. Then back to Te Anau for a shower (Best. Shower. Ever.) before driving to Wānaka for another few days cragging.
I remember driving down to the hut and having zero expectations other than being somewhere cool with fun people and maybe doing a little climbing. The experience of being at the hut with so many climbers just out there doing what climbers do was such an incredible one. And I’m stoked with the amount of climbing we did, this was a great surprise.
We felt so welcomed at the hut, like we were part of a much larger group of friends spending the break hanging out. I remember we were driving back to the hut after a day at the crag and my friend said "ah, home sweet home" which initially felt kind of silly but also completely accurate. This was our base. This was where our friends were. This was, ultimately, home.