Woolshed Creek Hut and Mt Somers Track

We're thinking of going this coming weekend... Hoping it is not too busy!

Lew Shaw on this site will probably know the conditions as he is a member of the Mt Somers Walkway. I don't think he has enabled messages though. A bunch of around 60 something freshers from the Canterbury University (sic) Tramping Club - CUTC went into Mt Somers hut this last weekend. Tents were trashed by the forecasted gale force winds and they all ended up sleeping inside the hut. Anyway they wouldn't have had crampons! The Mt Somers hut is generally busy. I guess the same goes for Pinnacles Hut too. You can always take an iceaxe if you've got one. It can be used to cut steps in extremis. That's what I would do, anyway.

Went to the track on 25/07/15. Started from Waterfall car park and walked to Pinnacle Hut. The track was slippery in some part. Took a break in Pinnacle Hut for 30 mins and moved on to Woolshed Hut. Part of the track was covered by snow, may be about 20cm deep, but the track is flat, so there is no safety concern. Canterbury Uni camping club members were in Woolshed Hut that night. They stayed in the hut overnight because their tents were ripped, snapped, or blown away by strong gust. Imagine when I woke up in the morning and found the kitchen floor were full of sleeping bags with people snoring. LOL. Weather was terrible on Sunday (gale and pouring rain). I was supposed to walk 8 hrs back to Waterfall car park via south track, but I had to give up in the junction of Rhyolite Ridge track. My mate didnot bring rain coat and he was soaked and felt cold. I wrapped him up with emergency blanket. We walked one hr back to Woolshed car park. Thanks for the group who drove us back to Waterfall carpark. **Good footwear is must. **No need for crampon. **Be equipped with rain coat, just in case. **No water in neither of the huts, as the tank/pipe was frozen. **Be in the huts early as they are popular huts. 1st in, 1st serve.

Thanks for the tips! Considering taking the 17 mo old sometime this winter, just in the short way from Woolshed carpark. Sounds like we need to arrange a mid week trip to get a quiet hut, even in winter. Will definitely only go if forecast is good

Honora-your comment,"I don`t think Lew has enabled messages".How do I make it happen & what does it achieve,please?

Hi Lew To enable messages: hover the cursor over your wee avatar/name icon on the far right of the top bar of the home page. A drop down box will appear, so click on the profile option. When this page loads, click on the 'edit your profile' button on the right side of the page. In the 'your preferences' field, tick the box to send and receive internal mail. This means people can contact each other without having to wait for people to decide to log on to tramper.co.nz. On the other hand, people might send you posts you'd rather not get but even an opiniated know-all such as I haven't received anything of that nature yet and I'm sure a pleasant fellow such as yourself is pretty safe.