Robert Ridge & The Angelus Hut, Nelson Lakes

 What an adventure it was to the remote Angelus Hut,  a mountain cabin that is perched high on the mountain range between lakes Roititi and Lake Rotorua.

We set off on a blue sky sunny day, bags packed with ice axes and crampons and not a glimpse of snow in sight. But with a 12.5km hike ahead, ascending up to 1650m and having seen a guy walk down in ski boots, we knew that what lay ahead of us would be very different to the summer scene at the car park.

Each bend in the ridge offered us a breathtaking view, along with it's own challenges including crossing steep scree fields filled with snow, soft slush, post holes, exposed ridge lines and icy patches.  As we ventured further and further towards our destination, we drunk in the total remoteness of where we were.  There was no phone signal, no-one else up on the mountain range and should have anything of happened, the best chance of us being rescued would have been by helicopter.

After a long 6 hours of carrying our packs full of water, food and warmth for the night, our last ridge afforded us views of a long frozen lakes, where, at the end, the Angelus Hut was perched with it's sweeping balcony and views across the lake and mountains.

We had the place to ourselves, along with a stack of logs and enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine drying out our wet socks, cooking dinner and setting up our beds next to the fire, with views out to the panoramic windows and a planetarium view of the stars.

The following day, we took an easier decent route down the Speargrass route, and nearly came head to head with a shotgun. Luckily the hunter was out to catch Chamois and not travellers, we then later came across a guy tracking the rare Kiwi bird!