Earnslaw Burn Classic 2021

The team at Rationale have never been shy of a mission or two, and with the wait for the ski season starting to drag on, we decided it was time to lace up the trail shoes and head off for a run into the hills.

The objective for this particular mission was the spectacular Earnslaw burn, an alpine valley with a glacier at its head sitting directly beneath Mt Earnslaw/Pikirakatahi. Situated between the Dart and Rees rivers, it’s no exaggeration to say it’s up there with the most scenic spots in our neck of the woods. It’s also not that easy to get into, particularly as a run.

Not to be put off by 26 odd km of running and close to 1400m of climbing, the team took the day off work, left Arrowtown at 6am on Friday the 14th of May and headed out past Glenorchy to the Earnslaw Burn trail head.

Spirits were high as we set off, with the team splitting into two groups and heading up the trail through pristine beech forests to the tussock basin at the head of this valley, with impressive views of an icefall on Pikirakatahi.

The scenery up there is better shown in pictures rather than described, but needless to say it was stunning and one of the finer places to grab a bite to eat for lunch. The sun was out and everyone was having a great time moving through some spectacular country.

After a bit of a rest it was time to head back the way we’d come. The return leg is always when the wheels start to fall off and there were some fairly happy faces when we all made it back to the trucks after seven hours on our feet.

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