Scott Creek Mission and a walk up Mt Sefton

Kieran has had his eye on this route for a while and it sounded like a good trip traveling from all but the west coast to one of the high points on the main divide. Even some hot pools thrown in for the way back down.

Half way up waterfall 1, Scott Creek

The Douglas Neve was in condition so getting to the top of Sefton was easy. Turned out all the excitement was to be had getting round the waterfalls in Scott Creek.

Swingbridge on the Coupland Valley Track

Day 1 we headed over to the Coupland Valley from Christchurch and walked into Architect Hut, a cosy little two bunker half way in to Welcome Flat. We made a sunrise start the next day and headed past Welcome Flat and into Scott Creek, after stashing a celabortory bottle of wine at the hut of course.

The bottom of Scott Creek

Getting up Scott Creek requires finding your way round two waterfalls via slabs on the true left. This required heavy reliance on the local foliage to haul your way up and across, with the ever present reminder of a drop into the creek below you. There was some evidence of the guided operation with some sketchy looking abseil anchors around. Which we used for some sketchy abseils on the way back down.

Looking accross the Coupland from above the Second Waterfall

Above the waterfalls its a straitforward slog up to a good campsite on Welcome Pass.

Crossing the glacier en route to Welcome Pass

Mt Sefton from our campsite

The next day we were greeted by a whiteout, as it happens friends of ours had decended this way the day before leaving tracks down from the summit. So we followed these to tag the top but not the most satisfiying summit day. Did catch enough of a glimpse of the east face from the summit to make me rethink the advisablitiy of soloing that route.

Welcome Flat hotpools were a nice way to round off the trip

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Misdirection, Spensers and Sugar Cubes

Headed out to have a go at Mt Una from Glacier Gully, followed the best conditions on the day over Mt Duessa and up the South Ridge. The climb went without a hitch which is more than can be said for the rest of the trip.

Keiran on the South Ridge of Duessa

The trip started with a oil top up for my trusty transportation, the ol Carib. Turns out that cap they give you to put on your engine is not just for show and on the way out of Christchurch Kieran had to ask me what was being sprayed all over the windscreen. Anyway with a well lubricated engine bay we headed north to Lake Tenison. After missing the rather large sign for the Jacks Pass turnoff in Hanmer we went exploring the local forestry roads. These didn't seem quite right so eventually we got back on the right road and found ourselves at the lake. Which also wasn't quite right so after sorting out our gear we headed back down the road a bit to the other side of the Clarence River. Lake Tenison seems to be quite the popular camping spot which came in handy later but at the time it occured to me we had just driven into the middle of a campground, got changed in front of everyone then left again, whoops.

Drove a little way up the soon to be newly graded and opened to the public 4wd road over Maling Pass into the Waiau Valley, this will make fast access to some reasonably big terrain, might well be checking it out in winter. For the moment it takes about 2hr to get to a decent camping spot in the Waiua by foot.

Half way up the spur accessing the glacial shelf at the head of Glacier Gully

The next morning we headed up Glacier Gully. The stream required a bit of boulder hopping and a zig zag from one side to the other, it doesn't take long to get into the head of the valley though. From here you can gain the hanging glacier via a spur joining its southern end. If you stick to the northern side of this spur at the bottom you avoid most of the bush. The more direct routes to Una looked to have a rather akward amount of snow on them so we went up the south side of the glacier to the south ridge of Duessa.

Ascending the glacier to gain the south ridge

This can then be followed over Duessa and continues to the summit of Una. It made for a good climb, not to tricky but plenty of exposure, probably wouldn't be too nice with less snow on it as the rock is loose. We were Ok with the cloud cover this time as I managed to forget the sunscreen.

Looking back into the Waiau just below Duessa

Kieran high above Glacier Gully

Traversing back down, Mt Una behind

We got back down to our camp just on dark and back to the car at about midnight. This is where things went wrong. Still havent quite decided how this happened but got back to find a door hanging open. You would assume the car got broken into, but when you insert my car into that equation it makes less sense.

Boulder hopping down Glacier Gully

Things didnt look rummaged through but then again they were already pre rummaged, Kieran is also missing a necklace so who knows. But much more alarming at the time, the door being open meant the interior light was on, which means the battery was flat. A spirited attempt to push start it in reverse on a muddy 4WD track didnt pan out. Denied of the opportunity to drive to food it was another night sleeping in the car. This is were that adjacent campsite really payed off as we found a friendly hunter to give us a jump start in the morning and made it back to civilization.

Enjoying a nutritious breakfast the next morning

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Kaituna - Mt Herbert Loop

Distance: 31.1km
Vertical: 2485m
Time: 5:29

On top of Mt Herbert

Google Earth track here


This was my first serious run since last summer and I was suffering. It didn't help that I continue to insist on having coffee in the mourning despite knowing I cant run on it. So with my stomach checking out for the mourning it was always going to be a bit of battle.

We started from Gebbies Pass and headed up to Pack Horse Hut in about 45min with a bit of walking thrown in and working hard on the pacing.

Heading up to Pack Horse Hut from Gebbies Pass

The run up Kaituna Valley

From here it was down into the Kaituna Valley and, what was meant to be the easy section of the run, up valley to the other side of Mt Herbert. As it turned out the combination of the heat and the gentle uphill of the road was pretty punishing and I found myself longing for the steeper climb back up to the crater rim to provide an excuse to start walking again.

Back up the other side of Herbert

There were a few issues getting up the hill, had to skirt around a bull at one point then ran into a bit of bush. Had a quick stop for a bite to eat on the way up and on starting again both my calves decided to start cramping up. This resulted in a mix of hobbling, walking and a very slow run over Herbert and back down to Pack Horse.

This might not have been the best way to go

Looking back down into the Kaituna Valley

Just before the hut I managed to catch a toe on a rock which had me rolling around on the ground trying to get my calves to release. At this point I was picturing another embarrassing helicopter ride, but managed to get up and nurse it the remaining 6km back down to the car.

So cant say it went that well but was good to be out running again!
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Oates: Hate the cerial, like the mountain

We decided to squeeze this into a day approached from Goat Pass via the Minga Valley. The plan was to climb the 'West Ridge' route which takes a gully gaining the ridge just below the summit. Due to some more top notch navigation on my part we missed, but never fear, found the South Ridge and that was plenty exciting.

Looking at the final section of the South Ridge

There are mountains up there somewhere

The day didnt start with promise as we were presented with a valley full of cloud. The forecast suggested it would clear though, so with fingers crossed we headed up valley. Things went our way and on reaching Lake Mavis we were greated by a perfect day.

Mt Oates

From here the route heads over the lower west ridge to drop into a basin on the south west side of the peak. The gully we were aiming for appears from here to head up to the west ridge at about half height in a rather extreme example of forshortning. If you head further round as we did the south side of the moutain is revealed.

The route we merrily wandered by is on the far right here

Heading up to the South Ridge

The ridge can easily be gained on the south side of the steep stuff and from there its a short section of exposed cornice riddled climbing to reach the summit.

Negotiating the ridge

Kieren just below the summit

Thats a 'check' for Mt Oates

Mt Franklin in the background on the way back down

The way down provided some awesome skiing form just past the diffulculties on the ridge. The snow was probably best described as late season slush but with a bit of speed it was good fun. Snowline was hovering aroung 1500m and as I sit inside with the heatpump cranking it could be around there for a little while yet.
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Couloir Peak Recce

This started with the goal of actually skiing the couloir but thigh deep spring powder on the day made skiing open spaces a bit more apealing. Have now got Couloir Peak fairly well scoped out and what was a bit of a pipe dream at the start of the year is starting to look feisable, well sort of.

Couloir Peak, the main section looks relatively straitforward

Headed up to the base of the couloir to check out the exit. You could see this had the potential to be tricky all the way from the road end so wasnt about to drop into this blind. The first bit of good news is that there is easy access to Cameron Col, which means a quick route to the top without having to slog up the couloir.

Access to Cameron Col

Next bit of good news is the first crux on the exit while narrow looks like it might go. Where things get exciting is the second crux, this looks like it will require some hucking heroics to finish the line.

The exit

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Arrowsmiths - Day 4

Day four saw the cloud recede west, but high winds and precip still threatened at the head of the valley. We had to make our way out that day so hatched a plan to head over into the South Ashburton via the Ashburton Glacier and find our way back into the Cameron and home further down valley

Sticking to the wind shadow on our way out of the valley

We aimed for the col between points 2350 and 2238 west of Cameron Hut hoping to avoid any excessively step terrain lee to the NW. This took about 2hrs on what was another hot day in August. Looking at the map now I realise we missed and actually crossed over the col south of point 2238. This explains why the glacier had snuck up valley, but I suppose that's what you get for not taking a map.

The view down Cameron Valley on the skin up

No matter though we had 800m of skiing at our feet and it looked good.

Dropping in on the Ashburton River side

Not a bad way to travel

There was a slight bit of a concern about a rollover near the bottom possibly being bluffs. After careful assessment we decided she'll be right.

Ed at the top of the rollover

Now we just had to find our way back to the car. The Ashburton River provided strait forward travel (there is a 4WD track) but as we were finding our own way back into the Cameron Valley there was still a bit of a possibility for excitement.

The Ashburton River

Couldn't help but think we might be in for more bush fighting as we were heading strait for the area of our little detour on the way in. We headed up the fence line south of Wild Mans Hill and dropped down by the stream north of point 1433. Bit of steep matagouri bashing but it wasnt to thick. Taking 7hrs form Cameron Hut to car certainly beats the standard way out.

Dropping back down into the Cameron

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Arrowsmiths - Day 3

A pretty serious NW front was forecast to be ruining our Sunday but the worst of this blew through during the night leaving us with a rainy/snowy whiteout. The Arrowsmith Range was proving a top notch wind shield though so we went out to check on the snow.

Some compression tests in our world of white

Plan A was to go check out Banfield Hut at the bottom of Jagged Stream but some wind slab on the slopes below Peg Col and the fact we couldn't see a thing put us off this plan.

Coilour on the western side of the valley above Cameron Hut

We spotted this couloir on the other side of Cameron Valley though. This was another quick lap from the hut and was wide enough to pick up some speed in, powder filled and a lot of fun.

Ed at the top of the Couloir

Some high speed turns further down

The day was saved!

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