Mt Torlesse

Honora & I decided to tag along on a Christchurch TC trip to Mt Torlesse (Puketeraki L434 143 717). I'd met Scott once before but Cyril, Jennifer and Wayne were new to me.

We turned off SH73 below Porters Pass, at the 'big pine', and drove as far as the 3rd farm gate.

It was a hot walk up the Kowai River to the John Hayward Hut. The shade of the hut was a welcome cool place for a snack. Across the stream next to the hut we took the prominent spur route up the mountain. A steady westerly wind blew across all the way, making it a bit cooler than in the valley.

It was perfect on the summit for a long lunch.

Scott had originally wanted to traverse from Torlesse around the ridge-top to Red Peak but he couldn't get anybody else interested. So we returned down the scree on the face of the mountain, to the east of the spur we'd come up.

Cyrill also tramps with the Over 40s TC and said that's the standard descent route for that club. The scree is lumpy and has few fine patches that allow a good run. It eventually leads down into a gully which becomes the stream flowing out next to the hut. However part way down the gully is a 10 metre waterfall. We bypassed the waterfall by climbing into beech forest on the true right. I couldn't see any sign that many others go that way, but we got through without any problems.

When we got out to the cars it was near 7.00 pm making it a longish day, and a hot dry one.