The Tramping Report

Exploring in Koropuku gorge

Honora suggested tramping in to Big Tops Hut in the Koropuku valley.

A few years ago I'd been keen on exploring for a good way over Worsley Pass, between the Koropuku valley and the Poulter River.

The terrain is quite difficult and only a small number of people have forced their way through. But all of them came out with discouraging tales of gorges, chasms, waterfalls and bluffs. Others had got stuck and needed rescuing.

I wanted to find a reasonable route that avoided the need for death or glory heroics. We'd been on a few explorations from both ends but we still had about 5oo m to go to complete the line.

However other things moved up our priority list and it's been a few years since we've been back. Honora thought we should spend a few days and finish it off.

So on the 27th we spent the full day tramping in to Big Tops from SH73 at Aickens. I wasn't feeling as fit as I needed for the big climb out of the Otehake River, especially carrying a 7 day pack. But it was good to get back to Big Tops again.

On the 28th we spent the day doing track work.

In the morning we cleared a way through a large fallen tree blocking the Koropuku access gully (ngutu koawaawa). In the afternoon we worked on clearing the tracks and encroaching vegetation from around the hut.

The next day we headed down valley to check out the waterfall in the Koropuku gorge.

We'd never actually seen the waterfall before as our standard route up and down the valley bypasses the waterfall section of the gorge. We usually sidle high in the beech forest at about the 760m contour on the true left. Our sidle route starts opposite the foot of the Koropuku access gully (ngutu koawaawa) and finishes in a big open gully (koawaawa kowhera) at K33 063 194, or vice versa. This is mostly a good route except there's a short steep bit getting into or out of the big open gully. I was keen to explore for an easier way past the waterfall.

So we walked down the riverbed till the waters of the Koropuku dropped into the top of it's deep canyon. The slopes on the true right looked heinous. We climbed into the bush on the true left side and traversed the slopes down valley. We checked down each likely looking descent route but each ended in a vertical drop to the gorge below. Eventually we ended up at our standard descent route into our regular big open gully.

We climbed down into the gorge 160 m below and travelled up through the gorge to the bottom of the waterfall.

It's an awesome place.

The rock walls of the gorge towered vertically above us. The flow of the Koropuku spilled from a stepped series of waterfalls around a corner. Another waterfall fell from a sidestream spilling over the cliffs above, to join the Koropuku in it's splash pool in the gorge.

It seemed pointless to try looking at it analytically for a way through. It was enough to just stand there experiencing the drama of the scene.

After a while we turned and walked back down the gorge to where the big open gully entered.

It seemed the gully was going to remain our standard route for traversing the Koropuku gorge.

There was a band of dense scrub barring entry to the bottom of the gully. We set about clearing a pathway to make it more obvious, and easier to travel through. It was good to have something practical and useful to focus on after the gloomy solemnity of the gorge.

That done we climbed the gully and traversed back up valley to the hut.

By the following the morning, on the 30th, a sea of cloud had come up and filled the valley from below. Above, a higher cloud mass obscured the ridges. Rain didn't seem far off.

We packed and travelled back out over the tops to Aickens. By the time we reached the road the rain was coming down in a classic West Coast deluge.

We had hoped we'd be able to tramp up the Poulter River and cross Worsley Pass from that side. However when we checked the weather forecast at Arthurs Pass in the evening it showed heavy rain falling right across the mountains for the next few days. So on the last day of the year we headed home with 3 days of food still in our packs.

Update

The crazy end of year rush plus the move has kept me away from updating Tramping Report.

Honora did get her wallet back ($100 cash, etc included). Some honest trampers handed it in to the police. The police dropped it in to Honora's work.

On the 10th we got away on our one short tramp to try to gain a little pre-Xmas tramping fitness. Look back for the full report of Mottram Peaks, in the Waimak valley. I'll get that up with pics early in the new year.

Right now we're just off to Arthurs Pass for a few days at Big Tops Hut in the Koropuku valley. There'll be news of that on the 4th.

I hope the nor'westers don't spoil your plans. 

Summit Road Society

I've traced my family's introduction to tramping on Christchurch's Port Hills back to at least the 1850s.

The earliest of them tramped over the hills on the Bridle Path from Lyttelton to their new home. I've often stood where the Bridle Path crosses the Summit Road and tried to imagine what it was like for them back then.

Countless other times I've been there just totally involved in the enjoyment of tramping on the Port Hills for its own sake.

Many Christchurch people, even without such an ancestral connection, have a strong personal attachment to the city's hills.

The Summit Road Society needs the support of as many as possible to help protect more of the Port Hills for our own and future generations.

Please check this link to the website of the Summit Road Society. And give thought to adding your name to their membership. It's a very cheap investment.

The Mottram Peaks

I love tramping into the head of the Waimak. Whether it's to climb a peak, cross a pass or just spend some time among its mountains I always get a keen sense of anticipation in the walk up the valley.

This time we started with a tramp in the twilight to AntiCrow hut. As we crossed the gravel flats pairs of NZ dotterels fluttered their wings on the ground to one side of us as their young ran the other way.

AntiCrow hut has been fully refurbished and gave us a very pleasant night's shelter.

Morning cloud drifted aside to uncover Mt Rolleston across the valley.

 

We walked a short distance along the bush track through mountain beech forest and turned up the AntiCrow river. The loose cliffs of the AntiCrow canyon towered high above us. The rocky stream bed alternated between rounded water-smoothed stones and angular blocks of shattered rubble brought down by earthquakes. We travelled easily, steadily gaining height under a warming sun.

In the head of the valley we stopped for an early lunch before leaving the ready water supply of the splashing stream. A young couple of trampers came down the route from Sphinx Saddle and paused for a brief chat. They'd just crossed over the saddle from a camp in the Avoca river. They went on their way and we on ours.

We left the stream and walked up a dry gully with masses of tall snow tussocks to either side. The gully turned a corner and we climbed slopes of short green grasses.

Pretty Eyebrights and other flowers covered the ground everywhere we looked.

Above us a very large scree stretched away to the ridgeline. We toiled up it, avoiding the looser stones where we could. The upper slopes shimmered under the high sun.

Frequent pauses to take in the changing view gave gratifying evidence of height gained as features dropped below. A key moment was being able to see over Sphinx Saddle into the Avoca river.

The 500 metre scree climb took only an hour and a half. We topped out at 1700 metres in a col between two of our peaks. A gentle breeze cooled

A hardy anisotome, the Bristly Carrot, grew right on the rocky ridge, flourishing in the harsh conditions.

We sidled to the west and climbed the lower Mottram Pk. Views of the upper Waimak valley and the main divide peaks were fantastic.

It's always great to see familiar country from a new angle. Burly Mt Greenlaw hulked above Gizeh Col. The snowy summit of Mt Murchison topped everything. The full length of the Mt Harper ridge stretched out directly across Greenlaw Creek. Behind this Mt Davie raised its head and shoulders, the thin line of its summit tiara of choss clearly visible. The upper Waimak valley curled around under the mean cliffs of Carrington Pk. Mt Rolleston was partly obscured by the spikey Jellicoe Ridge.

We dropped back down to the col and climbed to the higher of the Mottram Peaks at 1789 metres.

This now gave us an unimpeded view to the east, right down the Waimak valley to Mt Binser as well as a complete survey right around 360 degrees.

For our descent we explored down a gully directly to the Waimak valley. Our route took us down scree, through shrubland and into the beech forest in a very quick descent. We emerged on the valley floor a short distance from Greenlaw Creek.

That only left an easy walk out to Klondyke Corner, with a short diversion back to the AntiCrow hut to collect our overnight gear.

What a great day, with a bonus night away too.

Evening walk in Orton Bradley

We had an unplanned reason to go tramping through Orton Bradley again this evening. Honora lost her wallet when she stopped to put on sunscreeen early in our walk yesterday. So we drove over this evening to see if we could find it.

We walked up into the park for about an hour and searched in the places we thought it might be, but without luck.

Never mind. It gave us an excuse to spend some extra time over there.

Come to think of it, I wonder why people don't go to Orton Bradley on week nights. It seems a perfect way to use the extra daylight of the long summer evenings.

Mt Herbert to Packhorse hut

Well we were desperate for at least one day tramping and we did manage to get out of town, but it was a hot day on Banks Peninsula.

Honora had heard some Canterbury Mountain Safety members we knew were planning a social walk up Mt Herbert. That gave us an extra reason.

We drove over Dyers Pass and around Lyttelton harbour to join up with them at the gates of Orton Bradley Park. However we missed them at the start but hoped to catch them up.

We walked through the lower park. The air was heady with the sweet smells of flowering and resinous vegetation, and it was alive with birdsong too.

I walked ahead trying to catch sight of the others. However when the view opened up I could see there was only a solitary person on the whole mountain ahead of us.

It was very hot. The sun blasted into the north facing valley. Now my aim was just to get higher to catch a breeze. That didn't happen until I reached the Mt Herbert Shelter on the ridgeline, 800m above. Skylarks winging into the sky above filled the air with cascades of their silver chain of sound.

I didn't want to start my lunch without Honora so wandered slowly back down the track to meet her. It was magic just taking in the whole of being there. Honora was only ten minutes behind so we were soon relaxing and enjoying the views together.

After lunch we wandered up onto Mt Herbert's flat and uninspiring summit.

That i dotted, we started down the way we'd come. However after our desperate breakout from town, we were in no hurry to get back. We decided to walk the track around the back of Mt Bradley to the Packhorse Hut and back to Orton Bradley Park that way.

The track behind Mt Bradley is one of the best walks in the area. It's been maintained for years by brothers Ben and Colin Faulkner of Governors Bay. They're in their seventies now and they're worried what will happen to their life's work when they can no longer get out and about.

They've got good reason to worry too if people think they can get away with just sitting on their backsides and expecting DoC will take care of it. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure DoC staff really want us to think they have a useful role in outdoor recreation.

Meantime, Ben and Colin could do with some help now in the gorse on top of Mt Bradley.

Our journey continued, sidling through the native bush remnants high on the slopes above Kaituna valley around to Packhorse Hut.

No-one was about when we got there but a family group soon arrived up from Kaituna.

We had our afternoon tea and carried on around the front of Mt Bradley, then turned downwards onto the Tablelands route back to Orton Bradley.

As usual we were the last out of the park at the end of the day.

Cabin Fever

Honora and I haven't been out tramping for weeks. We've just moved house and things are still a bit chaotic.

I hope this weekend we'll be able to get out for a walk somewhere or either one of us could go hut crazy.

Making it worse is that I won't have my cable connection back on for another week so I'm off-line too!

I hope people bear with me through this difficult period.