Southern crossing- Tararua forest park

Has anyone done this track before? Looking to do it on my own start of May. Any tips? First tramp on my own! Thanks

Hi. Welcome to the community. Fortunately the internet makes researching trips MUCH easier than it used to be. When I started out the total extent of trip planning used to be looking at the dashed lines and some tiny squares on the old topo maps. As a consequence I look back on many missed opportunities; it wasn't much to go on. On this site there is a similar thread in reply to your question here: http://tramper.nz/?view=topic&id=8480&offset=1 Generally the community here will give relatively conservative advice. For two reasons; firstly we don't know much about your skill, fitness and experience and secondly because most of us have been around long enough to have had some close calls when things go wrong. So if you want to do the Southern Crossing as your first trip on your own, the chances are you'll be fine. But realistically it's not an ideal choice. It is a route terribly exposed to bad weather. On a fine day, no worries. An hour later and it can be a bad day.

Thanks for the link! very helpful as I could not find another forum on this route. Thank you!

its notorious for bad weather, severe wind and heavy rain year round. pay close attention to weather forecasts and warnings especially the mountain forecasts for the Tararuas. m.metservice.com www.metservice.com

It's even tougher with otaki forks access closed. Look for weather where it's a southerly turning to a northerly. Those gaps are usually perfect for the southern. I like to start at otaki forks and get to alpha in one day. Then drop into the tauherenikau valley and back out over the puffer the next day. That way you get to get settled weather for the southern tops. But yeah. Gotta be fit with quality gear to do this as a first solo tramp.