South Island tracks in October
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Hi, Im new here. I was after some expert advice on what would be a good track/tracks to do in October this year?
My brother n I have never been tramping before, but have done alot of skiing and are young and fit.
We would like to tramp for a week or 2, on a few different tracks, for a few days at a time, in the most spectacular areas of course :)
I've heard arthur's pass would be challenging but good??
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Mate...for a first time and a few days long...could I suggest the Hollyford?
The track is well defined...there are some other people on it most of the time although October will not be too busy, the huts are good and not to far apart, access is easy...fishing is good, and after a week you will know if you want to venture on to more challanging stuff.
If there are a few $ in the kitty....you could fly into Martins (or Big) bays and walk out the Hollyford.
A Doc annual hut pass will cover the hut fees conveniently.
1 deleted post from
LBDuck
Tramping fitness is not transferable with other pursuits. I would do a weekend taster. You will need to be packfit which is a fitness category in itself. Tramping involves raising your foot higher than in other activities because of the terrain. A woman I know who could run from Greymouth to Christchurch went for a 5 hour tramp. Her mate told her it would take her 3 hours and it actually took her 8 and she was pretty stuffed by the time she got to the hut.
Certainly the cardio-vascular fitness you get from doing other sports would set you in good stead but I agree with Honora that tramping is something else......with a full pack it can be quite knackering.....but so rewarding and well the effort...in my opinion
Yeah it's one of those things that's hard to be certain about without trying it a bit. Have fun though, just take precautions. :)
Something else to take into account is that something labelled as challenging could easily be so for reasons other than fitness. It might require some cautious navigation or involve awkward river crossings or sidling around tricky slip faces or any number of other things.
I've heard there's a bit of wading round Lake Alabaster and sometimes sections of the track can get underwater. In fact one of the contributors here had a mission to get out to Gunn's camp in extreme crap weather...so don't think about doing this trip in a norwester.
I've heard there's a bit of wading round Lake Alabaster and sometimes sections of the track can get underwater.
Thats only if you were looking at the Pyke circuit...I would definately avoid that on a first time trip and stick to the hollyford valley proper....where it is pretty much an all weather track, with the exception of the demon trail in the worst conditions. Gunns camp to lake Alabaster is all weather.
1 deleted post from
LBDuck
I can confirm coming down the Pyke from Olivine Hut and going around lake Alabaster is pretty heavy going. It was the last time I did it anyway and I doubt there is any change. It's OK for a competent tramping party but if you are expecting tracks then you will be sorely disappointed.
When was that Pkme, in December we cleared the Pyke-Big Bay Route of windfalls and better marked it.(When I was working for DOC in Te Anau) Still no track around Lake Alabaster though.
Hi all! Thankyou for the advice!
I think we will just do some day walks. By the sounds of it, its not a good to learn the skill of tramping in winter.
Any tips for spectacular day walks in the south island?..
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| Forum | Tracks, routes, and huts |
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| Started by | kris_19146 |
| On | 12 June 2011 |
| Replies | 11 |
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