5-7 day walk in January

i dont think so but with a little planing and some home work it is pretty straight forward .Marked track finishes several ks above bobs hut and starts just short of ada pass only difficult part could be three tarns if it was cloudy there is a route guide on this site by madpom also check out nelson lakes shuttles site. 9-12 hrs ada pass to bobs hut

Hi, So we are looking at doing lewis pass to st arnard or visa versa. We have a car and will most likely leave it at one end of the walk. What is the best option for this. are there any reasonable car parks to leave the car in at either end? Also are there any good guide books that I could buy to help plan the walk? Thanks

I did this trip in January. I left my car with Nelson Lake shuttles in St Arnaud did the tramp, and got the shuttle to come and get me back to my car. To plan the trip i used a mainly the internet, Nelson Lake shuttles website has some particulary good trip reports and route guide for the trip. It is a great trip, i did Traver, Sabine, Blue Lake, Waiau Pass and then out the St James to Lewis Pass. From Blue Lake to Caroline Biv over the Waiau Pass was a 12 and half hour day, but was the highlight of the trip. I did it in a fairly leasurely 10 days one of which was a rest day. Hope this helps your planning.

A route guide available on this site at: http://www.tramper.co.nz/?1962 Also the nelson lakes shuttle web page was very useful with various other route guides on it.

Madpom's notes are awesome and I wish I had these then. Pretty much all these walks being suggested are described in the 'Classic Tramping in New Zealand' book by Shaun Barnett and Rob Brown. There are several months worth of trips here including the Lewis Pass to Nelson Lakes, Three passes (I think), Five Passes, Rabbit Pass with Wilkin Young (side trip to Crucible Lake), Dusky and many many more (some in N island too). All are generally trips off the beaten track (though all these will have a worn human pad often marked and cairned). The next level up would be to attempt just following deer trails on trips such as Madpoms adventure uilising trip guides like Moirs Guide But the book CTINZ has great photos, well written stories and basic route guide at the end of each. Be a great investment to get ideas from and to sit on a coffee table for inspiration. My approach is if I met others on a remote trail, ask them what their top 3 are and soon you'll have a list that will grow faster than you'll be able to knock off. If you're coming from Oz for the first time, I suggest taking a mountain radio on these more remote trips. Bit heavy but good for wx forecasts, assisting DOC in the event of SAR, arranging transport and talking to another (unless you own a dog of course). Canterbury Mountain Radio Service . Just google it!