Pope's Pass

Yes I've done it some years ago & from memory it was straight forward. (There is another thread on here about the route somewhere) There is a good chance I'll walk the route again this April so I can supply some up to date info after that. Regarding the mountaineering grading I wouldn't let that put you off. In good conditions crossing Popes Pass is fine. We walked it with full tramping packs and found it less demanding than some other main divide crossings & tops traverses we made that trip. Mount Harman is an easy climb as a side trip from the route. Above Popes Pass the route takes you part way to the summit of Mt Harman. There is no need to go on to Mt Pope unless you want to climb it. Pope looks to be an easy scramble from Popes Pass.

Thanks, Glenn. I look forward to the review. I did do a search for 'pope' and related stuff on this site (and across the web) but didn't turn up anything - I'll look again. The 1+ climbing grade doesn't put me off at all - but I did have a look in GoogleEarth and that certainly looks scarier than the map (which is usual - Waiau Pass looks scary in GE (and it's certainly not that)). Yes, I was looking at side trips to Mt Harman and/or Mt Pope - all weather-dependant, of course. This all won't happen until next year, at least. I'm also looking at the Douglas Range and the Dragon's Teeth - looks interesting, too.

Gidday Bernie, Alpine & I are just back from a 6 nighter that included a walk to Popes Pass up Julia Stream then climbing part way up Mt Harman before descending to the Browning Pass track in the head of the Arahura. It was plain sailing with much less water in Julia Stream and much less snow on Mt Harman than last time. I'll post a photo and a few notes later this week. The Dragons Teeth do look interesting! I got a look at them heading into Lonely Lake. (I posted a photo on here) I'll be back doing more of the Douglas range myself before too long.

Went over the dragons teeth just before Easter, took the high route (of which there are now two variations) heading north to south and came back via the low route. Stunning area.

Went over Popes and down Julia Creek a few years ago. Had a "mare" Got dark as we arrived at scrub edge and never really found "track" just a few markers here and there. Crawled into hut at 2.45am! Unless the track has been recut it could be a mission, the dark didn't help. The rest of the route was straight forward and really nice.

Thanks, glenn – I like the photos – looks like great weather. The marker post puzzles me – it’s not like there’s a lot of choice in the route. Stunted, can you elaborate on the two high routes through the Dragon’s Teeth (perhaps start a new topic?) Bmacz, – 0245 is very late indeed – I hope there was a full moon, at least. What time did you leave Browning Pass? ... and I have no idea what a “mare” is (assuming you weren’t leading a horse through that sort of country!!)

Having a mare means having an unpleasant time/experience (short for "nightmare" ) :-)

bmackz the Julia Stream track has had work done on it. I posted about that in the related thread variations on the "three passes route" Arthurs P

Great news about Julia Creek track because as you rightly say glennj its a great variation to 3 Passes and a beautiful valley (Julia). We had a go at getting to Popes Pass the day before up the headwaters of the Wilberforce but were forced back to Park Morpeth Hut by a rising river. Second attempt went via Lake Browning and looks a better way to go. Yes, was very late but beautiful March night, fantastic stars. Progress as slow as a couple of hundred metres an hour at some stages. Scrub and ice axes (aaargh), house sized boulders with cavenous holes around them and a very steep sided valley are my memories of the night. And "hours went by like minutes" to steal a line from the Eagles. We were set to go straight to bed on arrival at Julia Hut (fortunately empty) but our "chef" insisted on cooking dinner and then we realised we were really hungry as well as tired. A memorable day. The real fatigue was the next day, actually by then it was the same day.