Cascade Saddle Route

Some quick thoughts: 1. Yes it's a great tramp and you seem to be doing your homework. It's not easy terrain I'd point a novice at, but if you are fit and used to travelling in mountain areas you should be ok. 2. You are tackling it in the relatively safer direction. The main hazard that kills people is the steepish section of snowgrass and small bluffs near the top on the Matuki side. Always safer going up than down. If you want to take spiky things for your boots, that's the scenario you are most likely to need them in I guess. 3. If it's wet, snow-grass is as dangerous as ice. More so because people underestimate the risk. 4.(Deleted.... DoC have a new bridge here.) 5. DO NOT underestimate the weather. It can be wet, windy, cold, and snow in the Alps any time of the year. Lots of lightweighters gamble with it all the time - but every now and then one of them loses the toss. The Upper Dart is not a place to take lightly. 6. If you are on your own a PLB is pretty much mandatory. Cell phone coverage in this area will be nil. 7. Make sure you record your intentions with DoC (Department of Conservation) and all the huts you pass through. If you are overdue there WILL be an official SAR (Seach and Rescue) and without some information to guide them, it can be a very tough proposition finding you. 8. The upside is that while it's not a Great Walk, it's a well-known route and there will be some other people about.

do not attempt cascade saddle if its raining. tussock on the steep slope gets slick and isnt worth the risk there are numerous injuries and deaths that happen in the wet, half a dozen deaths in the last ten years, plus the upper dart valley gets too dangerous to proceed. have a plan b, go up the rees valley instead.

Hi @ronsaik. A quick note on point 7: there will only be an official SAR response if someone realises you're missing, so it's always a good idea to have a trusted contact, who can raise an alarm if necessary. Writing in hut books is important, but not enough by itself because nobody checks them unless they're already searching. Also, DOC no longer takes intentions from visitors (except at Aoraki Mt Cook for some reason), so you need to find your own trusted person to notify NZ Police if you don't report back to them by an arranged time, ideally being able to pass on as much info as possible about what you're carrying and what your plans are. Then Police can consider the risk and decide what to do about it, if anything. If you don't trust anyone in particular to do this, check out something like http://www.adventurebuddy.co.nz/TOC/ or http://safetyoutdoors.com/ This applies even if you're carrying a PLB. Even recently we've had a case of a solo climber who carried all kinds of comms equipment, including a PLB, but as he hadn't told anyone where he was going, nobody noticed he was missing until 3 weeks later. It's still unclear if he might have survived for a time after whichever accident he suffered that could have allowed for rescue, because with the search starting only 3 weeks later he wasn't found. (And likely if he was reported missing quickly, the response operation may have been more intensive.) Anyway, enjoy your visit.

@izogi - That is a good point about DoC not taking intentions anymore. I had forgotten that - these days a trusted person or service is essential. There have been more than a few cases where notification has either been non-existent, failed or just far too late. 'madpom' in this site posted a a superb series of articles on what can happen when notification fails. And he was both fortunate and remarkably gutsy. http://www.tramper.co.nz/?3643 Eventually someone notices you are missing - but by the time relatives overseas realise, weeks can have gone by. Edit: Oh and in case you imagine wayno is exaggerating - http://www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/267894/coroner-raises-questions-safety-cascade-saddle

Thanks, PhilpW, waynowski and izogi. Greatly appreciate your detailed replies.

late march there could very well be snow or ice. it can and does snow any time of year and march there could be a reasonable amount towards the top of the saddle.. a month after I did it , someone slipped on ice and fell to their death in April.

Thanks. I am going to limit myself to a Rees Valleyreturn walk up to Dart Hut and only taking a peek at the descent into Aspiring Hut this time around. It's my first time in NZ, so I'll be happy with just a foretaste. So it'll be just that, and maybe the Routeburn-Greenstone and Caples track this time. I live in Sydney anyway, so there's always next summer...

Just to close the thread out - walked Routeburn and Kepler, which are logistically the easiest treks to do in a short period of time. The scenery on Day 2 of the Routeburn was great, and the walk in a very cold wind up to Luxmore summit was memorable. The hut infrastructure is phenomenal.