Anyone been up creek south of Routeburn roadend?

@antico: " Those areas, south of Manapouri are also where I would like to explore some time. I have been inspired by various photos of the Merrie and Pleasant ranges, Hauroko, and Dusky Sound, etc, especially those captured by Danilo Hegg in Southern Alps photography. What intrigues me particularly are the abundance of lakes and tarns of every size and shape on the undulating tussock tops. This is very obvious from the Topo maps: www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap?v=2&ll=-45.6... And beautifully pictured in: www.southernalpsphotography.com/Tramping... and www.southernalpsphotography.com/Tramping... However, I guess this is the result of near constant wet weather? A truly magical place - apart from rain and sandflies! And boggy river valleys! :)" Yes, that area south of Manapouri you link to is fantastic. I remember a trip up the Florence, through that country to Lake Roe, on to Dusky Sound then back to the Western Arm of Manapouri. My friends caught the boat out, I walked over via Percy Saddle to pick up the car. People malign the weather down there, I think you get more wonderfully fine weather than you get attrocious_without_end weather on the West Coast and Fiordland.

Yes - I agree Ian. I got three, six weeks trips into Dusky as a field assistant to very good mate who was doing his PhD in Geology in the area between about 1977 - 78. While the weather can of course be spectacularly bad, if the wind is from the east or south east it can be remarkably nice for weeks on end. On one trip we had no rain for 21 days. Also the main reason for the bogginess and tarns everywhere is not only the high rainfall, but the relatively solid underlying granite and quartz rock which has very low drainage.

Hi Ian, Oh man, I'm jealous of your easy transport to the Routeburn. I love the area. Yes, Point 1544 east of Emily Peak is Fraser Col. I went over it in January. It's a straight forward climb on both sides although the Fraser side normally holds snow well into summer. This year the snow was all gone by mid January as the winter of 2014 was mild. I expect there to be a lot more snow on it this summer due to this years winter... take an ice axe if you go over it this December. The Fraser is a beautiful valley but they head is deceptively slow going. From the tree line the only way up is via the stream (in it) as thick scrub covers the valley. It took me 6.5 hours from the Caples/Fraser confluence to where the map shows a rock biv. I never found the biv, if it's the same one @geeves stayed at I'd love to know a grid reference where it is. Theres some small grass flats just upsteam which are good for camping on. http://tramper.nz/14592/head-of-the-fraser-valley/ I was part of an Otago Tramping Club trip which did Emily Pass in a weekend last December. From Routeburn Shelter to a beautiful camp spot at the 1200m basin on the south side of the pass took us 6 hours. From there its 1 hour down to Lake Mackenzie and then less then 6 hours back to Routeburn Shelter. Lake Wilson is a spectacular place to visit. From Harris Saddle it would take about 2.5 hours to reach. Carry an ice axe to get up to it before late January, plus to climb Mt Erebus. But any of the peaks on the western side of the lake have awesome views. As for the Merrie Range, thanks @antico :) I'm supper excited about the Florence Lakes, I've dreamed about visiting them for years now. I tell everyone who does the Dusky to spend a couple of nights at Lake Roe and just go exploring around there... so many lakes and tarns! Can't wait.

Sorry for the thread necro 🙂 I just wanted to say I have finally done this route yesterday, came down it from Scott/Kay Saddle. The traverse around the head of Scott Basin was straight forward. A gully climbs south to north under the main peaks and is easily climbed. A scree slope drops you onto the northern saddle to Kowhai Creek. The descent of Kowhai Creek, however, was aweful! Near vertical, super unstable scree at the top, a waterfall to bipass, then hours of boulder hopping and creek grovelling. J Milne talks about using the bush, well I tried that 4 times and kept getting bluffed or cut off by deeply gulched side creeks. The erosion was incredible. The bush the whole way down to Routeburn shelter is dense, lousy with windfall and bush laywer. In a nutshell I do not recommend this route. Stick to Scott Creek 🙂

Thanks for this Yarmoss. After I made the original post, I had a couple of chances to look at the top of the route down into Kowhai Creek, from the road and looking across from Sugarload Pass. My conclusion from a distance was very much as you describe, I crossed it off my list of desirable places to go, good to have that confirmed...

Maybe on a sunny day after a long fine spell it might be ok, just sticking to the stream. A long bouldery staircase just like Emily Creek. But then you still have the virtual scree cliff at the top to contend with... ugh!