Coast to coast - Kaikoura to Karamea
Original post
Advice on crossings of seaward Kaikoura Range crossings wanted!
I'm planning a coast-to-coast trip as a fallback to my Fiordland plans for late february if Huey does not cooperate.
Two possibilities discussed here earlier are:
Otago (e.g. Moeraki to Moeraki) e.g. http://routeguides.co.nz/trips/119?zoom=8
Canterbury (Rangiora-Hokitika) e.g. http://routeguides.co.nz/trips/195?zoom=8.
The latter has me drooling, but that's probably still very dependent on west coast weather for the alpine section. So I'm looking further north for routes less affected by west coast weather.
At a zoomed out map, Kaikoura to Karamea looks excellent - almost uninterrupted DOC land from coast to coast. However two questions arise:
1) Crossing the seaward Kaikouras.
Blind Saddle is the obvious, boring option. But is there a good crossing nearer to Kaikoura itself? Somewhere in the vague region of Kowhai and Limestone huts, though not limited to those? I've never been in the Kaikouras so not sure where to set my threshold for closeness-of-coutours and narrowness-of-ridgelines for that country.
I've read the following, but whilst it's full of warnings against bad routes, it's short on suggested better routes.
http://tramper.nz/?view=topic&id=8205
2) Branches and Leatham.
I'd love to head through the heads of Saxton - Leatham - Branch - Lees as that area is country I've long wanted to see. But the contours between Top Leatham Hut and Branch Bivvy (and Lees Creek Hut) look borderline. Anyone ever tried this?
http://routeguides.co.nz/places/565?zoom=12
Hi Madpom
I've done the Severn/Saxton circuit and written it up on tramper.co.nz and have notes on the Hellfire/Misery/Lees Creek circuit if that's any help.
Unclear who wrote this (to me) but here's a description that may help....
http://www.ctc.org.nz/index.php?option=com_tripreport&task=view&id=204
Thanks for that jetnz & honora. Sounds like slow going pines n all. Did my sums on the trip and at a calculated 14 days end-to-end by the simplest route decided i couldnt really afford any sidetrips to fit it in 2 weeks of leave. So will content myself with sticking to the Molesworth EW track followed by Rainbow pass for that section. Will make a separate trip in another time for a good look round this area.
A separate question: anyone know what the tops route north of Hurricane Hut is like, heading for Stone / Helicopter Flats huts? Tracks up to top at each end looks promising but map shows scrub for much of the lenght of it. Tough one to google as you're overwhelmed by stories of flying into huts in bad weather!
cheers, Madpom. I was thinking of doing the E-W trip too but now we are doing a circuit of Sth Hurunui/Bull Creek/Sth Hurunui.
You will probably know this but just in case:
Seasonal restrictions
A permit is required for travel above Saxton Hut between 1 January and 30 April.
Anyone been over the tops between Hurricane Hut & Helicopter Flat / Stone Huts. There are tracks leading up at each end of the range but the map shows scrub on the tops. I' m looking at this as a repeatable trip that can be recommended to others, so 10km of crawling through subalpine rubbish, whilst great fun, is not the aim. Any advice on what this section is like?
Found the answer in the end by searching for nugget knob:
http://tramper.nz/6626/
Hi Madpom,
re Branch/Leatham from your original post.
I've just come back from doing the Waihopai Saddle/Saxton/Port Cooper/Acheron circuit.
I figured I'd chime in as this is country where I grew up and have walked quite a bit through similar areas though not specifically where you are looking at heading.
Not sure what routes people have tried for Severn Saddle but if it was me I'd be trying to get to that tarn-filled basin almost due north of the saddle. Looks like you could accomplish that by either heading to the saddle (looks straight forward then climbing to the ridge above the saddle (doesn't look too bad on the map but you'll only know when you get there) or alternately by going up the ridge to the east of the hut though that looks steeper.
Guess you could try the creek but obviously that will depend if the three waterfalls can be turned but is usually possible if you are willing to deviate a bit from the stream bed.
From the basin it looks easy to gain the ridge on the north side and from there you should be able to descend the other side via scree slopes (map is usually right wrt where there is scree.
Dunno if it's any help or what others have tried but they would be my thoughts.
Hi "madpom" re the Branch - Leetham I think that what you are contemplating is doable. I've eyeballed a lot of that country from the respective valleys & a couple of the saddles.
At some stage I'd like to walk the neighbouring country from Lees north along the Raglan Range.
i've crossed over from the Branch into the Lees, it wasnt that difficult, not technical, steep scramble in places. i did it in snow, but none of it was much more than a steep walk.
from Branch Bivouac head up the western fork of the river then take the southern fork, keep going in a straight line, dont follow the curve of the stream, keep going up to the saddle next to 1965 and down the other side and follow your nose down into the lees.
there was very little activity in the log book, it went back fifteen years, so not much information on people moving on different routes.
this is taken just north of the bivouac looking north down the river so the slopes from the east arent that bad at all, i think the snow gully hi up is around point 1714 on the map
http://tramper.nz/15974/
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| Forum | Tracks, routes, and huts |
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| Started by | madpom |
| On | 25 December 2015 |
| Replies | 34 |
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