Powell hut to be replaced

Thanks... that's interesting TH. That sidle track must have been across some steepish ground. If I find myself up there again I'll have a crack at seeing if there is anything left to follow. Oh and it can get windy alright. I recall getting utterly flattened one day just north of Angle Knob. From experience I think Powell is a bit under-braced and maybe the structure is loosening up with age and years of battering. It may be sheltered from the westerlies, but very exposed to the south. It's a big building with a lot of windage; I do believe it's entirely possible that recent inspections have exposed cumulative damage that need some expensive repairs. The risk of failure may be small, but not zero either. But on top of that I do know that the local DoC guys would love to have a Great Walk in the district (and I can't blame them for that) ... and they've had their eye on the Holdsworth Loop for some years. So logically it makes sense to replace the hut entirely and upgrade Powell to Great Walk standard as a step towards their long term goal.

The Kennett brothers suggested that the loop would/should be a Great Walk when they wrote about it in the Tararua Adventure Guide. I couldn't comprehend that then. I still can't comprehend it. Would local trampers support it being a Great Walk? Would you really want to be booking conveyor-belts of low-skilled tourists along a tops section of the Tararuas, albeit relatively short, that's so subject to strong weather at any random time of year? Sure people can turn around and avoid it, but doing sensible things like that often tends to be something that comes more with experience. It also seems a little short. A reasonably fit person can walk the loop in a day. Maybe it'd take considerably longer if you had to walk the extended distance of endless switch-backs to get up and down the steep slopes.

I couldn't think of anything worse than the holdsworth loop becoming a great walk, hence my sarcastic first comment. A lot of the great walks can be achieved in a day. The routeburn being one. The hordes will probably make it a three dayer. The tramp from holdsworth to kaitoke also has great walk written all over it. If they did that next step would be to turn the Tarrys into a national park. I'd do what ever I could to stop the above scenarios happening. But the cynic in me can't help but think they do have a long term goal for the loop. Just look at the stairway the hike up to Powell has become.

the kepler track is worse for exposure. you have 15k's above the bushline along the ridge top, fiordland is every bit as windy as the tararuas, only colder, although on a great walk in summer you have hut rangers who give advice and weather reports, they will advice how difficult it will be, thing is, the track to powell and atiwhakatu are already smooth footpaths, the extent of track upgrading has been massive, the endless mud of pig flat has been completely filled in, no tree roots to trip over or mud to slip in all the way to powell... the track should be left as is rather than turn it into an easy stroll on a smooth track across the tops, when word gets out , too many people will flood onto the track. powell hut probably already gets extra traffic because of the improved tracks. i've heard of people panicking on the kepler, one day several people dumped their packs to get down from bad weather , they spent the night in the hut minus their packs... if people havent been up there in bad weather they wont have a clue how bad it can get. I've been in enough hairy situations in bad weather in the Tararuas to make me pretty wary about when i'll travel on the tops. two guys dead from hypothermia in november when the the weather turned on them and they couldnt get into the bush in time to stay alive..

@Phillipw the track sidled from the small terrace the hut was on, and cam onto the Jumbo spur where the old Spooners hut was.

"If they did that next step would be to turn the Tarrys into a national park." As awesome as I think the Tararuas are and as appropriate as it is for them to be treated as a Conservation Park, I'd be keen to see how the range could be justified as containing "scenery of such distinctive quality, ecological systems, or natural features so beautiful, unique, or scientifically important that their preservation is in the national interest".

the great walks are being dominated by foreigner in the high season, they book out the huts over the holiday season pretty quickly on the more popular track, each year they get more booked out further in advance, the routeburn gets pretty much booked out well in advance of holiday season now, unless you're really on the ball, you may struggle to walk any great walk in summer.... then as word gets out, day walkers take off, its not just the tongariro crossing with lots of day walkers. the routeburn also gets flooded with them. to a lesser extent the kepler... if the track is near a main highway then its easy for the no's of walkers to explode.

I'm as deeply attached to that whole eastern side of the Tarry's as any of you. From Kaitoke through to the Putaru Rd end it's a sublime string of valleys and tops as you'll find anywhere else in the North Is. It's already a popular area and I can foresee the pressure on the tracks and huts only growing increasing. I think DoC will inevitably move to develop the area more. I agree that the Holdsworth/Jumbo section on the tops is too exposed to have as a fixed segment of a straight loop walk ... but then the beauty of the whole area is that there as many other good options to take if the weather isn't ok enough for the tops. I agree that it should stay a Conservation Park ... National Park status just brings restrictions (like no dogs) that I'd hate to see. But equally I'd say the secret is already out and over time we will see more facilities and better huts in this wonderful place.

I doubt the Powell Jumbo circuit will get to Great Walk status. These lots of similar, well developed tracks around the country, but that doesn't make them GW candidates. Being a Booked circuit (in summer), it could get popular enough to become difficult to get a bunk. But theres plenty of other tracks, that will never be booked and are still classic tramping routes DOC propose to upgrade the Holdsworth-Kaitoke to Mt Bike standard (see current draft CMS). Probably inevitable. Back in NZFS days that route was being gradually improved to make it a high standard walking track. I have no wish to use either of these routes, other than to get elsewhere in the range. These high standard tracks/huts do encourage new trampers, which was the intention when upgrading began. With the Tararuas tramping history and surrounding relatively large urban population, that's not a bad thing. cant really see too many more major developments happening, other than perhaps on the TA trail (bigger huts at Nicholls/Drac biv) Tararuas are an important traditional tramping area, and to much development would erode that, in my opinion. when you go there, its a challenge and you don't expect highways everywhere But if the international Hiking types get more keen, I would expect in jump in SAR incidents.

I cut my teeth tramping in the tararuas in the eighties, only after that did i head for the highly rated national park tracks, the first thing i noticed on those tracks was the lack of challenge compared to the tararuas and how bored i was, it was dead easy to knock of 30k's a day without raising too much of a sweat, and how much i wanted to get back to tararua type tracks... ran into a swiss guy at the start of the abel tasman inland track we asked him what the track was like, back then there was no internet to read up extensively about tracks, he told us the track was really bad, me and my mate were a bit worried because we were planning to do 25k days at least and thought we'd be struggling based on our experience of rough tracks.... the track was a footpath with the odd mud puddle, some climbs on it, but nothing bad.... some people should just stick to their knitting and leave places like the tararuas to the trampers who want the more traditional NZ tramping experience....