Looking for the best of NZ

[dee_legg]

Hey,

Hopefully heading to New Zealand soon and was hoping that some of you forum members might have been to NZ and have some favourite places you could recommend to me.
We'll be going to the South Island, and are keen to walk, climb, eat, drink and generally have fun so if you know of anything that fits the bill that you really enjoyed, it would be great to hear about it.

Thanks!

[jcr_au]

I've only done 2 walks on the South Island, the Routeburn & Queen Charlotte Tracks, both of which I enjoyed but I'm sure you'll be looking for more adventurous destinations and others will have better tips for you.

However, one thing I would suggest, if time is at all tight, check out the internal flights to get around. In Jan 2009 we flew from Dunedin to Christchurch (chch) for $51.00 each, with no penaly on the hire car for not returning it to chch, and gave us an extra day in Dunedin which we quite liked. Later that trip we flew from Nelson to chch for $84.

In Nov 2009 the flight from queenstown to chch was about $64.00 each

[robl]

I spent four weeks in Feb 2002 in the S part of the SI, mostly tramping.

walk 1, Young/Wilkins (over Gillespi Pass) incuding Crucible L and L Lucidus.
Having started at 11:00 after getting off the bus I kept failing to reach huts before night.
Camped at Jumboland for two nights and had up to 500 sandflies around me. Fortunately I remembered the.....
insect repellant. They seem to be the same as the Tassie ones.
The best place to ford the Wilkins at the time was at the jetboat stop.
I took the easy way back to Makarora on a jetboat. Thrilling. Keep your head in.
Grade was hardish, and I had to take time off in Dunedin with a sore achilles.

walk 2, Routeburn/Caples, much easier. I could only get a tent permit for Routeburn flats hut. Others huts booked out.
So I found a quiet place when necessary where I would not be spotted.

walk 3, Rees/Dart, also easyish. The views from Cascade Saddle are magnificient. I camped one night at the snout of the Dart Glacier which was interesting.

On the "Great Walks" camp permits are required to stay at or near the huts. (It was $15 for a tent site at Routeburn Flats)
Other huts where there is a warden it was $10 for a bed and $5 for a tent site.
There is a "NZ Coach Network" timetable. Very useful.
I stayed in hostels and backpackers. Very tourist oriented at the hostels; they will book the next hostel for you.
Queenstown is exuberant.

I hope I have remembered correctly with the above info.

[Lindsay]

A couple of days in Te Anau is well worthwhile. Less hectic than Queenstown with nice accommodation and restaurants, spectacular scenery and the jumping off point for the Milford and Kepler tracks, and for the Routeburn if not doing the circuit via Greenstone or Caples.

[1iron]

When I go I base myself in Queenstown, great for all that eating, drinking and having fun. I take my tent and stop at the caravan/camp ground in town, evening meals at local pub. When you go on a walk I leave all excess gear ($1 per bag per day)

Also excellent bus services to all the walks in the area.

Cascade Saddle is my favourite place can either be done as a day walk when doing the Rees Dart track or you can walk there from Mt Aspiring hut

[dee_legg]

Thanks everyone for everything so far, it's all great.

1iron, we'll definitely go to Cascade Saddle, if we had more time we'd probably go via the Rees-Dart but i think it's more likely that we'll do it as an overnight via Aspiring Hut. Otherwise we plan on doing a two day walk in the Arthurs Pass NP, and maybe part of the Queen Charlotte for some coastal scenery, then lots of day walks like Sealy Tarn under Mt Cook and the Gertrude Valley in the Darran Range.
Then i'd really just like to spend the rest of the trip on an extended wine tour

Keep it coming if you have any other pieces of golden insight!

Thanks

[sef]

Fiordland and Westland. Definitely go see the big alpine scenery in Mt Cook NP, but beyond a point shingle and beech gap gets a bit... well, the same.

If you don't mind it raining at least half the time, the west coast is absolutely phenomenal.

[Azza]

Word of warning on the cascade saddle - depending on the time of year there is still snow present and it may require some basic mountaineer techniques
e.g. Ice Axe or Crampons.
I was climbing Mt Aspiring round New Years a few years back and a local tramper from Christchurch slipped on icy slope approaching the saddle.
I haven't been up the Cascade saddle so I don't know the exact specifics.
They ended up sliding 50m+ into a rocky gully and lets just say it didn't end well. He was just out on a weekend walk as we would do in Tassie..
I'd just arrived at Aspiring Hut as the helicopter was leaving to retrieve the body.

Worth checking with DOC on the conditions before setting out. There has been a lot of snow in recent weeks so I'd expect that we might see more snow left over than usual this summer.

Cheers

Aaron

[ninjapuppet]

Retrieve the body?!?!?!?!

We are also planning on heading over the saddle and then packrafting down the dart river next month.

Has anybody been from dart hut down to chinamans flat? i am wondering if the river there is deep enough for packrafts.
and I wonder how fast flowing the river is.


cheers.

[sef]

Too bouldery around Dart hut to bother I think (unless you love your whitewater and innumerate portages).

It'd be suitable from a few hours out of Dart Hut though I suspect -- certainly from Daleys flat down.

[Bush Walker]

Looking to climb Mt Aspiring in November 2011. 4 -5 days including walk in/out.

I am concerned about the snow ramp which has a reputation of getting too soft to use anchors and therefore dangerous by afternoon.

If we made a 2 am start, would we be back before it softened and we had to negotiate it without protection?

[MJD]

Here's a good description of the climb: http://www.climb.dk/MtAspiring.html

I've been up there but we went a long the ridge from the Colin Todd Hut.

[Bush Walker]

Here's a good description of the climb: http://www.climb.dk/MtAspiring.html
I've been up there but we went a long the ridge from the Colin Todd Hut.

Thanks. It is a good description but tends to reinforce the danger of coming down the snow ramp too late in the day.
How late in the day can you come down the ramp in November and feel safe?

How much slower is it coming down the ridge than the ramp? I assume quite a bit otherwise why would people risk the snow ramp.

[Azza]

Looking to climb Mt Aspiring in November 2011. 4 -5 days including walk in/out.

I am concerned about the snow ramp which has a reputation of getting too soft to use anchors and therefore dangerous by afternoon.

If we made a 2 am start, would we be back before it softened and we had to negotiate it without protection?

I did Aspiring back around New Years in 2004, there had been a lot of snow preceeding Christmas.
The entire week we were there the ramp wasn't in condition, i.e. at 2am in the morning it still wouldn't have held an anchor.
We had several attempts going out each morning, but no decent freeze over night you ended up just digging a hole straight into the side of the mountain it was that soft.
The local guides took one look at it and return to the hut and didn't bother trying again.

In the end we went the North West Ridge, which was covered in heavy snow in places which made the going pretty tough compared to what it would normally like in summer.
We arrived where the ramp joined the NW around lunch time and ignoring all common sense and everything we'd been taught about mountaineering made a dash for the summit.

Upon arriving back at the top of the ramp it was getting quite late in the day, we opted to down climb without protection - It was probably the most tense 3 hrs of my life.
Every step the snow would sink beneth my feet and then I'd have to dodge the occasional rock and ice brick falling from the cliffs above.

We turned it into a 16 hr epic.. - snow conditions made the whole thing a lot harder than it could have been. Infact we're probably one of only a couple of groups that actually summited that week.. Everyone else was a bit smarter than us and knew when to quit.

What I do know:
From Collin Todd Hut we saw an experienced climber slip on the ramp - he was descending after summiting via the SW Ridge.
I would seriously not recommend down climbing the ramp, you'd be better off descending on the NW ridge.
I had been told by a local there are several abseil points somewhere down the NW ridge which enable you to descend safely to the glacier - avoiding the ramp and most of the ridge.
We're unlucky with conditions - some people rock up and bag the things no problems.
No guarentee that the ramp will be firm... most people leave around 4am I think. Certainly wouldn't hurt leaving at 2am - but no guarentee of anything.
Infact late summer on a lean snow year I'm told you can wander most of the way up the NW ridge in a pair of sneakers.
4-5 days is possibly too short. IMHO. If you've only got that long get a helicopter up to Bevan Col. If you can share between a few people its not that bad cost wise.
Your going to need 2 days to get to Colin Todd. A couple of days weather contingency and the walk out is a very long day. The descent down from Bevan Col was almost as scary as Aspring itself. Jumping the creeks in the gut of the valley with full packs there was umm no margin for error.
I helicoptered up to Bevan Col and dragged a cardboard box with a weeks worth of food over to the hut and setup for the week.

Here are some photos to wet your apetite..

Cheers

Aaron

[Azza]

How late in the day can you come down the ramp in November and feel safe?

it doesn't really work like that... its entirely dependent on the snow conditions, how much snow, what the layers are like, what the weather has been doing etc.
Has it been cold enough to freeze?
Guarenteed sun on the slopes all day and it'll be pretty slushy in the afternoon.
Generally you want to summit early morning and been decending and off the ramp by lunch time.

How much slower is it coming down the ridge than the ramp? I assume quite a bit otherwise why would people risk the snow ramp.

Depends on conditions again.. I would say that in hindsight we should have probably gone back down the NW Ridge would have been safer.
I'm not actually convinced that it would have been that much longer than the ramp - on the day.

[Bush Walker]

How late in the day can you come down the ramp in November and feel safe?

Thanks Aaron for the very detailed description of your trip and honest assessment of the risks. As you have indicated, an assessment on the spot taking into account the snow conditions is needed rather than a preconceived plan.

I have almost decided to fly both ways, as the walk out sounds quite demanding.

Great photos which certainly do make it all seem worthwhile. Hopefully we will get similar days to you but a bit colder at night.