Distance: 9.7 km (10.5 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Moderate terrain
Altitude: 534m to 2102m. Gain: 1032m. Loss: 1580m . Gradient: 16 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Occasional scrambles (3/7) - Streams (2/6)

Unmarked route, clear (7/9)
Unmarked route, follows obvious geography (river, spur, trail, etc)

minor (5/5)
A viable route, not widely used

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Occasional moderate climbs

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Low scrub in open or bush / river rocks

Occasional scrambles (difficulty: 3/7)
Tramp with some scrambles and exposure to falls

Streams (difficulty: 2/6)
Small streams, danger only in extreme weather

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

From the Forks, head up the marked DOC trail though the bush on the TL of the D'Urville. Turn off into the basin and climb the scree slope visible at the back left. Climb / sidle a little on steep loose scree up to the saddle south of pt. 2160. There are bluffs around but you can stay on the scree all the way to the saddle - I think this is the easiest way to cross the range here. Gaining the saddle took about four hours from Upper D'Urville Hut. The tops were unfortunately covered in fog when I did the crossing.

On the Downie side only a short section of steep scree is followed by a wide, easy traveling basin. Follow the valley down to the creek. The marked section of "route" did not appear maintained for some time and was quite difficult to follow, but the creek bed was open and easy travel. The route also was marked on the wrong side of the creek in at least one spot. Further down the creek was choked with a lot of treefall, but the track improves and can be followed reasonably easily down to the flats. The hut is about a 30 min walk along the flat through mixed forest.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description