Hitchin Range

Access is from Waitaha Road. The road shown on the topomap is on private property beyond the houses at I34 257905 / BV17 157 289. Permission is required to cross private land in this area ( Jody and Andrew Shaw, phone 03 755 4900). Public vehicle access is through a gate on the right (west) and down a track heading straight to the Waitaha riverbed, where there may be a locked gate. From here, head south along the riverbed. The vehicle track follows the edge of the Waitaha riverbed all the way to Macgregor Creek, at the southern edge of the alluvial fan below Robinson Slip (the whole alluvial fan is farmed and fenced off, excluding access). Then it is up the true right of Macgregor Creek to the forks (I34 272873 / BW17 172 257), and up Robinson Slip’s stream bed to the forks at I34 291878 / BV17 191 262. Some climb out about 200 metres below these forks and sidle through scrub on a broad spur on the true right, returning to the true right branch above the forks at about the 1000-metre contour. Above here, the steep stream leading up to the north-east has been followed up to the ridge north-west of Mt Allen. The slip is steep, eroding and periodically active, so this is not a place to be during rain.

Mt Allen has a metre-high cairn on it, just visible from Ridland Saddle. From Mt Allen, although the range can be traversed to Mt Hitchin, there are steep exposed sections at J34 313867 / BW18 213 251 and J34 318863 / BW18 218 247. A much better line heads along the ridge to J34 311874 / BW18 211 258 and follows a rib due east, turning south to a small stream just before the main gully draining Ridland Saddle. Cross to the spur on the true right of the stream draining Ridland Saddle and follow the spur up to the saddle. There are tarns and campsites around Ridland Saddle on short grass. Mt Hitchin is an easy scramble in tussock from the east. Chainman Creek has been used to descend to the Waitaha from Ridland Saddle but there is a gorge between about the 900 and 1000 metre contours. This has been sidled on the true left. Time : Mt Allen to Ridland Saddle, 2 ½ hrs

Most of the range is straightforward, but there are two gnarly bits. The first is east of Pt 1721 metres. This can be sidled on the northern side of the ridge about 30 metres down, leading to gravel slopes and the range again at J34 349859 / BW18 250 243. A bit of scouting will be required. The second is at J34 363857 / BW18 263 241 where the ridge is steep but traversable. Time : 3 hrs