Sealy Pass | ClimbNZ

Type

Altitude

1722m

Part of

E P Sealy crossed this pass with an unknown companion in 1868, and descended a short way into the Scone valley. In early February 1892, Mannering, Lean, and Annan crossed to the bushline in Scone Creek, and Annan reached the Perth confluence, but they returned to the Godley after Lean experienced a major fall. In late February 1892, Blyth and the Pringle brothers made a full crossing of Sealy Pass from the Godley to Whataroa.

Caption

Sealy Pass, Mt Petermann, Stewart Saddle, Malthus and Dennistoun Peaks, December 2009

Rights credit

Danilo Hegg/Southern Alps Photography

Lat/lon

-43.42319072,170.55433273, NZ Topo Map

Topo50

BX17 020 893

Approach

From the Godley: Grade II, 1+, route 8H on topo. To access the west side of Sealy Pass, from the Neish Glacier, either:

(i) ascend a gully that leads north straight to Pt 1838m; or
(ii) ascend a sloping rock bench next to the icefall that finishes in a basin at 1610m, south-west of Sealy Pass. There are tarns and campsites in the basin during summer.

From Pt 1838m, straightforward travel leads down into the upper Scone valley. Traverse the lake on the true left, then follow the true left around under the walls of McKinnon Peak. Boulder hop down the streambed, and at around 800m start looking for the marked track in the bush on the true right.

Accessed from

Godley Glacier

Perth River

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Routes

Reference	Title	Grade	Length	Pro	Quality	Alert	Operations
	Scone Creek to Sealy Pass		0m		0
P1 From the Scone Creek footbridge, a DOC marked route leads up the true left of the Scone to a second bridge. Above here, travel gravitates to the streambed. In the upper valley, follow the true left around under the walls of McKinnon Peak. Stony travel leads on up to the narrow lake, also traversed on the true left. Be aware of loose stones from above. The route leads easily over pt 1838m and down a gully due south at I35 122506, away from the icefall draining the Neish Plateau, to reach the lower Godley Glacier. EP Sealy first crossed this pass in 1869, descending into Scone Creek. TN Brodrick, LC Sladden, C Moore, J Grimwood, J Blair, a Govt survey party, left a cairn on the pass in 1888. GE Mannering, MH Lean, JW Annan, in February 1892 crossed the pass but retreated from the scrub in the Perth when Lean became injured in a fall.

Comments

This place appears in

Aoraki Tai Poutini: a guide for mountaineers, 2018

Buy this guidebook

Attribution

ATP 2018 (Rob Frost)
CW Alps 2009 (Geoff Spearpoint, Yvonne Cook, CMC)

UUID

08d6ba71-6493-4720-901a-72f31bd4e419