The Pommel

From the lower end of the Douglas River flats beneath The Pommel (BX15 525 573), start climbing up the true right side of the creek which drains a large shelf below Red Deer Col. Where this stream forks, take the true left fork, and then soon afterwards climb out onto the true left bank, sidle across to the right (west) and angle up onto a spur. This takes you to a tussock bench on the lower part of the large shelf. From 1150m on the shelf, head left using interconnecting tussock ledges, cross the major waterfall at about 1350m, and zig-zag up just right of the left edge of the face ‘basically following ledges with the odd tricky metre or three’.

Gain Red Deer Col from either the Douglas or Karangarua valleys – see Route 15K on the Karangarua River page. A straightforward traverse from Red Deer Col.