Toaroha Range

A short distance past the upper swingbridge at Cedar Flats in the Toaroha Valley, a marked route leads up to Adventure Bivvy (DOC, two persons). Beyond the bivvy, follow a route that is marked and cut through scrub in places and mostly poled over to the forks at J33 609022 / BV19 509 406. It then continues south-west up to the Toaroha Range a few hundred metres north of Zit Saddle. The poles lead down into the stream draining the saddle and on to forks in the upper Kokatahi Valley. The recently relocated Top Kokatahi Hut is just upstream near the main river on the true left (J33 623010 / BV19 523 394).

The track down Yeats Ridge is regularly maintained by polytech students on the West Coast and provides another option off the range. Descending off the range from the north, traverse over or sidle north-west under Pt 1694 metres, reaching Yeats Ridge at about the 1540-metre contour. A couple of knobs can be sidled on their northern sides, leading to a partial track through open scrub to a clearing east of Yeats Hut (DOC, four bunks). From Crystal Bivvy, Permolat volunteers have cut and remarked the route down to the Toaroha Valley (2009). It begins at the bush edge north-west of the bivvy and descends to the main valley track at the top of a rise on the true left of Pretty Creek.

The standard approach onto the northern end of the Toaroha Range begins up the Kokatahi Valley, leaving the valley track at a sign in a cutty grass clearing, five minutes before Boo Boo Hut. The marked route up to and beyond here is getting somewhat overgrown in places, but DOC is expecting to recut it by 2012. A short way beyond the first tussock clearings, but below Pt 1085 metres, the marked route jumps from one spur south to another spur. There are poles and tape through this section but the route is still easy to miss, especially coming down. Pinnacle Bivouac (two person) is old and basic, but weatherproof. Head over Crinkle Top above the bivvy, then sidle off the ridge through basins east of Genoa Peak to reach the range further south. There is a steeper rocky section before Mt Reeves, but travel is not difficult ; nor is dropping off Mt Reeves to the south. There are campsites by tarns near the range in the last 750 metres along to Zit Saddle. Continuing south, the ridge is dry. Sidle through a rocky landscape with interesting basins to the east of Pt 1809 metres, then climb up to Mt Chamberlin. With a little looking around from a saddle about 300 metres south of Mt Chamberlin, a gully and terrain nearby offers a steep but feasible route down to Park Stream. If staying on the range, continue past another Pt 1809 metres and continue over Mt Bannatyne towards Toaroha Saddle, being careful to go right around and not get caught by the beautiful canyon in upper Bannatyne Creek. Great campsites exist around Toaroha Saddle, or continue up to Toaroha Saddle Bivvy.