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Highest drop 110m (in two pitches; take 3x 60m ropes)
Public access
8.5hrs
An adventure canyon; multiple rappels, handlines and downclimbs often back to back. Relatively open, steep stream.
Video by Hamish Castle.
Thank you to Jonathan Carr for photos and Justin Hall for the Topo.
First descent by Justin Hall, Hamish Castle, Antony Alford, Gabriela Scheufele and Jonathan Carr, March 2019.
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Access – DOC track has been rerouted slightly but the hunters track is still easy to locate at the high point. The canyon access track marked with blue tape is not visible when walking up the spur – ascend to around 865m and look for an open area created by local pigs on the TR. Descend into this and you will spot the blue marker tape below you.
Anchors- soft goods on the tree anchors was looking poor, we replaced those we used, fiddlesticked the others directly.
R3 – used a boulder in centre of the stream, tree on TL was surrounded by bush and snagged the rope.
R4 + handline – downclimbed this section without noticing the bolts.
Slide into R5 – very low angle, felt safe sliding without rigging the handline in low flow.
R5 – highlight of the day.
R6 – not jumpable. Currently waist-deep, full of sand and rocks.
R7 – could not find the bolts on the TL. Possibly buried under fallen tree/slip. Good natural anchors available.
R10 – replaced the sling on the redirect. Original was so worn it could easily be snapped by hand.
R13 – original anchor tree looks unhealthy, moved to a tree about 1m back.
Awesome trip, absolutely worth the effort for a big day of fun in the mountains.
Significantly more water on this trip (2 or 3x) than in the photos. Not dangerous, but some pitches were very wet. Hāpuku was silty coloured and took a bit of effort to cross in a few places. The final falls was the most aquatic, so probably a good way to judge the flow of the canyon as you walk past it on the approach. The hunters track is very easy to follow and the ascent takes you through some remarkable podocarp forests; you’d miss it if you took the helicopter option.
The upper section is through some amazing bedrock, the lower section is mostly greasy, fractured boulder stacks; less fun. R10 is two 10m pitches with 10m of boulders between; probably best to break it into two pitches or bypass the second drop on the TL to avoid risking a stuck rope in the boulders.
All in all, a pretty wild journey and definitely worth doing!