We are not the fastest group out there and don’t intend to break speed record but we go alright. Even taking the time to soak in the experience and take 1001 photos our group of 6 had cruised through Robinson, Cross Creek, Wilsons, and Mill Creek well within the suggested timeframes so we weren’t expecting Mathers to be too big a day.
As it was, it turned into a bit of a mini epic.
No idea why, TBH.
We did have a couple of stuck ropes ( first one the figure 8 block flipped over and caught on the anchor ring) but they didn’t take us long to sort out.
Maybe in our complacency we spent a bit too much time enjoying the slides and jumps in the upper section.
The middle section seemed to go on for-fucking-ever…
End result we were well over the suggested time but still had an absolute blast.
In hindsight a 4th rope in a party of 6 would have made it a lot more efficient.
Anyhoo. This one is a little less descriptive than my usual write up (Most of these ones from NZ are mostly from it all being a blur of awesomeness)
We were frothing to get into it. Mathers was rumoured to be very pretty with lots of slide and jumps.
We make our way from the campground, along the Haast and up into Mathers creek.
The canyon ends at one of the prettiest waterfall Archways going.
It’s recently become a social media hot spot. I can see why
Unfortunately Haast river is infected with Didymo and the increasing crowds of influencers either don’t know or don’t care about cleaning it off their shoes before entering the side creeks. Sadly the pool below the Arch is showing signs of Rock Snot.
While we tried to avoid walking in the water you can pick up cells in the dirt along the banks so we had brought bottles of detergent and scrubbing brushes and paused here to SAY NO TO DIDYMO.
And then up we went.
more gorgeous colours
After an hour or so hauling up we gain the top of the creek and are pretty much straight into it
And tricky traverses to hanging belays. This was one of our rope jams. Nothing obvious for it to catch on. thankfully a few attempts changing the angle of the dangle it came free
Well, yeah, but there was a method to our madness.
And to be honest this one turned out to be a bit of a surprise highlight, partly because I wasn’t expecting much.
Anyhoo, Jason put it on his must do list for this trip and we all just went along with him. The description sounded cool and after Wilsons it was a bit of a rest day.
The diving would break up the trip a bit and give us a chance to restock supplies and eat out in Wanaka.
The pass up was steep but not too difficult and we make good time.
We are too high calls Kylie, We are a few contours above the trace
There’s marking tape here though, replies Jason
It looks like a rough trail, Says Kristo
we push on, or down. or sumfink
I’ve been down some goat tracks in my time but this was up there in the goat trackiness. And all the while the roar of the water is churning int he back ground.
still there are signs someone at some point has come this way.
It doesn’t feel right. Says Kylie. I’m sure this was run during the festival. the track should be fresh.
There’s a landline here.
The old hand line was possibly more a short abseil but Jason and Kris get down.
I start to hand over hand.
Whatever I’m standing on gives way and suddenly I’m free hanging on a skinny cord and can’t quite get my feet back on the wall.
Below nothing but steep scree, soiled underpants and a sense of dread.
No choice but accept a bit of rope burn and slide down.
I’ll say up front this little episode put the wind up me a bit.
Still we scramble down a bit more before coming to what looks like another small cliffline.
Below us Mill Creek Tumbles through a series of complex boulders.
According to the trace the start is 50m down that way.
Will be get past that pool? It looks horrid,
Maybe if we can cross above it?
Problem is we can’t see what the water is doing directly below us.
Phuk this say I, still shaken from my near fall. Let’s head back up a bit and cut across to where the trace is.
We ascend back up above the dodgy hand line and follow Kylie’s trace down over the next knob and pick up a much clearer trail, and less dodge path down.
Reaching the creek we see that had we have abseiled in before a narrow ledge and bit of scrambling would have gotten us across to the first anchor.
Anyhoo, setting up an anchor and getting us all down would have taken just as long. So alls well that ends well.
We pause for a bite to eat, suit up and take in the surroundings.
What a spot.
The roar of the water is intense
We bypass the first anchor and traverse bolts which appear to be high-water options and set up at the first drop.
The guide wasn’t wrong.
Some of the drops are very intimidating from above.
Most end in deep pools.
Most of those pools have wash-over risks
But whoever set the route has done a fabulous job. shout yourselves a beer or two.
The anchors are in the perfect positions to get you into a safe spot to assess the eddie and choose your swim line before committing to the water.
It’s such a diverse canyon too.
The top is open, yet intimidating. And the further you descend the more the walls close in.
Rated as an A5 in the Kiwi Canyoning guidebook and website a land slide in recent years has resulted in some of the pools silting up a bit. The Hydraulics are still there and you have to know how to avoid/deal with them but they’re possibly not as hectic as they once were. Coupled with stunningly good weather it may have been on the easier end of A4 but I think A4 is still fair.
Of course that silting up has also affected the jumpability of the pools too.
Anyhoo I get ahead of myself.
We had had (hadhad had, had) a lot of fun yesterday in Robinson and Cross Creek, the team had just clicked and was working together with barely the need for verbal communication (Other than jokes and taking the piss) so we were really looking forward to today.
Wilsons Creek has an almost mythical status as the quintessential Haast Pass canyon. Last year, on a road trip in the depths of winter Kylie and I had stuck our noses up the exit chamber and were blown away by the beauty. Finally we were back to do it from the top.
The entry track goes up, and up and up (over 9000! (not really)) then we descend the landslide of certain death to cross a side creek. Then it’s down, down, down a steep razor ridge between the side creek and the Wilsons. At times I wondering if we should be using a rope, or a parachute, but it goes easy enough.
And finally we arrive at the top of the canyon.
Nervous excitement.
Grins.
We suit up.
eat eggs.
and get into it
Jason sets the first anchor.
I head on in
Looking back up to the start of the canyon. Already it’s an awe-inspiring place to be.
And soon we get to our first hydraulic challenge, the roundy roundy pool.
With the dry weather it’s not pumping too hard but you can still see it would be an issue if you drop into the wrong spot.
The advice is to jump over the swirl, problem is with the silting up of pools we don’t know how deep it is for a safe jump.
Kristo set the rope. Jason lead the way, abseiling part way down before making the leap,
He makes it look simple.
The rest of us follow.
Kristo mid leap
Beautiful, deep schist
You can’t put into words just how insignificant you become when emerged in a place of this grandeur
beauty and power
And soon we get to the “Julie Pool”
Hywaida and Jason showing how it’s done.
Being a little taller is definitely an advantage for bridging out across this one
cheeky monkeys
Next up is the boil. Jason set the rope and I head on down.
I’d watched the Coalition of American Canyoneers video that discusses this hydraulic (16.11 mark) and it wasn’t looking anywhere near as nasty, but still I aimed for their suggested line and dove out with Leo’s voice ringing in my head “Now Swim hard!”
Once again, at these water levels it was fairly straight forward and everyone got across no worries. Still no one got a photo…
It’s then through Star War alley, a truely beautiful section of canyon, before 1 more tricky traverse line to the final abseil.
And then it’s on to battle the tourists in the exit chamber.
all in all an amazing experience with a great team.
more photos below. Click to enlarge them
Mine
Kylie’s
Hywiada’s
Surround yourself with awesome people. Experience Awesome things.
Dave, Jason, Hywaida, Kristo, Kylie and meeeeeeeee
A canyoning trip to New Zealand has been on the wish list for years but just hadn’t popped to the top of the priority list.
Until now.
The lead up was a bit chaotic and at various points it was looking like not all of us would make it but somehow the stars aligned and, thankfully, all 6 of us found ourselves making the acquaintance of every sand fly in Haast.
With the flies in a suitable frenzy over the taste of our blood we started our adventures off with a bang in Robinsons Creek.
a 15min walk up the hill and we are straight into it.
The patterns and colours in the Schist was beautiful. Haast Schist is a metamorphic rock formed from sand and mudstones that have been reheated and placed under pressure then subjected to folding and uplifting to give it the patterns and swirls.
All good, gentle fun so far. A couple of small hydraulic features to be aware of.
The route is really well set. Unlike the typical Blue Mountain canyons we are use to there are times where you need to set traverse lines to avoid the hydraulics at the bottom of the waterfall, or loose log jams that act a sheives part way down. We are not unfamiliar with high flow canyons and practice this stuff a lot but it was a lot of fun putting our skills into practice in an easier canyon on day 1.
Then we come to the cavern pitch.
Jason sets the rope and I jump on, peering over the void.
It looks epic.
Then I notice a guy in board shorts below…. He’d scrambled up from the bottom but doesn’t hang around long. It was cold enough in the 5mm wettie.
Anyhoo, this pitch was amazebalz
Kylie at the top. The roar of the water beside you is awe inspiring.
Had a fantastic road trip testing out the Alucab and generally have a great adventure.
Thought I’d try my hand at an interactive map to tie it all together. You should be able to click the icons to take you to the blog post with more photos and stuff
Kylie and I had done this one before and really enjoyed it.
It’s a fun little waterfall style canyon and the water was up a little today compared to last time so we were keen to see what it would bring.
view from the tourist lookout
We suit up on the open slabs and then make our way down to the first abseil
There are 2 choices here, You can scramble over and say out of the flow or you can get frothed
Kris Emerging from the white out
There’s a short drop on to a knub, From here there is the option to drop down through a hole behind the chockstone but with the water a bit bumpy we opt to go in front.
it was at that moment Gadget realised she was going first
Kylie leading us into the froth
the creek is beautiful and the water warm.
Next up is the abseil through another hole. This time we go through.
Gadget
Hywaida
Kris
Vince
and more pretty water falls come
we get to the infamous drop that goes down through a massive log, last time we have avoided the hazard using the bolted traverse. this time we followed Jasons advice and cross to creek right and abseils off a tree. Much simpler
And before long we are at the jade pool and exit stage left up a steep Ridgeline back to where we had dropped a car.
Kylie, Jason, David, Wisey, Rakesh, Tanya and meeeee
We had been tossing around what canyon to do today before settling on 1 none of us had done before.
We all pile into Jason’s ute and head across the range.
Ah shit, I meant to reach out to Tanya and Rakesh, Says Kylie. They are up here somewhere.
We pull into the car park.
Hey that’s Tanya and Rakesh…
5 become 7 and we waste no time suiting up and making our way down the creek to the first abseil.
I set up rope and everyone by passes it and scrambles down beside it.
I pull the rope up and follow.
The next couple of drops are a little lame. I’m starting to feel bad.
We had convinced Jason to do this one rather than one of his favourite, high adrenaline, high flow trips and this wasn’t really shaping up. but then we came to the first of the “Spicy Slots”
Just as you are able to see again you realise you are about to drop behind a chock stone and you most defilately don’t want to drop down behind the chock stone.
It’s a battle to resist the push and swing yourself over.
You emerge back into the light then drop off the chockstone into the noise once more.
I scramble down the next one but signal up to the others that it isn’t worth it as there looked to be a nice exit from the ledge they are on.
The exit began on a steep loose scree slope but soon got steeper and looser before getting looser and steeper….
Other than the steepness and the looseness it was fairly easy going. The notes said to get to a certain elevation and then traverse around. While that would cut off some elevation gain it looked long and convoluted so we just went straight up and over a minor nose then dropped down onto the road not to far from the car park.
I nodded, pretending to be a hundred times more courageous than I felt. Lisa Tawn Bergren.
The next one is fairly basic down beside a smaller fall
A short hop skip and a jump down stream and we arrive at what we are here for.
The Famous chock stone abseil.
But to get there requires a short abseil and traverse
On their previous trips the water levels had been too high to attempt this one and there is the option to scramble out and do a dry line from high up just down stream of the chock stones.
Conditions today however are perfect so Jason sets a line and I traverse out and set the main drop
Jason follows me out and leads the big one
There are two redirects in place on this drop. The first gets you out, away from a sloping ledge that forms just as the water funnels into a ferocious torrent, the second keeps you out of the hydraulic that forms in high flow at the base. Jason sets them both for us to follow
And the view back up to it from just downstream is iconic
There was a bit of horsing around
It was still early in the day. We were tossing up the idea of continuing downstream and completing the lower section. Jason had done it before and thought it was interesting.
The other option was to play around here.
It would be cool to get on top of the chock stone say Wisey.
There is the dry line option, said some one.
We scrmble up the start of the exit track and find our way across to the dry line.
It’s a bit down stream of the chock stones but I manage to swing across to the upper stone to help the following party with a stuck rope (Notes say to throw the pull cord over the chockstone. This lead to the stuck rope. If the flow isn’t too high just bring the pull strand down with you. it pulls fine.)
then drop in.
Jas, Wisey and Dave follow me. It’s a surprisingly fun abseil and we opt to run repeat son it for funzies.
