A Kayak/Climbing Trip to the Caroline Mountains
This summer Simon and I have been exploring the little known mountains around Lake Hauroko. Hauroko offers a fast entry from Invercargill into some astonishingly superb country. It’s Fiordland at its best_ wild, remote and breathtakingly beautiful. Fiordland is a national treasure and no where more so than this region. There is no detailed guide book so it feels like real exploration studying the ridges and tops from our kayaks as we glide upon the still waters. Our first success was a splendid climb of White Peak on Waitangi weekend. From there we debated the best route on Caroline Peak and settled on a traverse from Unknown Burn over Caroline Peak to Albert Edward Peak. There are about 12 peaks on the ridge line which is over 5 kilometres long and a series of alpine lakes dot the route. All we needed was 3 days of fine weather and freedom.
Last week the Metvuw computer models predicted a suitable window of fine weather and as we had put off our next Gumotex trip we decided on the Caroline trip. Thursday morning dawned fine after overnight rain as we left Invercargill bound for Lake Hauroko. We reached the boat landing at the road end and as we were unloading our kayak Val Mackay arrived towing his boat Namu. We hurredly packed our gear and got it stowed on the boat and then tied our kayaks across the stern. Shortly after we were cruising across the still waters towards Mary Island but once through the gap we were into a northerly chop. Val angled over to the bush clad cliffs below Albert Edward Peak and I asked him to veer south where there were some boulder beaches. Here we found a suitable landing and dragged our kayaks into the bush. I took a GPS reading and set a waypoint as we were leaving.
Val pointed the bow up the lake and we set off. Its another 12 kilometres to the mouth of Unknown Burn were we landed on a white pebbly beach. Here we unloaded our packs and had a snack while Val backed off and headed away towards the head of the lake. The weather was sunny and cloudless as we set off into the forest. Our packs were heavy as we carried in addition to our usual camping gear, ice axes, rope and a rock climbing rack. We walked through to the creek and then up its true right bank. The going was fairly open but several deep ravines came of the sides. About 2 hours in a very deep steep one stopped us and we headed up its true right bank. Deer trails helped and at 900 metres we reached bushline. In a small stream we stripped off and went for a shower.
Above the tussock made for steady progress to the ridge line at 1200 metres. Unfortunately there was a vertical drop of hundreds of metres down the north face and as the ridge itself did not look great we decided to sidle under the south side loosing about 250 metres in the course of this. On the far side was a small valley and we found a flat grassy patch for the tent. The evening was well advanced and an orange alpenglow lit up Caroline peak above us. We had a Backcountry Cousine and settled down for the night.
We were up at 600 hours and away at 730 climbing up into a basin above us. There were remnant snow fields. Looking across towards Caroline Peak there was a gully running through the cliffs right to the ridge line to the left of the summit. We climbed this and left our gear at the top. We then roped up and set off climbing gullies and small rock faces to the summit. It was windy and cold. From the summit we could look across to the Tasman Sea to the west and Lake Hauroko to the east and a host of other peaks right throughout Fiordland. We took a round of photos including a self portrait.
We regained our packs and then set off down the gully and up and across the ridge to the east of us where we reached extensive snow fields and granite terraces overlooking the lake. We traversed about a kilometre of these to reach a steep corner peak at 1551 metres which gave access to large hanging valley to the east containing a large lake. We descended the east ridge of this peak and had lunch on some granite slabs above the col. Here it was windless and hot. After lunch we set off for the next peak ( 1381 metres) but a large gendarme blocked our route so we sidled around it on the south side of the ridge past another alpine lake. On the far side we climbed back up to the ridge. Further on was another difficult peak at 1514 metres which we sidled on the south side. We regained the ridge at a delightful tarn in a shallow col. From here it did not seem like a long way to Albert Edward but it was very deceptive and we had to climb several more peaks to close on it.
By now it was cold and windy and suitable bivi spots were difficult to find. Just before Albert Edward we stopped at a level spot 200’ off the ridge on the north side. I set up camp while Simon went off on a reconnaissance. That night the wind got up and it lashed the tent making an awful racket and keeping us awake all night. We were up at 530 and away an hour later. Back on the ridge it dropped and we had a pleasant climb up Albert Edward Peak. Looking back towards Caroline it seemed a long way off and still quite spectacular. From here we descended a ridge towards the lake. We had intended to follow this all the way down but rocky pinnacles and towers at the start of the bush precluded this. We decided to make a direct descent down near vertical slopes all the way to the lake. Interestingly we arrived at the lake only metres from our kayaks. As it was blowing about 35 knots on the lake and full of white caps we stayed put all afternoon but in the early evening it calmed down enough to make a safe crossing.
A traverse of Caroline peak to Albert Edward Peak in the Lake Hauroko region on 22-24 March by Simon Marwick and Stan Mulvany
Last week the Metvuw computer models predicted a suitable window of fine weather and as we had put off our next Gumotex trip we decided on the Caroline trip. Thursday morning dawned fine after overnight rain as we left Invercargill bound for Lake Hauroko. We reached the boat landing at the road end and as we were unloading our kayak Val Mackay arrived towing his boat Namu. We hurredly packed our gear and got it stowed on the boat and then tied our kayaks across the stern. Shortly after we were cruising across the still waters towards Mary Island but once through the gap we were into a northerly chop. Val angled over to the bush clad cliffs below Albert Edward Peak and I asked him to veer south where there were some boulder beaches. Here we found a suitable landing and dragged our kayaks into the bush. I took a GPS reading and set a waypoint as we were leaving.
Val pointed the bow up the lake and we set off. Its another 12 kilometres to the mouth of Unknown Burn were we landed on a white pebbly beach. Here we unloaded our packs and had a snack while Val backed off and headed away towards the head of the lake. The weather was sunny and cloudless as we set off into the forest. Our packs were heavy as we carried in addition to our usual camping gear, ice axes, rope and a rock climbing rack. We walked through to the creek and then up its true right bank. The going was fairly open but several deep ravines came of the sides. About 2 hours in a very deep steep one stopped us and we headed up its true right bank. Deer trails helped and at 900 metres we reached bushline. In a small stream we stripped off and went for a shower.
Above the tussock made for steady progress to the ridge line at 1200 metres. Unfortunately there was a vertical drop of hundreds of metres down the north face and as the ridge itself did not look great we decided to sidle under the south side loosing about 250 metres in the course of this. On the far side was a small valley and we found a flat grassy patch for the tent. The evening was well advanced and an orange alpenglow lit up Caroline peak above us. We had a Backcountry Cousine and settled down for the night.
We were up at 600 hours and away at 730 climbing up into a basin above us. There were remnant snow fields. Looking across towards Caroline Peak there was a gully running through the cliffs right to the ridge line to the left of the summit. We climbed this and left our gear at the top. We then roped up and set off climbing gullies and small rock faces to the summit. It was windy and cold. From the summit we could look across to the Tasman Sea to the west and Lake Hauroko to the east and a host of other peaks right throughout Fiordland. We took a round of photos including a self portrait.
We regained our packs and then set off down the gully and up and across the ridge to the east of us where we reached extensive snow fields and granite terraces overlooking the lake. We traversed about a kilometre of these to reach a steep corner peak at 1551 metres which gave access to large hanging valley to the east containing a large lake. We descended the east ridge of this peak and had lunch on some granite slabs above the col. Here it was windless and hot. After lunch we set off for the next peak ( 1381 metres) but a large gendarme blocked our route so we sidled around it on the south side of the ridge past another alpine lake. On the far side we climbed back up to the ridge. Further on was another difficult peak at 1514 metres which we sidled on the south side. We regained the ridge at a delightful tarn in a shallow col. From here it did not seem like a long way to Albert Edward but it was very deceptive and we had to climb several more peaks to close on it.
By now it was cold and windy and suitable bivi spots were difficult to find. Just before Albert Edward we stopped at a level spot 200’ off the ridge on the north side. I set up camp while Simon went off on a reconnaissance. That night the wind got up and it lashed the tent making an awful racket and keeping us awake all night. We were up at 530 and away an hour later. Back on the ridge it dropped and we had a pleasant climb up Albert Edward Peak. Looking back towards Caroline it seemed a long way off and still quite spectacular. From here we descended a ridge towards the lake. We had intended to follow this all the way down but rocky pinnacles and towers at the start of the bush precluded this. We decided to make a direct descent down near vertical slopes all the way to the lake. Interestingly we arrived at the lake only metres from our kayaks. As it was blowing about 35 knots on the lake and full of white caps we stayed put all afternoon but in the early evening it calmed down enough to make a safe crossing.
A traverse of Caroline peak to Albert Edward Peak in the Lake Hauroko region on 22-24 March by Simon Marwick and Stan Mulvany