While we had been walking in, the first half of our group had spent the day up the top of the valley practicing basic snow skills in the basin below Rome Ridge. This is where the Avalanche Peak route drops down and joins the Crow Valley from a scree slope just a little further to the north. This is an expert route but one I'd love to come back and have a go at with a bit more gear or less snow in summer. Our two groups converged on the hut late in the afternoon where a smorgasbord of culinary delights were presented as the challenge for the weekend was cooking gourmet hut food. Carrying in the non-stick fry pan turned out to be rather futile when we realised it was no longer very non-stick. Alas the pancakes were a huge fail but the sushi, tuna and wraps were bloody good. 

It was a full night with two other groups in the hut so a couple of the boys opted to sleep on the well appointed deck while the rest of us squeezed in on the bunks. Not that the sleeping conditions mattered in the end as a chorus of snoring kept most of us awake half the night and had me questioning why I choose to go away with boys at all. ​

The trip back out to Klondyke Corner was pretty quick as much of the snow from the previous days had managed to melt leaving the track relatively clear the whole way. This is an easy 3-4 hours depending on how much time you want to dedicate to relaxing next to the river along the way. Once back at the car we made a slight detour via the Bealey Pub and later the Sheffield Pie Shop before heading back to Christchurch and real life again.

*I repeated this trip with a group of girls from work a year later and we had the unfortunate (or fortunate depending on how you look at it) experience of being the sixth group to turn up to a very over full hut on a warm weekend in March. We ended up pitching a two man tent with a fly strung up beside it for seven of us to fit underneath. While we had an awesome night and made most of the hut inhabitants fairly jealous with our elaborate dinner set up, it was a good reminder to always be prepared with alternative means of shelter in easy to reach huts! We also found crossing the Waimak early after leaving the cars was reasonably challenging for the shorter members of the group on the way in as the river was flowing higher than our previous trip. I'd recommend linking up for the first crossing until you get a feel for the depth and speed which is quite deceptive and changes significantly in only a matter of hours.

Most tramping trips don't begin with handing over your car keys to a complete stranger you just found wandering out of the bush in his undies. Thankfully Phil turned out to be a stand up guy and drove our car back to the other end of the track for us - also conveniently saving him a 12km mountain bike back to his own vehicle.  The Cass Saddle to Lagoon Saddle track is an enjoyable and highly accessible 2-3 day walk in the Craigieburn and Black Ranges. The only issue being the considerable distance between the two track ends. We had driven to the Bealey Hut end beside the Arthur's Pass Wilderness Lodge and left Jeremy's single speed bike in the trees so he could retrieve the car the following day. Unfortunately, we were running pretty late leaving Christchurch after our puppy sitter fell through and we had left it to the last minute to purchase hut tickets. This put us at the Cass river end a little after 2pm negotiating a car swap and ready to hit the trail.

The first few kilometres are easy going along a 4wd track and then up the open river bed. Although there is a well worn path in places it is unnecessary to stick to it until after you pass the two major slips on the true right of the river. Large orange arrows direct you to where the track leaves the river in favour of the much cooler forest. A well maintained path allows for easy walking all the way to the Cass Saddle Hut. DOC suggests 4 hours for this leg of the journey but we arrived comfortably in 2.5. The hut itself is a cozy 3 bunker with a generous fire and separate receiving room for the loud sleepers.

From here we made our way out onto the open tussock of the saddle and our highest point for the day. In the colder months the area is an avalanche zone but there was nothing but rock and shingle above us as we ploughed along the track. Once across the saddle, you can look down at the Hamilton Hut away in the distance and smile because it's still two hours away. It could be worse though, and the four tourists we encountered heading in the opposite direction on our descent proved as much. The first two looked a little worse for wear and the second pair were barely moving up the slope. We gave them a friendly hello as we barrelled back down onto the flat of the valley. Once again we found ourselves following the river and before long it opened up to see the Hamilton sitting on a little rise in an open grassy field.

The 20 bunk hut has a beautiful big stone fireplace in the centre and generous living and cooking areas. We were delighted to find some evening reading material by way of a few issues of Wilderness magazine and settled in to watch the sun drop very slowly in the sky. Dinner consisted of noodles and Outdoor Gourmet Company Wild Mushroom and Lamb Risotto (I highly recommend). With no one else in the hut we had a tranquil sleep and awoke around 8am ready for the stroll out to the road end. Not being in any sort of hurry we took our time over breakfast and were just shouldering our pleasantly light packs before 9.30am.

From the hut, the track winds a little further downstream and then across a wire bridge. We dropped our packs here and wandered up to Mirror Tarn, a 10 minute side trip that circles a small green pond - this may look better in the photo than it did in real life. The trip on to West Harper Hut took exactly 2 hours and we were glad for the mattresses back at the Hamilton once we peeked inside. The fire would be fantastic in winter but the old canvas bunks have definitely seen better days. After taking on some more fuel we kept trekking towards the Lagoon Saddle Shelter with an eye on the weather. Metservice had promised rain all weekend and we were waiting for it to eventuate. 

With the exception of a German tourist walking the Te Araroa Trail, we were all alone wandering back towards the Bealey. It was another 2 hours to the Shelter, a tidy one bunk A-frame, and a further 1 hour 50 minutes to the track end. The rain caught us just as we disappeared back into the bush down the final spur. Thankfully our car was in fact waiting for us with keys included and we didn't have to track Phil down or try to walk back to Christchurch.


Cass Road End to Hamilton Hut - 5 hours
Hamilton Hut to Bealey Hut - 5 hours 50 minutes


Hamilton Hut is serviced and requires 3 standard hut tickets or 1 serviced hut ticket per person.

You know you're not off to the best start when you've already hit the snooze button three times on a Sunday morning. We had great intentions to climb Mt Taylor until we weren't on the road from Christchurch until 7.30am. A hasty flick through google maps had us changing our plans to nearby Mt Harper which we didn't know much about but looked pretty achievable. Slightly further up the Rangitata River towards Lake Clearwater and about 2 hours south west of Christchurch we decided that Harper in fact didn't have enough snow on it to make for much fun. Conveniently, this put us just up the road from Mt Potts which my husband assured me would be a great alternative.

Mt Potts is a beautiful 2184m peak overlooking a valley so stunning it was the setting for Edoras in the second Lord of the Rings installment. The old, disused ski field road afforded us a leisurely path up to 1200m where we traded running shoes for our new mountaineering boots which were to be suitably broken in. This took us around 1 hour 30 mins with a few stops to remove layers etc before we turned to the more serious gradient towering above us. At this point I must reinforce that we had no way of knowing we had picked a snow slope that led steeply direct to the plateau between point 2152 and the summit itself. When we turned north east to begin our ascent I had in my mind that the first 500m would give way to some sort of leveling out where we could catch our breath before tackling the top third of the mountain. In reality we dragged ourselves up through a mix of knee deep powder and ice for the next 4.5 hours.

To add insult to incredibly tired legs we kept hitting large patches of ice which warranted putting crampons on after the first few hundred metres. This was actually a bit of a blessing as my cramponing skills leave a little to be desired. I've since found that I can in fact roll my ankle into an uncomfortable but effective position to have all 10 points biting into the ice. It was going on 4pm when we made one last exhausted push to the top of the ridge and sited the trig off to our left. We gave ourselves about 5 minutes to take some photos as a bitterly cold wind gusted across the tops and then we were on our way. Both of us had in mind a 2 hour trip back down to the ski field access road - the reality was somewhat faster. Thanks to my new found crampon confidence and the sand dune like nature of the slope, we more or less ran back down in 50 minutes. The terrain certainly wasn't technical but the snow was covered in some pretty thick ice towards the top so it was hard work zig zagging the last couple of hundred metres without slipping.

With the luxury of plenty of light left we made our way slowly back to the car while taking lots of photos of the impressive ranges across the river and further inland. This is a pretty magic part of the country and incredibly accessible for those who prefer the comfort of their car to punishing their bodies in search of a summit view.

Total time: 7 hours 45 minutes
Ascent: 5 hours 40 minutes
Access: From Christchurch drive south to Rakaia on SH1, turn at the Mobil and again at the South Rakaia Hotel to gain Thompson's Track. Head inland to Mt Somers Village and onward to Lake Clearwater. Continue on until you cross a bridge to the Mt Potts side of the river and on to the ski field access road opposite Mt Sunday.
Grade: High level of fitness required. Ice axe and crampons definitely needed during winter months but a non-technical climb overall.