Te Atuaoparapara
Ruahine FP ● 15 – 17 July 2022
We headed to the Ruahines for a small loop over Te Atuaoparapara, covering some of the same ground as my waterfall hut trip last year. Recent snow on the tops lead to some interesting (read: slow and sketchy) travel heading down from the peak, and an ideal first winter trip of the year. For a more exciting write-up, see Sam’s account here
Route
- GPX file can be found here (disclaimer: GPX route has been drawn from memory)
- Friday
- Carpark → Sunrise hut (1 hour 45 mins)
Arriving at the road end at 10:30 we had a brief debate about whether to stay at TripleX or Sunrise hut. Sunrise won out, and with the aid of an outrageously well graded track we climbed the 700m in time to be in bed by 1:30am.
- Saturday
- Sunrise hut → Upper Maropea hut (50 mins)
Taking advantage of the short distance we had to travel, we had a leisurely 9:30 start. After a short climb up to Armstrong saddle, we dropped our packs at the top and headed down to check out Top Maropea hut. Despite being marked on the topo map as historic, it seemed in perfectly good condition. Even the weather got its act together and it breifly felt like a mid summer tramp.
- Upper Maropea hut → Waikamaka hut (4 hours 30 mins)
It took half an hour to climb back to our packs, then we headed off along the ridge towards Te Atuaoparapara. We had to push through some annoying scrub around the saddle, but otherwise the route was easy to follow. As we gained altitude the snow became deeper and deeper. And the wind became colder and colder, but there were no major challenges until we reached the peak. The next section of ridge travel involved steep drop offs, but was also relatively straightforward until we had to drop down a scree slope. More correctly, it would have been a scree if it wasn't covered in a thick layer of ice. Initially we were able to kick steps through the ice, but eventually it became too thick and we had to use snow drifts on the lee slope to descend. This ordeal took some time, and we were quite cold by the time we all reached flat ground, so continued plodding on to the saddle, largely happy to leave the snow behind for now. The river travel from Waipawa Saddle to Waikamaka hut was relatively straightforward, and I almost made it the whole way without getting water in my boots. Almost.
- Sunday
- Waikamaka hut → Waipawa Forks hut (2 hrs 15 mins)
A cold night made river travel back up to Waipawa saddle significantly more treacherous than yesterday. Slowed down by icy rocks, it took us about an hour to reach the saddle (and the sun!). Heading down the eastern side was significantly more pleasant. We made good time down the river, mostly managing to find and follow paths through the bush when needed. We popped up to Waipawa Forks hut for a lunch - enjoying the sun before it went behind the hill.
- Waipawa Forks hut hut → carpark (1 hour 40 mins)
It took a while to find the start of the track back up the hill, but eventually we found it a couple hundred meters upstream from the Waipawa Forks hut turn off. We made steady progress up the uphill, then steady progress down the downhill, and stopped in to check out Triple X hut on the way out.
Photos
Sunrise hut, shortly after sunrise
Patches of snow on the ridge up to Te Atuaoparapara
A bit more snow. A few hundred meters from the summit
At least the run off looks safe
Looking toward Rangioteatua
Near the top of the descent we could kick through the ice to make foot steps. Unfortunately the ice got thicker lower down and we were forced to follow the snow drift
Looking back at Te Atuaoparapara and the ridge we had to come down
Cold morning river travel
Some pretty cool icicles, in an area that presumably didn't get much sun