The Gardens
Adams Wilderness Area ● 29 Dec 2024 – 4 Jan 2025
After failing to reach the Garden of Eden from the east last year, we made an attempt from the west coast this summer. Originally intended to be an in-and-out route up the Perth, we changed plans on the fly and made the full traverse across both the Garden of Eden and Garden of Allah, coming out via the Lord valley and the Whanganui river. As a bonus, we made a small detour to point 2024 (summiting on December 31 2024 no less) and got an early glimpse of the Garden of Eden from there.
Key route notes
- There is a trap line maintained by ZIP (Zero Invasive Predators) that leads from the Perth river to pt 1187
- We climbed too far above point 1187, and should have cut across towards Elizabeth stream lower to avoid having to drop back down
- The snow had receeded far enough that it looked almost impossible to follow the route past pt 1967 if you were intending to exit via the lambert tops (photo)
- We tried to cut directly down to the lower Lambert glacier but it became extrmely crevassed; there was a very doable route around to the south-east
- The O’Neil glacier has receeded a lot, making it impossible to climb directly onto it (a large ravine has opened up / been revealed); we were lucky and found a route onto the O’Neil by ascending towards Gadarene col and following a steep and narrow band of snow
- The bush dropping down into the Lord valley was very very dense. We were awfully slow descending, and I wouldn’t even consider trying to ascend that route…
Times
- Day one: Whataroa road end to Nolan's hut 5 hours
- Day two: Nolan's hut to Elizabeth stream 12 hours
- Day three: Elizabeth stream to the Garden of Eden 10 hours
- Day four: across The Gardens to the lower Lambert glacier 10 hours 15 mins
- Day five: Lambert Glacier to the Lord River (Mad Water) 11 hours
- Day six: Mad Water to Hunters hut 10 hours 30 mins
- Day seven: Hunters hut to Whanganui hot pools ~7 hours
Pictures
Day one: starting up the Whataroa valley
Day one: crossing the Whataroa – note the predator proof door in the middle of the brdige
Day two: crossing the Perth and entering *Wilderness*
Day two: exiting the bush at the top of the ZIP line
Day three: snow on the traverse towards The Great Unknown
Day three: first view of the Garden of Eden from the top of pt 2024
Day three: climbing towards The Great unknown
Day four: on the Garden of Eden at last!
Day four: just below Adam's Col, looking towards the Beelsebub Glacer and The Garden of Allah, with Satan Saddle in the distance
Day four: reaching Satan Saddle, Mt lambert in the background
Day four: turning around in crevasse terrain on the Lambert glacier
Day four: looking down on the lower Lambert glacier, with our approximate route across the O'Neil glacier the next day marked in yellow
Day four: camping on the lower Lambert glacier; the crevasses in the background are where we originally tried to come down...
Day five: climbing off the Lambert into tallas and scree
Day five: traversing across the O'Neil glacier
Day six: crossing the Lord river
Day six: view of the Lord river from our traverse towards False Blue Lookout, with out approximate route and campsite from the previous day marked in yellow
Day six: view from False Blue Lookout of the head of the Lambert river
Day six: dropping down towards Blue Lookout