Distance: 5.5 km (2.5 DOC hours) - Marked route - Easy-moderate terrain
Altitude: 621m to 1287m. Gain: 709m. Loss: 114m . Gradient: 9 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) Winter - Iceaxe/crampons (4/7)

Marked route (6/9)
Uncut route, with markers normally within sight

Primary, mapped (1/5)
Formal route, on maps, principal access to hut or along range / catchment

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Occasional moderate climbs

Easy-moderate (difficulty: 2/5)
Tussock / river-gravel / open bush / cut track

Alpine weather (difficulty: 2/7)
Tramp on open tops, exposed to alpine weather

None (difficulty: 1/6)
No unbridged river crossings

Iceaxe/crampons (difficulty: 4/7)
Ice axe and crampons required in winter

Heading downriver on the true left from the Kiwi Mouth Hut a well marked & well cut track runs 700m SW to a swing-bridge. A signpost at a junction just above the Ngaruroro River indicates the route downriver to Cameron Hut. Crossing the bridge, the track becomes indistinct & it climbs ever so slightly through, over & under a significant number of windfalls (July, 2018) to meet the spur running down from Manson Hut. Once on the spur things improve dramatically. It is a consistent climb north to the first of two bush knobs before pt. 1045. The track cuts across the western face of pt. 1045 on ill-defined slips & clay-pans which are steep & slippery after rain, eventually reaching a saddle north of the aforementioned high point. From here on, travel is on a well-used & well-marked poled route, climbing steeply through the last of the beech to the open tops of the ridgeline, where the views begin to unveil themselves. Continuing in a NW direction the track climbs higher through tussocks & clay-pans, skirting around the NE side of pt. 1311, before turning due north 1km before Manson Hut. A number of old tree stumps are passed on the scree covered tops. A stamped metal signposted indicates the turnoff to Manson Hut, which sits 50m below the ridgeline in a tongue of bush.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

From Manson hut, climb 50m back to the ridgeline track. The poled route runs south along exposed tops & is well marked & well travelled. The descent to pt. 1045 on steep, slippery clay-pan can be dodgy when wet & at pt. 1045 the track cuts south across a clay-pan/ fine scree face to the west of the peak to reach a saddle beyond - this section is steep & not well marked. At the saddle south of pt. 1045 the track enters bush & is well cut & well marked (2018)) as it zigzags down to the Ngarurora River which it crosses on a swingbridge 700m downriver of Kiwi Mouth Hut. An excellent track runs up the true left side of the river to the hut. I've never spotted the 'short-cut' track shown on maps which drops directly to the hut. I suspect it no longer exists.