Distance: 2.4 km (2.0 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Moderate terrain
Altitude: 1250m to 1815m. Gain: 584m. Loss: 19m . Gradient: 15 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) - Streams (2/6)

Unmarked route, clear (7/9)
Unmarked route, follows obvious geography (river, spur, trail, etc)

Primary, unmapped (2/5)
Route not on maps, but is principal access to hut or along range / catchment

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Occasional moderate climbs

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Low scrub in open or bush / river rocks

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

Streams (difficulty: 2/6)
Small streams, danger only in extreme weather

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

At 1,170m the river opens to wider river flats and by 1,200m the forest recedes completely, and the valley widens to boulder fields and beautiful grassy slopes meeting the stream (Figure 9a). From here the route to David Saddle is clearly visible, as is the bend in the valley where it turns east. Travel is easiest from here on the true left, requiring picking a route over tussock and between boulders and hebes. Just prior to turning east the route crosses a large slip and boulder field (Figure 9b). Travel is over stones and boulders on the true left, crossing to the true right at about 1,260m. The valley steepens significantly from here, with the river disappearing under boulders at one stage, and the route requiring hopping over large boulders. The route climbs steeply from here on the true right, over large boulders from a rockfall (Figure 10), with the stream eventually reappearing near the turnoff to D’Urville Pass, but some distance away, having headed towards the D’Urville Pass route. After the valley turns east the route up to D’Urville Pass is visible and becomes clearer. The very steep bluffs on its east side, and its narrow route, make it look almost impossible. However, on reaching the turn-off from the main East Matakitaki river a path up between the bluffs was clearly visible (Figure 11).

Reaching D’Urville Pass from the East Matakitaki turnoff is in two parts, separated by a rocky basin with a small tarn. The first part (Figure 11) involves a scramble up a chute between bluffs over boulders, stones, then scree on an increasingly steep slope. start on the left of the chute, but as it becomes steeper travel amongst larger rocky outcrops on the right is easier (Figure 11b). At the top of this chute is a large basin surrounded by bluffs, scree and full of enormous rocks (Figure 12a). However, travel is reasonably easy to the true left (south-east) of this, with D’Urville Pass clearly visible. The scree to D’Urville Pass steepens as the pass is reached requiring careful footing to avoid slipping back. Walking up to D'Urville Pass in the midday sun makes it a particularly tiring, with the rocks radiating heat. At this time and in this heat the scree and rocks seemed almost covered in grasshoppers with many alpine butterflies flying around the scree, and I believe I even spotted some alpine gecko.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

Descending from the pass, there is good scree for slide-stepping to the obvious tarn in quick time. Then move left of the tarn to the top of the gut descending SW to the Matakitaki Valley floor. Initially steep, it starts to look like bluffing out but it’s a simple boulder-hop to the bottom.
Once down, progress is easiest on the rocks in the river until almost the treeline. 1km from the bushedge the 'V' chute descending from Davids Saddle can be seen joining the valley from the north.