Distance: 5.1 km (3.0 DOC hours) - Marked route - Easy-moderate terrain
Altitude: 1073m to 1342m. Gain: 588m. Loss: 396m . Gradient: 11 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Occasional scrambles (3/7) Winter - Snow/ice underfoot (2/7)

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

Occasional scrambles (difficulty: 3/7)
Tramp with some scrambles and exposure to falls

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

Snow/ice underfoot (difficulty: 2/7)
Snow/ice likely on track

Ice axe at minimum required if now is on the ground. Section between Aokaparangi is steep and exposed to falls.

From Aokaparangi the route drops steeply north onto a narrow, scrubby ridge. This section is a bit of a scramble, and hands are needed at times to descend, though vegetation is present to hang on to. AOk Track is cut through the scrub. Once you reach Kahiwiroa things get easier. A steady climb up a broad gravel and tussock face takes you onto broad tops which you follow for 2km. Take care to swing NW round the head of a basin at the northern end of the tops, dropping to a long bush-covered saddle beyond. From the bushedge a good cut, marked track follows the ridgeline to emerge at Anderson Memorial Hut on the far side of the saddle.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

From Anderson's Memorial Hut, follow the well-marked, well cut track south through the bush along the ridgeline. Going is at first easy through the bush, but become increasingly difficult with steep climbs requiring hands and feet, and making full use of vegetation to pull yourself up the steepest bits. Beyond Kahiwiroa (1320m) the ridge narrows, but is still negotiable in all but the worst weather. At Aokaparangi there are two track junctions. The first, on the highpoint, is with a poled route/track climbing from Mid Waiohine Hut in the valley to the ESE. The second, 100m later, is with a sparsely cairned route dropping SSE to Aokaparangi Hut - a biv on the bushline 200m below. Both junctions have had signposts, and either/both/neither have been missing on different occasions when I've passed through. It's a windswept spot and signposts don't last. There are cairns if the signposts are missing.