Distance: 3.6 km (3.0 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Easy-moderate terrain
Altitude: 837m to 1567m. Gain: 460m. Loss: 730m . Gradient: 19 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: Occasional scrambles (3/7) - Occasional rivers (3/6)

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

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

Moderate-hard (difficulty: 4/5)
Continuous 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

Occasional rivers (difficulty: 3/6)
Occasional rivers - impassible after heavy rain

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

A steep cut track heads up the ridge from the Biv towards the pass. The markers stop at the pass, but the route is obvious through a U-shaped hanging valley which cuts right through the range into the upper Crawford. This is the Lathrop Saddle. Picturesque small tarns dot the boulder-strewn valley floor, and it is a spectacular place - worth visiting in and of itself.

From the Crawford side of the saddle, drop / sidle to the right (west) until you find good scree, then descend. You are aiming for the ridge to the west of the stream below the saddle, the first ridge downriver of the biv. Hopefully, you’ll eventually pick up marker poles, but if not just descend this ridge to the valley floor and cut a short distance upriver to Top Crawford Biv. The more obvious ridge upriver of the biv is bluffed, scrubby and not recommended (therein lies a tale!).

Top Crawford Biv has been replaced with a hut since I visited. DOC show the hut on the opposite (southern) bank of the river, which was ankle-knee deep when I visited in normal flows.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description