Distance: 2.8 km (3.0 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Moderate-hard terrain
Altitude: 800m to 1412m. Gain: 207m. Loss: 612m . Gradient: 17 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-hard (difficulty: 4/5)
Tall, walkable scrub / large rocks, occasional waterfalls or gorges in rivers

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

The Mistake Creek side of U Pass is bouldery on the valley floor so head up valley from where you camped but begin to climb and sidle off the valley floor before you reach the slope beneath U Pass. As you enter the valley of U Pass climb straight up the middle on the edge of scree and then tussock higher up until you reach the top of the pass.

The descent into Hut Pass drops steeply down rocky terrain to cross a kind of basin at about 1300m and then its down into a gorge which drops all the way down to the 1000m contour. The stream shown on the map bursts into life suddenly at about 1200m so for most of the decent you are picking your way down either in the stream bed or on the true right avoiding waterfalls. The rocks in the stream are quite slick so watch for those. Down at 1000m the valley opens up and the gradient eases off as you enter the main Hut Creek. The stream from U Pass went underground and the main stream bed in the upper valley was dry in April 2016. Follow the dry stream downvalley to where the creek draining Glade Pass joins from the west.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description