Distance: 5.1 km (4.0 DOC hours) - Marked route - Moderate terrain
Altitude: 495m to 1386m. Gain: 363m. Loss: 891m . Gradient: 14 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) - Streams (2/6)

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

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

2hr+ A signpost at the Wangapeka Saddle marks the start of the Biggs Tops route. A cut track climbs to the bushedge, from where a poled route sidles west into a basing and then north to the saddle at its head. Alternatively you can climb to the summit and follow the ridgeline to the saddle.

From the saddle poles sidle onto the northern side of the ridge through tussock basins until beech rises to meet the tops. The start of the track down was not clear when I visited (2016) but nosing around down into the beech from the last marker pole, I soon picked it up. The cut track is well marked and descends very steeply to the Karamea below: initially on a spur; later sidling west and descending a damp gully; finally climbing back east onto the spur and into scrub. The track ends at a signpost 100m upriver of Tervor Carter Hut,

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description