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DOC Land
Altitude: 417m to 1259m. Gain: 1614m. Loss: 939m . Gradient: 20 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: Occasional scrambles (3/7) - Occasional rivers (3/6)
This route was only used due to travel further up the Cone Creek being impossible due to heavy rain. It provided reasonable access to Lake Morgan Hut - but still involved one tricky side-creek crossing. I'd only recommend this route if you either a) Don't want to visit Cone Hut, or b) are (like me) stopped by flooded rivers.
From the end of the cut track up Cone Creek, push upriver on scrubby river flats until the true left of the river bluffs out. Scramble up onto terraces 20m above on the true left, where travel upriver is possible through thick windfall on the terrace. Cross the first two side-creeks - both of which will require a scramble down and up again to get through.
In flood, the second creek was best crossed just above its first forks. A short scramble on the far bank takes you onto a good open spur with worn deer trails climbing towards the Morgan Tops. Travel is generally ok, with some patches of undergrowth and steep going. There is about 200m of scrub to negotiate between the bushedge and the tussock tops. Initially good deer trails help, leading to a basing with good wallows 50m from the start of tussock. The last 50m are the worst.
Follow the tussock spur up to the outlying high point at about 1200m. From the saddle between this and the main peak you can drop south below bluffs and follow the tussock basin all the way past Mt O'Shanessy to the spur dropping south to Lake Morgan Hut. A sparsely poled route leads south down this spur to Lake Morgan Hut, which is tucked out of sight on the western side of the range.
3-5 hrs