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DOC Land
Warning: this route segment has been merged into Waiau Valley track junction to Thompson Pass via Lake Thompson (Unmarked route, clear).
You are viewing a historic version of this route.
Altitude: 1162m to 1847m. Gain: 1147m. Loss: 1653m . Gradient: 15 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: - Streams (2/6)
Lake Thompson is a majestic setting and a lovely place to camp in good weather. I would describe it as slightly smaller than Lake Angelus, in a similar majestic mountain setting, but without the hut and people.
The descent from Lake Thompson begins down the obvious earthquake scarp to the west of the lake (Figure 18a) – avoid exiting from the main stream draining the lake, as this leads to bluffs and waterfalls. The descent became a narrow valley, which then became steep with vertical drops after turning east (Figure 18b). I made for the ridge to the true left (Figure 19a) which gave easy walking all the way down, re-joining the river close to the Waiau Pass turnoff. This is the beginning of the marked route, part of the Waiau Pass route and the Te Araroa Trail (Figure 19b).
Being a poled route, Waiau Pass is reasonably straight forward, with some impressive rocky climbs, requiring stowing of walking poles and clambering up rocks with hands and feet. It flattens significantly near the top, with an easy route in scree (Figure 20a), and views back to Lake Thompson (Figure 20b).
Descending Waiau Pass on the North side into the Lake Constance basin is a straightforward descent in scree, following a poled route. The route crosses the stream at the head of the valley, followed Lake Constance on the left (West) (Figure 21a), climbs above bluffs at the lake head, over a large boulder field, after which views of the beautiful Blue Lake / Rotomariewhenua are gained (Figure 21b).