Distance: 4.2 km (4.0 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Moderate terrain
Altitude: 980m to 1889m. Gain: 356m. Loss: 937m . Gradient: 18 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: Snow / ice (5/7) - Occasional rivers (3/6)

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

minor (5/5)
A viable route, not widely used

Moderate-hard (difficulty: 4/5)
Continuous moderate climbs

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Low scrub in open or bush / river rocks

Snow / ice (difficulty: 5/7)
Scramble with snow/ice sections, ice axe & crampons required

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

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

From the northern Scott/Upper Kowhai Creek saddle climb scree slopes to the west and follow them all the way up to the top of the pass between Upper Peak and Pt1950. The scree is a mixture of loose and firm stuff, and in early January 2024 there were icy snow patches on the upper slopes that required an ice axe to get up.

On the Double Barrel Creek side of the pass a brief very steep scree slope quickly turned into another long steep icy snow field. Again, an ice axe was required to get down safely. At the base of the slope, about the 1660m contour, there was a large circular depression in the scree below the snow field which appears to hold melt water at certain times of the years. This was rather annoying to cross due to extremely loose scree on the down hill side so is best avoided by going around its southern side.

More scree leads down to the start of grassy sections at about 1560m where the stream valley begins to gorge. Travel down the gorge is done on the true right keeping to slopes above the stream. The descent is steep, but if you keep reasonably close to the northern wall of the gorge its not too bad.

At about the 1260m contour the gorge opens up and you'll find yourself out on the open slopes of the Double Barrel Creek valley. Continue descending down through light scrub and grass to reach Double Barrel Creek. If you were heading to Death Valley you would want to head up stream from here to the bottom of the scree slopes at 1160m, but heading down valley, follow the stream (usually rock hopping in it to avoid scrub) to reach the lower flats. There are some camp spots south of the bush section at about the 1040m contour, but the main flats start at about 980m and look like they have scattered sites to pitch tents for half a km or so downstream in amoung piles of rocky rubble brought down by the February 2020 storm.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description