Distance: 1.5 km (1.0 DOC hours) - Tramping track - Easy-moderate terrain
Altitude: 793m to 1265m. Gain: 0m. Loss: 472m . Gradient: 18 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) - Streams (2/6) Winter - Snow/ice underfoot (2/7)

Tramping track (4/9)
Cut, marked tramping track: natural, rough ground surface

Primary, mapped (1/5)
Formal route, on maps, principal access to hut or along range / catchment

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Occasional moderate climbs

Easy-moderate (difficulty: 2/5)
Tussock / river-gravel / open bush / cut track

Alpine weather (difficulty: 2/7)
Tramp on open tops, exposed to alpine weather

Streams (difficulty: 2/6)
Small streams, danger only in extreme weather

Snow/ice underfoot (difficulty: 2/7)
Snow/ice likely on track

From the signposted track junction on the Ohutu Ridge, the cut/marked (2012) track drops SE towards the Waiokotore. Good going cut through leatherleaf, and later mature bush. A small (3m) bluff at the base of the slope is descended by a wooden ladder - easy going, think of the steps to a 2nd-floor deck, not the Tararua Pinnacles. The track descends the western bank for 2-300m, and was overgrown and unclear when I visited, before dropping to the creek and crossing opposite the former bivouac site

A clearing beside the stream, and a signpost explaining that the biv has been removed 'for maintenance' is all that remains. It makes a good campspot though.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

From the former biv site, cross the creek (small, unlikely to flood) and follow the rough track up the western valleyside. This section is subject to slips and windfall and was vague when I visited. At the first stream, a small wooden ladder climbs a 3m bluff. From the top a good cut marked track climbs the spur through first mature bush and later leatherleaf to the summit of the ridge.