Distance: 11.8 km (9.5 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Moderate terrain
Altitude: 695m to 1650m. Gain: 999m. Loss: 221m . Gradient: 6 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Occasional scrambles (3/7) - Occasional rivers (3/6)

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

Primary, unmapped (2/5)
Route not on maps, but is 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

Occasional scrambles (difficulty: 3/7)
Tramp with some scrambles and exposure to falls

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

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

Marked as draft my madpom whilst we sort out how to handle duplicate routes.

Note: the south side of North Col usually holds snow well into summer so an ice axe should be carried.

From Falls hut head down past the picnic table and cross the Route Burn. An obvious trail crosses the extensive Routeburn Flats and markers at the north end lead into the bush where a track climbs up the hill and exits bush to the west of the small lake, not east of it whats shown on the map. Markers head up valley past a couple of tongues of bush. An excellent rock bivvy (Hobbs Biv) is located at about CB09 202 403 under a massive boulder shortly past the last track marker. Follow the river up valley, negotiating a boulder field a km up from Hobbs biv. Cross to the true left and look for a ground trail through a thick band of scrub which chokes the valley beside a small gorge. Follow the trail through the scrub then continue up past Point 1173. I climbed out of the stream here and headed up hill towards North Col but the route was scrubby and bouldery and slow going initially. From about 1300m there is a direct, straight forward line up to the top on North Col. Peak 1796 is easily climbed from the col. The official route around to Lake Nerine drops down to about 1400m where an obvious bench leads around past Point 1444 for the climb up to north of Point 1580, which is probably easier then what I did. I maintained height from North Col and sidled northeastward across steep terrain and crossing through a large boulder field to gain the ridge line south of Point 1580. It was then a steep descent down through more boulders to reach the lake. Whatever route you take, walk around the shore of the lake to reach a large, rocky flat area on the north side of the lake to camp.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description