Distance: 2.9 km (1.5 DOC hours) - Unmaintained track - Moderate-hard terrain
Altitude: 876m to 1084m. Gain: 262m. Loss: 71m . Gradient: 7 deg (Gentle)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) Winter - Snow/ice underfoot (2/7)

Unmaintained track (5/9)
Former track, overgrown - markers / ground trail still followable

Primary, unmapped (2/5)
Route not on maps, but is principal access to hut or along range / catchment

Gentle (difficulty: 2/5)
Gentle slopes

Moderate-hard (difficulty: 4/5)
Tall, walkable scrub / large rocks, occasional waterfalls or gorges in rivers

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

None (difficulty: 1/6)
No unbridged river crossings

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

A roughly cut track over otherwise thick, scrubby tops. Unmarked, so good track-finding skills required. The time and rating shown for this route assumes you can locate the track. If you end up bush-bashing this is a very hard, slow route and can take 3-4 hours.

From the top of the Puketurua Track south, the main range route is generally more obvious – cut on the ridgeline or sidling high on the western face. There are a few tussock clearings, and relocating the track afterwards can be an issue. Finally however the cut track climbs to Ngapuketurua, heads east along the ridgeline from there to a small tarn, and stops (2014). This leaves 500m through intermittent waist-high leatherleaf to Massey Knob.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

A roughly cut track over otherwise thick, scrubby tops. Unmarked, so good track-finding skills required. The time and rating shown for this route assumes you can locate the track. If you end up bush-bashing this is a very hard, slow route and can take 3-4 hours.

From Massey Knob, bash west along the ridgeline through small clearings and thick leatherleaf until after some 500m you find a small tarn. Beyond this, a roughly cut track commences (2014) continuing NW to Ngapuketurua highpoint, where it drops sharply north and follows the ridgeline down over a series of knobs until it reaches the saddle between pt 945 and pt840. The track is clear through the scrub, but picking it up again after each clearing can be tricky.

At the saddle, the map shows the Puketurua Track joining from the west. The start of the track was marked with leatherleaf (2014) but this may get lost. The location is on open (flax & low leatherleaf) tops some 40m before tall leatherleaf recommences to the north.