Distance: 1.6 km (1.0 DOC hours) - Unmaintained track - Moderate terrain
Altitude: 1015m to 1334m. Gain: 78m. Loss: 397m . Gradient: 17 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) Winter - Iceaxe/crampons (4/7)

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

Secondary, unmapped (4/5)
Route not on maps, an alternative recognised 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

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

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

Iceaxe/crampons (difficulty: 4/7)
Ice axe and crampons required in winter

Ice axe at minimum in snow or ice - large falls if you slide ...

A track once led down Haukura RIdge - but it has become overgrown by this stage. From East Peak head briefly east, and pick up Haukura Ridge as it swings south. The ridge is a tussock-clad and easy going - broader than the Ruapae-Easy-Peak knife-edge nearby.

Just before pt1332 make sure to cut easy round the head of the stream and drop down the spur leading to pt1126, or you'll end up dropping into leatherleaf hell in the basin below. You hit leatherleaf anyway, just above the saddle, but stick to the spur and it is not too bad to push through to reach the saddle.

Haukura Biv used to sit at the saddle, just to the SW near the stream shown on the map. There is a small cut platform where it once stood, but nothing else remained (2007). Pt 1127 is an easy climb 100m to the south.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

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