Distance: 4.8 km (5.0 DOC hours) - Marked route - Easy-moderate terrain
Altitude: 1251m to 1719m. Gain: 627m. Loss: 735m . Gradient: 17 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Occasional scrambles (3/7) Winter - Iceaxe/crampons (4/7)

Marked route (6/9)
Uncut route, with markers normally within sight

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

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

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

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

A moderate poled tramping track, including two steep 400m+climbs/descents over the two high and exposed peaks of Mt Rintoul. Would be very difficult in poor visibility as route is not obvious and poles are sparse in places.

Do not be fooled by Mt Rintoul. It is not a mountain. It is in fact two mountains with a steep, low saddle between them.

From the Old Man Hut turnoff the track climbs west to the bush-edge at the foot of the eastern peak, and then up good stable scree to the summit, a 350m climb. From the summit the disheartening low saddle before the west peak is visible, with an impossible knife-back ridge linking the two peaks. Fear not, you don’t have to walk along that ridge. Instead, the poled route drops steeply W down a series of loose gravel chutes to the scree-face at the foot of the southern face of the knife-back ridge. Poles continue, sidling below the bluffs to the base of western peak. From here they climb steeply up loose scree to regain the ridgeline between the two peaks, which they follow to the summit. Another 450m climb. If you’re not too tired- look NE from the summit for wonderful views over Nelson and to Motueka valley. From the western summit of Mt Rintoul the poled route crosses the summit, and descends to the bushline, from where a cut, marked track continues to the 6-bed Rintoul Hut, from where you can watch the lights of Nelson as you cook a well earned feed! 3h00, 4km

Beware of bad weather – the poled route between the 2 peaks is very hard to find in fog, and a number of parties have reported spending several days trapped between the two peaks waiting for visibility to improve.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

From Mt Rintoul Hut, a cut track climbs east to the bushline, from where a poled route leads to the summit - a 450m climb. If you’re not too tired- look NE from the summit for wonderful views over Nelson and to Motueka valley. The poled route continues SE across the flat, deatureless summit before descending the main ridgline east. As the ridgeline narrows to a knife-edge, the track drops south and sidles the easy face there just above the bushline. Several parties report getting trapped here by bad weather on the two summits - there are worse places to camp though...

Climbing again towards the eastern summit the poled route ascends a series of scree chutes to regain the ridgeline, which it follows to the top. From the 2nd summit the route continues east, dropping to the bushline on good stable scree, where a cut, marked track starts. 500m later the first of two signposted turnoffs south to Old Man Hut is reached. The second turnoff is 500m further east along the track on the next summit.