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DOC Land
Altitude: 875m to 1438m. Gain: 1033m. Loss: 605m . Gradient: 11 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: Prolonged scrambles (4/7) - Streams (2/6)
Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey
Head northwestwards from Pt1312, past the last suitable campsite south of Pt1338 at Pt1230. Pt1338 is the first major obstacle encountered on a traverse of the Merrie Range, its southwestern side a jumbled pile of rocks and craggy bluffs. Thankfully, it looks like a straightforward bypass by sidling scree slopes on the western side at 1200m. To climb over the summit, an obvious gully climbs up its southern side, southwest to northeast, arriving at a rocky shoulder east of the summit. I crossed this in poor conditions, so didn't get much of a view eastwards of the spur down to Lake Story, but it appeared quite vertical. The northeast face of Pt1338 fell away into bluffs above the lake. From the summit, look for a northerly descent away from the bluffs on the eastern side of the ridge. Steep slopes give way to gentler ones down to the saddle at Pt1157. Ahead hulks Pt1448. A huge gully on its south side that splits the peak in two is inaccessible from the ridge due to bluffs, and more bluffs block the upper part of the summit ridge. Instead, sidle northwest across slopes with the goal of hitting the west ridge of Pt1448. Climb this ridge northeastwards up to the summit. I was in the cloud so didn't bother summiting; instead traversing northwards below the summit at about 1400m into very rocky terrain around the 1380m contour. An easy gully was traversed, and then the main ridge leading down to Pt1341 was reached. Interesting slabby terrain is travelled through past numerous tarns, until north of Pt1343. Ahead, Pt1390 blocks the ridge line, but is easily bypassed by sidling on terraces at 1300m on its western side. Pt1502, which rises beyond, was also in the cloud so I couldn't see if there was a way up through the bluffs on its southern side. Instead, I continued sidling north on the terraces before scrambling up scree slopes onto the northwestern ridge of Pt1502. At about 1400m it was possible to begin sidling northeastwards through a couple of small gullies and onto a large ridge north of Pt1502. By now, conditions had deteriorated considerably and so I began descending the north ridge to get off the tops, but the ridge quickly began bluffing out. There may be a way down, but I couldn't see it in the cloud. On the east side of the ridge bluffs fall away into a large gully that, lower down at about 1300m opens up into a spur between 2 streams on the topomap. It was possible to pick a way down through the bluffs to get down into the gully, but I recommend trying to get into the gully higher up at 1400m to avoid the bluffy terrain lower down. Once in the gully, descend the hillside, crossing a side stream at about 1300m that's not shown on the map, then as the gully opens up, descend the ridge between the streams. As it too becomes bluffy lower down, drop down into the eastern stream and follow this down into the head of the large valley beneath the Merrie Range. A line of bluffs blocks the direct way to Lake Roe, but by sidling through scree fields under the massive west ridge of Pt1407 above, it is possible to get up into rolling country south of Pt1016. Cross the stream coming down from Lake1198 and cross more ridges to finally reach Lake Roe's eastern shore. The most direct way to the hut is to head north around the lake, picking up cairns that link to the short muddy track which descends to Lake Roe Hut.