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DOC Land
Altitude: 644m to 1528m. Gain: 1157m. Loss: 842m . Gradient: 17 deg
Skills: - Prolonged rivers (4/6)
From Otehake Hut, either follow the marked track downstream and or descend to the riverbed for ~350m to gain a steep gully on the TR of the river. Climb steeply, sidling in bush infrequently when needed and when it provides open travel. At ~950m (marked slightly incorrectly in uploaded GPX), exit the gully to open bush and later a basin with scrub and rock.
Once in the basin, travel to the left (TR) to avoid scrub. At ~1100m, scrub completely gives way to scree. From here, you can pick your path to the ~1500m "pass". I went directly up the scree, but I think it would've been easier to stick left and climb tussock slopes. Travel becomes quite steep near the high point but remains straightforward.
Once at the high point, pick a route down into Chasm Stream. I traversed along the ridge part way to the head of the stream before descending, which worked well enough.
Travel in the Chasm Stream is fairly standard. There were two waterfalls that I had to bypass. The first was medium in size, which I bypassed on the TL by a minor sidle in scrub. The second was large in size, and required climbing out of the stream on the TR, followed by a 90m scrub bash, and a steep descent back into the stream.
Fine weather route.
5-7 hours