The D'Urville Valley is reasonably easy travel. From the D'Urville hut the track passes through very long grass, which on a wet morning will get you very wet.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description

The D'Urville Valley is reasonably easy travel. From the D'Urville hut the track passes through very long grass, which on a wet morning will get you very wet. There is little elevation gain to the George Lyon Hut, making it a reasonably easy valley walk on a marked track. The track is boggy in places, and the D'Urville River and some side streams had changed course recently after heavy rain, necessitating some crossings we did not expect. On the whole travel was fast, alternating between track in beech and scrub, and in the open. Even over the Christmas-New Year period this valley was no where near as busy as the Sabine Valley, where at the West Sabine hut we even had difficulty finding a suitable campsite.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description

DOC Track. Easy travel

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description

DOC track. Fairly overgrown, but easy to follow the most of the time.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description

The first track marker is a large Orange triangle on the edge of bush on the TL of the river. It is in a prominent position but set back (and up) from the river).
From this point follow the markers down river to the Hut. Mostly the markers are easy to follow but the track is fairly indistinct.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description

Descend Thompson Pass, following cairns and cutting to the true left to avoid steep ravines to reach the valley floor. Follow the valley on the true-left until you find track markers (orange triangles) climbing into the area of bush just upstream of the gully leading to David’s Saddle (D’Urville hut is 2km downstream at this point )

Some descriptions describe a need to angle south from the pass. However the obvious scree slope straight down works great

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description

Crossing the river to the TR, we tried to cut the corner but travel was easier closer to the stream.

Crossing back to the TL involved a scramble down and up out of the stream. Then a stiff climb to the gut (and fault line) that runs up to Lake Thompson. We traveled in the gut but travel would also be good on the ridgetop. From Lake Thompson, it's a short climb to Thompson Pass, first on a grassy tongue, then on rock.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

(notes from duplicate route by @millera)

Lake Thompson is a majestic setting and a lovely place to camp in good weather. I would describe it as slightly smaller than Lake Angelus, in a similar majestic mountain setting, but without the hut and people.

The descent from Lake Thompson begins down the obvious earthquake scarp to the west of the lake (Figure 18a) – avoid exiting from the main stream draining the lake, as this leads to bluffs and waterfalls. The descent became a narrow valley, which then became steep with vertical drops after turning east (Figure 18b). I made for the ridge to the true left (Figure 19a) which gave easy walking all the way down, re-joining the river close to the Waiau Pass turnoff. This is the beginning of the marked route, part of the Waiau Pass route and the Te Araroa Trail (Figure 19b).

On the map, this route looks steep and risky - in wet or icy weather it would be. However, poled all the way, in good weather this is a simple descent on good, grippy rock.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

@millera wrote: Being a poled route, Waiau Pass is reasonably straight forward, with some impressive rocky climbs, requiring stowing of walking poles and clambering up rocks with hands and feet. It flattens significantly near the top, with an easy route in scree (Figure 20a), and views back to Lake Thompson (Figure 20b).

From Blue Lake, the route is poled all the way to Waiau Pass (and on to the valley floor).
Initially gently rising and open, once to the trees the track steepens. A rising track leads to the true left of Lake Constance brings you to a steep scree climb then a traverse to the mid-point of the lake.
Although there have been recorded deaths above the lake, the track is straight forward. However, take care if you choose to approach the top of the bluffs as the fall to the lake is sheer.
The poled route leads to a steep descent in a gut and to the lake shore – then along to the lake head and across the valley floor (good campsites 100m before the start of the climb) and up up up to Waiau Pass.
It’s steep but the initial section on larger rocks is stable. The track moves onto a grass tongue until an obvious footpad angles up, across the scree, towards a grassy shelf. A useful tarn at the base of the final ascent to the pass means less water needs to be hauled up from the valley.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

Descending Waiau Pass on the North side into the Lake Constance basin is a straightforward descent in scree, following a poled route. The route crosses the stream at the head of the valley, followed Lake Constance on the left (West) (Figure 21a), climbs above bluffs at the lake head, over a large boulder field, after which views of the beautiful Blue Lake / Rotomariewhenua are gained (Figure 21b).

Good travel, there are two very steep sections of 200 m ascent / descent on either side of Moss Pass, in bush on the D'Urville side, and above the bush on the Sabine side. We found that the side stream on the D'Urville side just below the bush line is suitable for drinking water, which would have saved us carrying water from the D'Urville. Most people do this trip in the opposite direction. However, while it is a large ascent from the D'Urville to Moss Pass (about 1,100 m) the view of Blue Lake on descent to the Sabine is magnificent. It is also possible to see Lake Constance on descent.

Descending the Sabine from Blue Lake to West Sabine Hut is steep and quite rough in places, with the track crossing numerous avalanche chutes and side streams, requiring clambering into and out of them at times.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

Crossing to the TL at the swingbridge, the track remains close to the river as it heads upstream.

Mostly gently rising, there are two short sharp climbs as the track approaches Blue Lake. Some lengths of boardwalk assist with dry boots and signal that the hut is very close.

Diversion point @spur 1609 to go up to Mt Misery??

A lovely walk down the Sabine Valley and across the head of Lake Rotoroa. We found ourselves wading through waist deep water crossing the head of the lake as we neared the D'Urville river, and the track was hard to find in a couple of places. Otherwise good under foot and quite quick travel.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description

A lovely walk down the Sabine Valley and across the head of Lake Rotoroa. We found ourselves wading through waist deep water crossing the head of the lake as we neared the D'Urville river, and the track was hard to find in a couple of places. Otherwise good under foot and quite quick travel.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description

Being part of the Travers-Sabine loop, the track is well defined.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description

This track has two sections - from the Angelus Hut to Mt Cedric and the treeline is exposed, some bouldering, some tussock. Cairns and poles define the route

The descent from the treeline to Sabine Hut is under beech, very steep and slippery.

Some maps incorrectly label this route as 'Cascade Track' (which actually runs from Angelus Hut to the Travers River)

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

At the back of the Sabine Hut, the signposted track begins to climb immetiately. It's just over 1000m before the gradient eases more than a little so settle in for a steady tramp under the beech. The track is well defined to the treeline then poled through to Lake Angelus and the hut.

Once above the trees, the route is very exposed, only occasionally dropping below the ridgeline. Part of the route traverses a large boulder field which would be difficult in light snow and ice.

From the Robert Ridge carpark, the initial climb is steep but on a wide benched track. At first under beech, the track pops out into the open and zig-zags up to Mt Robert, with a couple of brief returns to the beech.

Once on the ridge, the track is poled. However, the footpad is obvious (in good weather) as it rises and falls along the ridge. The track from Speargrass Hut joins from the north, 1km before the Angelus. A short climb reaches a saddle and a cairn overlooking the lake and the hut.

Continue south along the ridge and follow the poles down to the hut.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

From the hut and past the toilets, the poled track climbs east to the ridge and continues to the high point and into the saddle, providing a great view back across the Angelus basin.

Follow the pole line along the ridge, sometimes traversing, sometimes on the ridgeline.

From Mt Robert, and the stunning views across St Arnaud, Pinchgut Track (wide and benched) quickly and steeply descends to the carpark.

A longer and less steep track (Paddys) splits from the main route just before Relax Shelter (signposted).