Landscape under threat: North Western Mt Aspiring National Park

Dinner at Williamson flat

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:06:52 GMT

Dinner at Williamson flat

Williamson flat is remote with access in all directions requiring difficult gorge travel and surrounded by fantastic, rarely climbed mountains. A shangri-la

Gorge river

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:06:40 GMT

Gorge river

Just after crossing Gorge river

Summit of Red Mountain

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:06:29 GMT

Summit of Red Mountain

Olivine range beyond

A bad case of shingles

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:06:20 GMT

A bad case of shingles

Mile after mile of rounded, rolling shingles north of Sandrock bluff

Mt Tutoko and the Darrans from Red Mountain

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:06:08 GMT

Mt Tutoko and the Darrans from Red Mountain

You can't escape the big mountains up there

The Upper Pyke and Stag pass from Red Mountain

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:05:59 GMT

The Upper Pyke and Stag pass from Red Mountain

Note the ultramafics on the pass. The mining company had a base camp, supplied by helicopter in the flats of the Upper Pyke - we could see a relic (their hut) from the summit of Red Mountain, a reminder of the threat they face

Sidling the Red Hills range

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:05:48 GMT

Sidling the Red Hills range

Red Mountain is above the trampers left shoulder. The peaks above the Olivine Ice Plateau are beyond

Perdiot creek

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:05:38 GMT

Perdiot creek

The barren, unvegetated landscape in the ultramafic band

View across the Cascade to the Olivine range

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:05:27 GMT

View across the Cascade to the Olivine range

The tussocked North western end of the Red Hills range, looking across at the ultramafic band on the Olivine range

Finger on the pulse

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:05:16 GMT

Finger on the pulse

Mt Aspiring and Mt Tutoko, the most famous peaks in Otago and Fiordland overlook the Red Hills range

Jewel coloured tarns on the Red Hills range

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:05:07 GMT

Jewel coloured tarns on the Red Hills range

You wouldn't want to drink the water, but this is one of the most distinctive landscapes in New Zealand, thankfully saved from mining in the late 1970s

The Cascade Coast

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:04:56 GMT

The Cascade Coast

In the 1970s, the Kennecot mining company bulldozed a road through here, a crime, the scars of which persist despite the relentless sea. Wild and remote coastal tramping of the kind that is not really available anywhere else in New Zealand

River flats in the Cascade

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:04:47 GMT

River flats in the Cascade

The Cascade is the largest unbridged river in New Zealand. It seperates the Olivine range from the Red Hills range. Note ultramafic rock on Olivine range on skyline.

Mt Aspiring through Barrington Saddle

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:04:34 GMT

Mt Aspiring through Barrington Saddle

The route to climb Red Mountain is the gully at right.

Coastal forest south of the Cascade river

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:04:20 GMT

Coastal forest south of the Cascade river

It is through forest like this that any proposed Haast to Hollyford road would push. The line bulldozed by Kennecot was just at the high water mark

Red Mountain from the head of Perdiot stream

Richard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:03:38 GMT

Red Mountain from the head of Perdiot stream

The ultramafic rock that was once prospected by a US mining company before sanity prevailed. Red Mountain at centre

Mt Aspiring in a lean year

Richard — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:48:44 GMT

Mt Aspiring in a lean year

NW ridge is left, SW ridge runs from centre right, W face in centre. Mt Bevan at left foreground.

Mt Aspiring and cloud in Hector Col

Richard — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:48:33 GMT

Mt Aspiring and cloud in Hector Col

From Waipara Saddle

Eric checking out the line

Richard — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:48:16 GMT

Eric checking out the line

We scrambled up here to just under those ice cliffs just visible at centre top, then got the rope out for a short pitch

Twi Falls and Arawhata rock biv

Richard — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:47:58 GMT

Twi Falls and Arawhata rock biv

Twin Falls from the scrub zone. Arawhata rock biv is visible in the cente of the photo (in the river)