Speaker 0:00

Today we head into Mount Aspiring National Park. Ford is no longer a well kept secret, an understandably popular and spectacular trap. Let's talk about the Gillespie Pass Circuit and Crucible Lake.

Peter 0:12

So

Jonty 0:19

Kira and welcome to the Tramping Life, a podcast about hiking in RO New Zealand, or as we call it here, tramping. I'm ch and in this episode I'll talk about a specific track or hut. I'll give an overview and share my experience along with the highlights and some practical advice.

Speaker 0:37

The Gillespie Pass Circuit is a 58 kilometer, three to four day classic tramp that connects the young and Wilkin valleys with mixture of travel through beach forests, open tops, and glacier Gouged Valleys. Tramp starts either from the young Macaro Confluence, or the Wilkin Macaro Confluence. After crossing the Mac River, which I'll talk about more later on, The track runs close to the Young river before a steady climb to young Hut, after which the track gets steeper. Heading over the 1500 meter Gillespie Pass, followed by often slippery snow grass down to Siberia hat. From here is a wonderful day trip to Lake Crucible, upper hanging valley to a spectacular glacier fed Alpine lake below Mount Alba, often home to icebergs in winter and spring. Then continue along the Wilkin Valley. Staying at Kerryn Forks Hut. Turn back to the Mac River. I walked it in December a decade ago. This is normally a three to four day walk, but thanks to Radially long day two, which was 10 hours of walking up and down 1500 meters, plus a cheeky helicopter ride. I managed much of it in two days, including the side trip to the stunning lake Crucible. a 10 minute jet boat. Ride up the Mac River took me to the mouth of the young river. Saving a seven kilometer walk from blue pools a bargain at $25 a decade ago. A much safer and drier than wading across the river. It was a very wet and rather cold morning, mainly wandering through bush, which at least provided some shelter from the elements out in the open the valley. It was wetter, but actually more enjoyable filled with atmosphere and water force. At one point, there had clearly been a slip. There are only a couple of precarious footholds left in the bank between safe passage and sliding down into the ravine below. Young Hut is a relatively new hut from 2006 with 20 bunks though, as the afternoon and evening went on, more and more people turned up. We eventually topped out more than 30 people, thankfully some of whom had brought tents at 6:00 PM it was like the lights had been switched off. Mean obviously there's no lights in the hut, but as the sun disappeared behind the mountains, this will be a very dark place in winter. The final piece of excitement for the first day was one guy seemingly broken gas stove, which spectacularly caught flyer with flames, probably two foot high coming out of the burner, and it kept burning. He couldn't switch off. He knocked it off the worktop onto the floor. I kicked towards the back door and some quick witted person put a sauce pin over it, which finally extinguished the flames. makes you realize the risk being in a wooden hut in the middle of nowhere. The next morning, as the sun started to peak over the mountains, I started the steepest part of the track heading up to towards Gillespie Pass. The effort to reach the parcel was worth it for the 360 degree views of the Southern Alps, along with some summer snow. The snow was more like ice though on the descent that I was glad to be coming down this way rather than going up. It as the young Valley side is far deeper. It was a delight to walk down the valley to Siberia hut, which was far more inviting that its name may suggest. That it was a bit of a dash to get a bunk. if I'd arrived 15 minutes later, I would've missed out. This is a popular spot. Lake Crucible is a six to eight hour 14 kilometer return walk from Siberia hut. I managed to walk in just over four hours thanks to only carrying a day pack, and I was strongly motivated to make it there before the sunset. It's easy walking to start with as you head down the valley from Siberia hut with two crossings of Siberia string required the track then gets a lot more serious with a steep ascent over endless tree roots, which at least provides some useful handholds for the trickiest parts. You merge into another beautiful if Boulder strewn valley. There's a final steep section up to the lake, which was a little of stressful as I could see endless dark clouds approaching the sun. I thought it might get there. Literally moments after it got plunged into darkness after two hours of fast walking. Thankfully the clouds held at bay and I reached my destination, a wonderful iceberg filled lake, which I had to myself as the last person to arrive for the day. It reminded me of Base La Tous in LA tos, the Piney National Park in Patagonia. Less impressive rock formations, but the icebergs were very cool. Both fig tree and literally, I stuck around for about 20 minutes. Conscious of my experience with Young Hut, where it suddenly got very dark. I had a torch with me, but thankfully didn't need to use it. As I headed back down to Siberia Hut after the sunset. After walking 27 kilometers ascending and descending 1500 meters in a day, it was rather nice to finally sit down and treat myself to dinner. The original plan was to head out to top Forks hut, a side trip from the normal circuit for a night, and see more lakes. But we decided to cut this trip short based on the weather forecast so we could guarantee Getting out. Okay. We certainly did when we found out that a helicopter outta Siberia hu back to was only $85 again a decade ago, compared with a Jetboat ride from Kerryn Fors Hut, which was two to three hours walk away, which was gonna cost $110 with the same company because it was a back haul. It's a popular trip for people to helicopter directly into Siberia hut. So often the helicopter goes back empty unless you can organize through the ranger for the pilot can pick you up. Overall it was an amazing two days in the bush, which ended with an exhilarating 10 minute helicopter ride up and over the 2,150 meter Mount Turner and down the TL Valley with a stomach turning maneuver to get a better look at some deer high up on the hillside before landing back in mac of my next adventure. So the highlights include spectacular alpine scenery. Rugged peaks and river valleys of the backdrop for much of the tramp. Scenery here is as good as anywhere in New Zealand. And Crucible Lake is a fantastic side trip from Siberia hut up to a remote alpine basin with a stunning lake. To finish with some practical advice, book the Huts, young Hut and Siberia hut must now be booked online, which requires some forward planning, but should prevent the overcrowding I found when I walked it. Kerryn Forks Hutt is first come, first serve, and only 10 bunks compared to 20 bunks for the other two. So maybe take a tent. Unless you're experienced in river crossings and the flow is low, I would strongly recommend arranging Jetboat Transport or using the Young River Link Track with swing bridge to cross the Mac River. A number of people have drowned attempting to make this crossing. there are also a number of other Unre rivers to cross, so this is a track to avoid when bad weather is forecast. The scenery may be great walk standard, but the track isn't being more challenging and rougher, so appropriate fitness and experience is required. In terms of timings, The best time to do this tramp is summer and early autumn, so roughly December to April. Winter conditions in includes snow and avalanche risk and are not recommended without alpine skills and experience.

Peter 7:07

So

Speaker 7:10

Thank you so much for listening to the Tramping life. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please follow the podcast in whatever app you use. Tell a friend about it and consider leaving a rating or a review. It really helps more people discover the show. you have any questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me an email at the tramping life, one word@gmail.com.