Mt French, Westcoast

From Kelly’s Shelter, we drove in the pre dawn through to Lake Brunner and the start of the Mt French track.

Ready to go at dawn

Initially it was pretty dark underneath the forest understory, but within an hour or so the sun began to peek over the mountains and begin to warm the air a little. The track was a little overgrown in places and climbed at a moderate gradient through stands of Rimu and granite sand pads. It took a couple of hours to reach a small knob on the ridge, where we found our first views of the foresummit of Mt French.

Above the bushline at last

Above the bushline we had amazing views, north to the Paparoas, Lake Brunner, Lake Kaniere and even Mt Cook! Not far below the broadcast mast, Julie announced that she’d pulled a muscle in her back. She wasn’t that keen to continue up, so we agreed that I’d continue quickly to the summit whilst she began descending slowly to meet up again before reaching the bushline.

The ridgeline to Mt French from the Tv transmitter

At my best pace, I continued up to the foresummit then down to traverse the ‘narrow low col’ that Pat Barrett mentioned in his route description. The col wasn’t too difficult, but finding a route up the bluff on the other side took a little careful route finding.

On top O' Mt French

At the summit 25mins from Julie’s turnaround, I was treated with one of the most amazing summit views I’ve ever enjoyed. Now I could also see deep into the heart of Arthurs Pass, the Victoria Range and the major west coast peaks. I could identify Mt’s D’Archiac, Elie de Beaumont and Whitcombe. There was not a speck of breeze and the sun shone with a delicious warmth..

'Ich bein ein baumfreiunde!'

Julie at Carew Falls

Sad not to be able to linger, I descended to meet Julie as planned and returned to the car. On the way home, we stopped in at Carew Falls to try to wash off 3 days of accumulated tramping funk. We also stopped at the Bealey Pub to see the Moa and at Castle Hill for a quick explore.

Moa hunting at the Bealey Pub

Julie explores Castle Hill

Kelly Hill, Arthurs Pass NP

The weather wasn't qutie as good as during yesterday's ascent of Mt Aicken, but the thick cloud cover didn't drop any rain on us.

Crossing a little side stream

Most of the way to Carrol Hut, Otira Valley below

We climbed steeply through some very 'Tararua' bush until we met the subalpine scrub and began to sidle our way westwards. A few views between clouds began to appear, mostly of the Otira valley and surrounding peaks.

We took about 1h45m to reach Carroll hut, and sheltered ourselves from the cool breeze whilst having a wee bite to eat.

Lunch time at Carroll Hut

Checking out the view towards the Taipo River Valley

After lunch we went on a little wander up toward Kelly Saddle and onwards to the NW for views into the Taipo watershed. We had a little Nana nap under the shelter of a few rocks before making a bee line for the summit of Kelly Hill.

Chucky working hard..

Julie at the TV mast on top of Kelly Hill

Cloud enveloped us periodically at the summit, but we were able to get some great views back toward Arthurs Pass as we descended slightly.

Descending back toward Carroll Hut

Julie found an 'Australia' shaped rock on the descent

Negotiating the steep bush track back to camp

Cheif chef Chucky