Princess Mountains Traverse - February 1979

All images © David Noble. No image can be used for any purpose without permission. Some photographs taken by Gordon Thompson.

The Princess Mountains lie in Southern Fiordland between Lake Hauroko and Lake Poteriteri. This was a 15 day trip. We had mainly bad weather on the walk - but a couple of good days on the tops made for a great trip. I had seen photos of the Princess Mountains a few years earlier when the range was traversed by a party from the Kameruka Bushwalking Club (of Sydney). That trip had been organised by NZ based member, Barry Dunnet.

On this trip, Gordon and myself originally intended to traverse the Cameron Mountains to the west. But the bad weather early on the trip meant that that goal was not feasible so we decided to traverse the Princess Mountains instead. Later, in 1986, with others, I returned for another long Fiordland walk traversing the Cameron Mountains.



Above - Dave at Te Anau enjoying some Hokey-Pokey before starting the walk



Above - Gordon near the start of the Dusky Track at the west arm of Lake Manapouri



Above - Dave on a walkwire



Above - Gordon on a walkwire. These were tricky in the rain with big packs.



Above - The Spey Valley



Above - Upper Spey Hut



Above - The Spey Valley



Above - The Spey Valley



Above - Gordon and Dave in the hut



Above - Looking up the upper Spey Valley towards Centre Pass



Above - From Centre Pass - looking back down the Spey Valley



Above - At Centre Pass I climbed up a nearby hill to get this fine view.



Above - views from above Centre Pass



Above - looking back down at Centre Pass



Above - Looking down from Centre Pass at Tripod Hill and Lake Kintail



Above - On the descent - looking out of the rainforest

After a very tricky walkwire over the Seaforth River at Loch Maree we climbed up to a nice campsite on the Pleasant Range



Above - views from the Pleasant Range



Above - Looking down to Dusky Sound



Above - Dusk



Above - Sunset.



Above - next morning - looking down to Dusky Sound



Above - The Pleasant Range



Above - The Pleasant Range

 



Above - Interesting reading about a previous party from Australia in the Lake Roe Hut logbook



Above - Lake Roe



Above - Lake Roe



Above - Looking to the Princess Mts and the Hauroko Burn from a sidetrip up onto the Merrie Range above Lake Roe



Above - The Merrie Range



Above - Merrie Range



Above - Looking back down to Lake Roe



Above - nearby lake



Above - The Merrie Range



Above - The Merrie Range - Tamatea Peak



Above - The Merrie Range - view from Tamatea Peak



Above - The Merrie Range



Above - Dave back at Lake Roe Hut



Above - Sandflies! View out the window of a hut on the Hauroko Burn



From the north end of Lake Hauroko we traversed around to the northern spur of the Princess Mts and climbed up onto the tops.



Above - Looking down Lake Hauroko




Above - Dave reading the hut logbook

Go to part 2 - The Princess Mountains

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