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 Mountaains instead. Later, in 1986, with others, I returned
for another long Fiordland walk traversing the Cameron Mountains.
Above - Gordon near the start of the Dusky Track at the west arm of
Lake Manapouri
Above - The Spey Valley
Above - Dave on a walkwire
Above - Gordon on a walkwire. These were tricky in the rain with big
packs.
Above - Looking up the upper Spey Valley towards Centre Pass
Above - At Centre Pass I climbed up a nearby hill to get this fine view.
Above - Looking down from Centre Pass at Tripod Hill and Lake Kintail
Above - On the descent - looking out of the rainforest
Above - After a very tricky walkwire over the Seaforth River at Loch
Maree we clilmed up to a nice campsite on the Pleasant Range where we
had this nice sunset.
Above - Interesting reading about a previous party from Australia in
the Lake Roe Hut logbook
Above - Lake Roe
Above - We went on a sidetrip onto the tops of the nearby Merrie Range
to get some great views
Above - The Merrie Range
Above - The Merrie Range - Tamatea Peak
Above - The Merrie Range - view from Tamatea Peak
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.
Go to part 2 - The Princess Mountains
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