The Lyell, the Main Divide, and the Lord

Geoff Spearpoint goes transalpine in the central Canterbury Westland Alps, his second home.

This February, six of us, Gary Huish, Raymond Ford, Gaylene Wilkinson, Sonja Risa, Pete Umbers and I headed up the Rakaia, and once across the DOC bridge over the Lyell, camped near the Ramsay Lake outlet in warm weather. We planned to cross the main Divide into Westland, coming out down the Wanganui near Hari Hari, on an alpine trip with the Peninsula Tramping Club (PTC).

With a big day planned we were up early and heading for the St James Glacier. Keeping low along the lake edge initially, mostly good travel on moss flats, we then curled up along the top lip of the sunken St James gully, gaining height and sidling across to the glacier at about 1100m, a route that worked pretty well.

Further up the glacier, just above 1500m, we climbed out on the true right, following gravel gullies to basins above. Lunchtime, beside a clear stream with sunny views of the upper Ramsay and Whitcombe and no wind. What’s not to like?

Higher up, glacial ice then snow led to the col between 2133 and 2170m. Sidling north took us to a rock scramble down to the col between the Cockayne and St James Glaciers. I had been here a couple of years ago, and descended straight down the St James, but the upper glacier was a bit messy to travel this year. Cutting across snow at the head of the St James we climbed up onto the Cockayne neve. No problems there, and a very pleasant amble on firm snow with a few slots to make us concentrate took us to a Main Divide col, a couple of hundred metres north east of 2274m.

We had hoped to head up onto the Clarke Glacier neve this trip and climb Mt Ramsay, but schrunds and recent rockfall put us off that. As well, a cold front was expected in the morning, so we did a recce to establish how we would cross the divide onto the Radiant Glacier instead. The col itself didn’t offer much, but up the ridge there was a rock chimney that could be down climbed to sloping bedrock that further down took us to the snow.

We settled into an exposed campsite within a few metres of the Divide, and had a remarkably calm night. But by morning the front was prowling around looking for someone to beat up, and we didn’t want it to be us. We got away early, belaying people and packs down the first step. Already the rocks were rimed in ice, and we soon put our energy into swinging across the Radiant in our quest to descend. The mist was down, accompanied by fine drizzle, making us concentrate on navigation. But we were over the Divide, and not going back now. With snow falling, we camped on the Radiant Glacier at about 1800m. With freezing fingers and wet clothes we crawled into our tents.

Overnight, a good 10cm of snow fell. But by midmorning we were drying out, and eventually the sun peeked over into our camp too. Sooo good! Later, we went down the true right of the Radiant Glacier and camped on an excellent spot in the Swift Water, just above 1400m. I love the view from here of the Lord Range, particularly Dan Peak. The rock might be crap, but the layered cliffs are just stunning.

But then I am biased. For me, the whole of the upper Lord valley is a bit of an inaccessible Shangri La, surrounded by mountains, and a gorge below that is one of the few on maps to still have the label ‘impassable’. Alan Willis and ‘Boney’ Chester had an epic in it’s canyons after the first ascent of Whitcombe in 1932, accompanied by W Barnett. Then there is the canyon of the Mad Water… still untraveled at stream level to my knowledge. I have looked up it from below though.

We travelled out leisurely on the tussock flanks of the Lord Range, first to a great campsite near the knoll 1392m, then the following day to Blue Lookout. On the way a chamois kid came within a few metres, while a little later half a dozen thar bounded away. We saw the odd kea, and a few rock wrens. The track down from Blue Lookout is still quite followable, but needs a scrubcut. Based at Hunters Hut, a DOC crew were cutting the lower part of the track, which was great to see.

Our trip out down the Wanganui in the afternoon was grueling. Drizzle, then rain set in. The track below the cage hasn’t had attention for some time, and major floods have wreaked havoc. But we were down at Amethyst Creek by dark, just. The perfect place to finish, because there are great hot pools there in the riverbed, and hey, did they feel good...

By Geoff Spearpoint