The National Park sits on both sides of the Main Divide of the Southern Alps. Two thirds of it are in Canterbury and it is easily accessible from Christchurch. It offers scope for many serious tramping routes, including river travel, alpine saddles and tops travel. The mountains here are notorious for bad weather, though conditions to the east are sometimes better, being in rain shadow.

Photographs from four visits.

In November 2006 we visited Arthur's Pass with the intention of completing The Three Passes Trip. However the weather decided we weren't going to do that, so we spent most of the week trapped in the Taipo River Valley.
In August 2006 we spent a snowy weekend tramping to Lagoon Saddle Hut, before climbing Mount Bruce.
In June 2006 I spent a long weekend tramping the Minga and Edwards Rivers, with a high level tops crossing, this was my first New Zealand winter tramp.
In January 2005 I caught the Trans Alpine Express from Christchurch then hiked the fairly demanding Waimakariri and Harman Pass route.

Home | Photo Gallery | Trip Reports | About Me | Download Logbooks
Abel Tasman | Arthurs Pass | Canterbury | Fiordland |  Kahurangi | Mount Cook | Nelson Lakes
Paparoa | Stewart Island | West Coast