Bluff Hut
(Bluff Hut looking upriver: Photo Anthony Thrupp 2009)
Maintenance Status
Bluff Hut and the access tracks to it are fully maintain currently.
The Hut was shifted a short distance upvalley from its original site and totally rennovated in 2009
after being isolated for 15 years from
the Frew Saddle/ Toaroha Saddle by a swingbridge washout in the Hokitika River.
The bridge was replaced
in 2009 and the relevant sections of track reopened to Poet Hut in the
Mungo, and to the upper Hokitika basin.
Location
Map BV19.
Hokitika catchment: Grid Ref: E1447410/ N5232433. Altitude 925m.
Bluff Hut is located above bushline on
Conway Ridge above the TL of the
upper Hokitika River. Above the Hut the Ridge
climbs in a series of
smooth rock steps to the Meta Range. The terrain below the bushline leading up
to Bluff is broken and bluffy with large
cracks and fissures cloaked in montane forest.
The original track through this had alumunium ladders in a number of sections, some of which
were replaced with chains when the track was recut in March 2009.
There are great views from the Hut site up the Mungo valley to Toaroha and Hokitika saddles.
Upriver from Bluff Hut the Hokitika basin opens out and rises at a gentle
gradient for several kilometers to the foot of Mathias Pass.
Early settlers attempted to graze sheep in the benign looking tussock expanses
of the upper basin. The winters are harsh up there however, and the basin often fills
with snow, and the unfortunate animals didn't last long.
Below Bluff Hut the Hokitika River drops in a spectacularl series
of cataracts 400 vertical metres in less than a kilometer to the Mungo confluence.
Access
Bluff can be approached from either the Whitcombe valley
via Frew Saddle, or from the Mungo valley via Toaraoha Saddle. It takes a couple of
days from the Whitcombe end and the tracks are in good shape currently.
A poled route drops steeply from Frew Saddle and Biv into into the upper Hokitka basin
from where travel is open and easy when snow free.
Winter snow may slow progress considerably and occasionally force travel via the
riverbed. Below
the Homeward Ridge turnoff a poled route on the TL leads over a tussock
knoll downriver connecting with a cut track through the sections of alpine scrub.
The
trail eventually
climbs out of the River and sidles through open country around to the Hut.
Bluff can be accessed from the Toaroha roadend in in 2-3 days via
Toaroha Saddle and Poet Hut in the
Mungo
River. From Poet it is a couple of hours downriver to the new swingbridge.
After crossing a very steep and relatively short climb takes you up to
the bushline. The Hut is 10 minutes from here. Allow 3 hours from from Poet Hut to Bluff.
Type
The original Bluff Hut started life in the 1960's as a
standard 4-bunk NZFS design with open fire.
The fire was removed early in the piece, then the cupboard/ vestibule area in the early 80's. A
roof-fed watertank installed at this time. The Hut was isolated from the Frews - Toaroha circuit
by the bridge washout in the early 90's and fell into disrepair. A site inspection at some point
showed the Hut site to be highly unstable. In 2009 it
was
shifted upvalley 100m and completely rennovated. It had two extra bunks and a wood burner added
in the process.
Condition
Bluff Hut should is in excellent condition.
Routes
Getting to
Frisco Hut on the other side
of the Hokitika valley involves either heading up a very
overgrown track up the ridge on the TR of Darby Creek, or boulderhopping down the
Hokitika and climbing directly up Detour Creek. There is no recent information on
the track up from Darby Creek, but it will be extremely overgrown now. A section from the ridge
across the faces towards Frisco has vanished
completely and it would be very difficult to relocate the last bit leading to the
Hut (also very overgrown).
An alternative to the track is to boulderhop
downriver on the TR from the swingbridge to Detour Creek.
Detour Creek drops over a waterfall into the Hokitika and it's necessary to
climb the bush faces upriver from it and drop into the Creek above the fall.
The Creek is open, steep, and scoured out in its head. You can either climb to the top
of the slip and try and locate the old trackline downriver from Frisco, or negotiate a small
waterfall
in the Creek and continue up to where it crosses the track upriver from the Hut. It
is cairned and marked on the TR of the Creek
10 minutes upriver from Frisco.
Access to Sir Robert Hut
from Bluff is via the main valley track to the Hokitika basin.
Snowpoles on the TR of
Steadman Creek mark the turnoff to the route, which climbs to
around 1500m before sidling around to Homeward Ridge.
Head down the Ridge to around the 1460m mark
and drop from here down a steep tussock rib into a small
creek which enters Sir Robert Creek about 400m downstream from
the Hut. There are a couple of small sections of track on the TL between the
side creek and the Hut.
The journey from Bluff to Sir Robert takes 4-5 hours.
It is relatively easy to get to Frew Biv straight up and over
Conway Ridge. This doesn't take much longer than the main basin
route and you get lovely views on a fine day.
Repairs Needed
Nil currently.
Provisions on Site
A shovel, a pinch bar, a hand saw, an axe, a frist aid kit,
some billies and a camp oven.