Browning Biv
(Browning Biv looking up to the Browning Range: Photo Andrew Buglass 2005)
Maintenance Status
Browning Biv and the track up to it from the Styx valley have been
designated as fully maintain.
Location
Map BV19. Styx catchment: Grid Ref:
E1459130/ N5248163. Altitude
1100m. Browning Biv is located in the
alpine scrub zone on the Browning Range on a ridge below
directly Lathrop Saddle. The Lathrop Saddle - Zit Saddle
circuit is a fully maintained, and resaonably popular moderate-hard level tramp.
There are views from the Biv out over
the Styx valley to the Newton Range. DOC didn't do any significant maintenance
on it for couple of decades after taking over from NZFS. Luckily, the Biv was
adopted and kept maintained and very
homely during this period by Mark Crompton of Hokitika. Mark was doing a snow retention study
on the Browning Range and made numerous visits to the Biv.
He has made a compilation of hutbook entries from the period
and left a copy in the Biv.
Access
The track to Browning Biv was recut in March 2006
and is in reasonably good shape apart from some
wind damage on the lower section from the winter storms of 2008.
A wooden sign at the bottom end of Grassy Flat on the TR bank of the Styx River
marks its start. It cosses an open marshy area with scattered scrub before
commencing a gradual climb through hardwood forest on the TL of the access creek.
The creekbed is then followed up to around the 300m altitude mark. At this point a
track on the TL bank (easy to walk past) leads up a steepish face through
montane forest to the ridge where the Biv is located. The Biv
is on a small bench 10 minutes below the ridgetop in the subalpine zone.
Allow 1.5-2 hours to Browning Biv from Grassy Flat Hut or 5-6 hours from the Styx road end.
A maintained track leads up the ridge above the Biv through the alpine scrub zone to the tussock.
The ridge narrows and steepens and eventually merges with a steep face below the saddle.
The route is poled above the scrubline.
An open
knoll on the ridge just above the Biv provides helicopter access.
Type
Browning is a standard NZFS two-person biv built in the 1960's.
It has two sleeping
platforms, one mattress, sleeping mats, and pillows. There is no toilet.
A small roof-fed water tank was installed by Mark.
Condition
The Biv was repiled, had some of the framing replaced,
and was painted and re-sealed by DOC in March 2004. Unfortunately,
some rotten studs in the end wall were missed, and
water still appears to be getting in here somewhere. I propped one of the studs
with a bit of wood found on site in October 2005. The floor plate supporting the
studs has also rotted out, as has the ridgeboard at the far end of the Biv. Mark
Crompton has created a small library, and provisioned the Biv with a lantern,
binoculars, tools and emergency food.
Routes
The Lathrop Saddle, Zit Saddle, Toaroha
circuit is a reasonably popular
wilderness circuit and takes 4-5 days to complete. There is a steep climb of
some 600m altitude up to Lathrop Saddle,
a lovely U-shaped corridor strewn with huge, shattered boulders and amethyst
tarns.
The route down from the Saddle to Crawford Biv is
poled, sidling down from the Saddle in a SW direction across
some reasonably steep faces. This bit is generally snow covered in winter and spring and
is on the shady side of the Range, so it pays to carry an ice axe at these times in case it's icy.
At around E1458920/ N5245773 the
route veers SE down a broad spur to the top of a band of
Bluffs. Here you can look straight down Crawford Biv. A permolat arrow on a
snow pole here indicates a sharp right hand turn down a face
on the TL of the large side creek that enters the Crawford just downstream
from the Biv. Follow the poles down the face. Where the terrain flattens the route veers left
down a slope, parallel with the creek, to the Biv. Time from Browning Biv to
Crawford Biv is around 3-4 hours in good conditions.
Mount Lathrop is an easy climb from Lathrop Saddle and the Browning
Range is traversable to the West. It is possible to
get from Browning Biv to Crawford Junction via the tops in a long
day. Whitehorn Spur Biv was removed by DOC in November 2005 and
an old tops track down the Spur to Crawford Junction is very overgrown and
peters out entirely on its lower faces. There is some talk currently in the
Permolat group about recutting this track to open a potential circuit over the Browning
Range from Mid Styx Hut. The old NZFS tops track from
Mid Styx up onto the Range has been recut almost all the way to the tussock.
Repairs Needed
All the studs and the bottom plate at the end
of the Biv need replacing. The rigdgeboard needs replacing or
repairing. One of the bottom plates at the front end next to the door needs
repairing or replacing. The leaks responsible for all the rotting need to be
located and sealed. A small metal flange would be useful
above the door as there is a gap at the top of the door through which
the rain blows when it is windy.
Provisions On Site
DOC have provided the statutory hand brush
and hearth shovel. The rest, probably Mark's, comprises 1 litre
Samson red enamel and 1 litre "gorse" acrylic paint, 3 paint brushes, 0.5 litres
of Solgaro primer, 3 tubes of liquid nails, 1 litre of chain oil?, a small grubber,
hedgeclippers, a bowsaw, 2 flat files, a hammer, a wire brush, rat poison, a tube of
sealant, loppers, a knife, a scraper, bear tape, a stanley knife, a screw driver,
a small hacksaw, pliers, numerous candles, a gas lamp, emergency food, sandpaper,
heaps of 2cm flathead nails, a few longer jolthead nails, a small screw clamp,
tacks, a chainsaw file, an aluminium wash basin, a slasher, binoculars, and a 1st aid kit.