Thread: Victoria Range/Brunner Range

Has anybody gone out along the Victoria Range and/or Brunner Range? Thinking of doing a range traverse but haven't found much info on tops travel there (especially from Wheel Creek to Ivess). Thanks in advance.

We were in the Mt Wynn area back in June, the Brunner range and the start of the Victoria are easy walking, I've also been at the other end, going in from Lake Stream to the foot of Ivess, which wasn't bad. My understanding is that not many people have traversed the length but it is do-able. If you have a look at the "Remote Huts" web site and look at Wheel Creek hut and Top Waitahu bivy, there is a bit about routes there that could be helpful to you.

Thanks heaps for the intel and good to know about the Northern end. If you don't mind me asking, how did you get in to Mt Wynn? Yeah been checking out the entries there, on Mapspast and on Hut Bagger - so helpful. The section between Ivess and Waitahu Saddle is the major part I can't find info on so far, but maybe that will just be part of the adventure. Cheers!

We got Rob Hunt from Murch Helicopters to drop us there, in fact it was his suggestion to go there, I initially was going to go to the Waitahu bivy but he suggested the northern end as he said there was less hunting pressure, more area to hunt and more animals, and I would say he was correct. The area around Ivess is quite steep and requires a lot short "Up and downs" to go any where, I think this is one of the reasons not a lot of people go there, Another one being that there is no simple loop track to take you around. A few people do the Kirwan track loop from the Reefton side and a few go up the Waitahu to the bivy and then carry on around Ivess and back down Lake Stream. If you went up Lake Stream from the Rahu saddle end it would take about a day to get you to the foot of Ivess, and at the Northern end, from Mt Wynn to Boundary Peak would take about a day and likewise going from Mt Wynn to Mt Victoria. For those times, I'm only going on how far we walked before we had to turn around to get back to camp, plus we where hunting as we went, so you could do it faster. My understanding is that the area around Ivess is the trickiest, the rest lest so just lots of Ups and Downs. Hope this helps.

Look at the Mount Curtis hut track for access to the tops at the Northern end of the Brunner range

Yes this helps a lot thanks for your info, can't wait to get up into this area. Will try remember to leave an update here on the trip when I've come back. Cheers!

I will be very interested on how you get on, a member of my party is keen to do the same and we may still do, so your info will be of great help. Enjoy the trip and I hope you get a few animals along the way. there's definitely too many pigs on the northern end so a few less would be a good help. Cheers.

good hunts