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Thread: 11 days in the Olivines

  1. #1
    Member GravelBen's Avatar
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    Cool 11 days in the Olivines

    Had a cracker of an 11-day walk into the Olivine Wilderness Area over new years. Unarmed, but you'd have trouble covering that much ground and still having time to hunt anyway!

    Started from the Routeburn road and walked around Lake Sylvan to the Rockburn, up the Dart to the Beansburn, up the Beansburn, over Fohn Saddle to the Olivine Ledge, down the Olivine River, up Forgotten River, over Forgotten River Col to the Olivine Ice Plateau. Climbed a couple of easy peaks there (Blockade and Little Ark) as ridiculously good weather meant the snow was too soft for any steep climbing - carried ropes etc all the way and never even used them! Then back down Forgotten River, up to the Olivine Ledge, over Fiery Col and down to Cow Saddle, down Hidden Falls Creek, over Park Pass and finally down the Rockburn and out over Sugarloaf Pass.

    Got all that? Have a look on the map... New Zealand Topographic Map - NZ Topo Map

    Fairly big country in there, feeling a bit fitter by the end of the trip for some reason. Anyway, here is a trucking schistload of photos for whoever wants to look at them.

    Beansburn by Ben, on Flickr

    Fohn Saddle by Ben, on Flickr

    Olivine Ledge by Ben, on Flickr

    Forgotten River by Ben, on Flickr

    Forgotten River by Ben, on Flickr

    Forgotten River headwall by Ben, on Flickr

    Forgotten River hotel by Ben, on Flickr

    Kea by Ben, on Flickr

    Forgotten River Col by Ben, on Flickr

    Forgotten River Col by Ben, on Flickr

    Blockade Ridge by Ben, on Flickr

    Olivine Ice Plateau by night by Ben, on Flickr

    Olivine Sunrise by Ben, on Flickr

    Mt Aspiring by Ben, on Flickr

    Little Ark and Olivine Ice Plateau by Ben, on Flickr

    Little Ark by Ben, on Flickr

    Olivine Ice Plateau by Ben, on Flickr

    Intervention Ridge by Ben, on Flickr

    ^^Perspective can be deceiving - the face above is about 500m away and 500m high.

    Forgotten River Col by Ben, on Flickr

    Intervention Ridge by Ben, on Flickr

    Sunrise over Memorial Icefall by Ben, on Flickr

    Blue Pool by Ben, on Flickr

    Clarity by Ben, on Flickr

    Blue Pool by Ben, on Flickr

    Olivine Ledge by Ben, on Flickr

    Kea in the wind by Ben, on Flickr

    Fiery Col by Ben, on Flickr

    Olivine Ledge by Ben, on Flickr

    ^^I Like how this one shows a few of the places we went - Olivine Ledge, the clearing at the Forgotten/Olivine confluence down the valley, the snowy peak of Ark peeking over the ridge in the top right.

    Fiery Col by Ben, on Flickr

    Cow Saddle by Ben, on Flickr

    Hidden Falls creek by Ben, on Flickr

    Park Pass by Ben, on Flickr

    Sugarloaf Pass by Ben, on Flickr

    More photos here too for anyone who isn't sick of looking yet: https://www.flickr.com/gp/gravelben/31452P
    Last edited by GravelBen; 12-01-2016 at 08:11 PM.
    jakewire, Wildman, sako75 and 24 others like this.

  2. #2
    Member Mathias's Avatar
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    Superb Man what an awesome trip.....anyhows did you see any furry creatures?

  3. #3
    GSP Mad Munsey's Avatar
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    Rule 7: Avoid alcohol and drugs when handling firearms

  4. #4
    Member Scouser's Avatar
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    Wow, awesome mate, some of the best, if not the best set of photos I've seen on this forum.......huge thanks for sharing. ...

    Took me back to the two attempts I made on Mt Aspiring, failed both times........brill
    Beaker likes this.
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  5. #5
    Member kidmac42's Avatar
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    Great fotos mate. Awesome country. Did you see much in the way of animals at all?
    Ya can't park there mate.

  6. #6
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  7. #7
    Member GravelBen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mathias View Post
    Superb Man what an awesome trip.....anyhows did you see any furry creatures?
    Mate spotted a chamois plodding across the plateau and looking about as enthusiastic about post-holing soft snow as I was, but I was on the wrong side of the ridge at the time and missed it.

    No 4-legged animals seen apart from that, but we weren't spending much time looking and didn't have binos with us. Heaps of fresh sign on the flats at the Olivine/Forgotten confluence including some pretty big stag prints.

  8. #8
    Member GravelBen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scouser View Post
    Took me back to the two attempts I made on Mt Aspiring, failed both times........brill
    I know that feeling, was planning to climb it 2 summers ago and slipped a disk a week before the trip! Its still on the list though

  9. #9
    Member deepsouthaussie's Avatar
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    Cracker, The night shot in the olivines is the titties, good job.

  10. #10
    Member hillclima's Avatar
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    Truly epic trip and photos, thanks for sharing

  11. #11
    R93
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    Awesome effort to cover that much and type of ground. Awesome pics.
    I know that country well and have hunted a lot of it on foot and by machine.

    I see you mentioned Helicopters flying below 500 in a wilderness area in another thread.
    If on Waro they can pretty much do what they want including landings. If not on waro they are not supposed to.

    Unless it was early morning or late evening I doubt they were hunting. But if they have a Waro concession they will just say they were if confronted.




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  12. #12
    Member Chur Bay's Avatar
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    Beautiful pictures. Epic trip alright!!

  13. #13
    If your not fast your last Shootm's Avatar
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    Awesome thanks for sharing

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  14. #14
    Member Brian's Avatar
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    Great

  15. #15
    Member GravelBen's Avatar
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    @R93 - I think the Aspiring National Park management plan says no WARO concessions in the wilderness area now? But they all looked to be tourist helicopters on the Queenstown-Milford scenic loop anyway. We counted 12 low heli flights over the plateau in one day.

    Illegal low flying over a wilderness area by Ben, on Flickr
    veitnamcam likes this.

 

 

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