The Kepler

Activity Date: 21 Jul 2022
Updated: 11 Nov 2024
People: Finn, Jen

Day 1: Luxmore Hut

14.20km (951m 🆙, 114m🔻) in 3hr 23min @ 4.18km/hr.

After having burned half our holidays under COVID isolation, and then having to wait out one of the most severe storms the South Island has seen in the last few years, we were amping to get outdoors. We were a little cautious about the avalanche conditions on the Kepler track but were watching the NZ Avalanche Advisory by the Mountain Safety Council closely, and the risk was dropping day-by-day. We hired avalanche gear (probe, transceiver, and shovel) from Small Planet Sports in Queenstown, and with our crampons, axes and plenty of warm clothes, we were ready to go! We decided to go up to Luxmore Hut and see what it was like. If we didn’t enjoy it, we were going to head back down a do a little walk into Hope Arm Hut. Always choose to be safe over getting summit/hut fever.

The trip to Luxmore Hut starts gently with a flat track over to Brod Bay (1hr 5min), at which point it starts to climb. The incline is pretty gentle, with lots of switchbacks. We kept up quite a good pace here and made good time through to the limestone cliffs. There was some treefall at the cliffs, but nothing impassable. The track is steeper just before and just after the cliffs but not unreasonably so. The sign at Brod Bay indicates 4:30 to Luxmore Hut, but “times can be halved” in good weather. We took our overcast drizzle as good weather and powered on, only entering snow once we reached the treeline. In the end, we got to the hut in 2:18 from Brod Bay, which I took as a positive inditement of our fitness, despite our legs feeling “like old people”. The track covers very gently sloping terrain from the treeline to Luxmore Hut, so we didn’t feel the need to get out any snow gear.

Luxmore Hut was positively freezing, and the bunkrooms were even worse. Thankfully there were only three of us there, not including a family staying in the warden’s quarters, so we slept in front of the fire! One of the family members was an avalanche technician who works for the Mountain Safety Council and he gave us some good advice about track sections to take care about, and said the snow was locking up well and that we could be reasonably confident in it. Excellent.

Day 2: Iris Burn Hut

16.38km (810m 🆙, 1389m🔻) in 8hr 22min @ 1.96km/hr.

We opted for as much of an alpine start (pre-dawn) as we could manage, which meant walking by 7.30am when the sun was only just coming up. The advantage of this is that you maximise your daylight hours (important during winter) and that you spend more time on the snow before the midday sun causes any instability in the snowpack.

We started in the cloud and rain which was a bit naff, but we soon gained enough elevation for the rain to quit. The snow through the basin north of 1402 was excellent, the terrain was low-gradient and there were lots of footprints to follow. The good conditions continued to Forest Burn Shelter where we had a mid-morning snack and some coffee from the thermos.

The section from Forest Burn Shelter to the saddle below 1528 was our danger area of the day. There are some chutes which are somewhat evident on Topo50 but more visible on satellite imagery map tiles. The chutes form terrain traps where snow can collect and be easily funnelled downwards. The other issue was the warming air temperature was loosening the snow. We took it pretty cautiously through there, going one at a time from island of safety to island of safety. In the end, it was totally fine, but having small pieces of snow rain down on you as the top layer destabilises was quite unnerving.

From the end of the chutes, the walking was very nice past 1401, up 1383 and over to Hanging Valley Shelter. We had intermittent sun through this section, which was quite nice, and we stopped for lunch at the shelter. Unfortunately, it was snowed in! The trudge down the ridgeline to the switchbacks was also gentle and not scary - except for the snow-covered steps which were less fun in crampons! The avalanche technician at Luxmore Hut said that the section from 1528 through to Hanging Valley can be problematic in spring, as the snow doesn’t grip well to the tussocks underneath and it can be avalanche-prone. So, bear that in mind if you trip is during the warmer months.

There is full Spark reception where the track turns off the ridge into the switchbacks, so this is a good opportunity to text your emergency contact and let them know you got through the alpine section alive!

From the treeline there was extensive treefall from the wind and snow which blew through the previous weekend. When I say extensive, I mean a tree/branch that requires clambering over every 20-50m. This lasted the whole way down to Iris Burn Hut, with a tree having fallen on the bridge across the gorge in the valley. The DoC time is 1:30 but it took us over 2hrs to reach the hut - very slow and frustrating walking.

We had Iris Burn to ourselves which was rather nice, and we slept, again, in front of the fire!

Day 3: Out to Rainbow Reach

26.73km (441m 🆙, 673m🔻) in 6hr 48min @ 3.93km/hr.

Feeling footsore and tired we trudged off at 9am, happy that we would reach the end of the track before dark and that there were not any life-endangering alpine sections! Almost immediately the treefall began, and it didn’t stop until the workmen’s camp. We even lost the track at one significant section of treefall and ended up bush bashing for a good 20min.

In the end, this day was not very eventful, but the bush was very lush and green and we enjoyed the view back up the valley. Moturau Hut had a very nice situ as well, but we only stopped to snack, drink some water and use the loo before powering on towards Rainbow Reach. We were originally going to walk back to the control gates, but didn’t feel up to it and opted to walk out to SH95 and hitch back.

We got a room for the night in Te Anau and headed down to La Toscana Pizzeria where we got two pastas, two entrees, two house drinks, and a shared dessert for $60! What a bargain. It’s an early bird special, so make sure you get there not long after opening!