Avalanche Peak – Arthur’s Pass

Avalanche Peak is a popular day hike from Arthur’s pass that takes around 3-4 hours round trip. We hiked up via Avalanche Peak track, staying overnight at Crows Hut, descending down via Scott’s Track. The track from the peak to Crow’s hut was not marked, and we mostly guessed but there was a somewhat formed pathway leading down to Crows hut.

The drive from Christchurch to Arthur’s Pass was so pretty, it’s worth driving out there just for the scenic view.

The track began with an immediate ascend nonstop until the peak. The total elevation gain of this hike is 1100m. The steps were steep rocks, mostly rock scrambling up. This route would be very slow going downhill, we thought. It didn’t take us too long, maybe just shy of 1hr before we were out of the forest and onto the ridge line with a beautiful view!
We couldn’t have had a more perfect weather for it too. Being April already, the air was cold up top but that’s my ideal hiking temperature!

The second part of the trail led us through tussock and subalpine vegetation with yellow poles to follow. The incline became more gradual from here onwards, making it easy to enjoy the view while walking.

The final section til the peak became extremely rocky with shardy boulders. The view from the top was absolutely stunning! We had a break here before the cold started to creep in and we started moving again.

We then followed a map we saved online to Crow’s Hut. From here onwards the track is not marked, so we were guessing the direction here and there, but it was mostly obvious as there was a formed pathway on the ground, even if it meant scree-sliding.

We had amazing views all throughout the day until sundown. We stood on the cliff and looked down at the next section (photo below) which was a huge drop solely on scree. Fun and thrilled at first, we kept up a good pace skiing down this slope. Loose rocks welcoming themselves in my shoes made it a bit uncomfortable but there was no point stopping to get them out. I didn’t even register that I needed to scramble up here tomorrow morning and that it would take 3 times the effort getting back up. I was having too much fun sliding, until near the end, I was ready to walk horizontally again.

At last, we reached the bottom! The sky started to dim as dusk approached. We hopped on rock boulders until we reached some vegetation. We couldn’t find the track (if there was one that is) as it had gotten dark rapidly in the valley. We were just 500m from the hut on the map but we had strayed away from a walkable ground so we were bush bashing on scratchy plantations, making very slow progress. We noticed rock cairns here and there, but in the pitch black we struggled to spot them from afar. At last, we finally found the track leading to the hut and we arrived around 7 p.m., ready for a hot meal.

Next Day

As we started walking in the morning, we saw so many rock cairns guiding us to the hut. They would have been so useful last night!
Tip: If you want to hike this route make sure to reach Crow’s hut before pitch dark!

I’m not too sure if the photos below do justice to what we had to scramble up on this day. One step forward, 2 steps back. I better have big calves after this! It was actually a fun challenge to look back on. It took us 2 hours to to reach the top, we had another beautiful (a bit hazy) day.

Something about the layer of clouds in front of the sun made today’s palette moody and hazy which I loved.

Right Image: Devil’s punchbowl waterfall

After reaching the peak we hiked down via Scott’s track which seemed easier to descend than the other route. We also admired the mesmerising waterfall from afar (called Devil’s punchbowl waterfall – I like the name). Scott’s track finished up by the roadside on the other end of Arthur’s pass town. We walked through town hoping the cafe was open – to our lack of luck it was not. We were able to hear the kias too but not in sight.

We visited Castle Hill on the drive home – catching the last bit of sunlight. Super funky rocks and interesting to read the history! We saw a few people bouldering on them too.

Wrapped up the beautiful weekend hike.