Ivory Lake Hut
(Ivory Lake Hut: Mark Watson/ www.highlux.co.nz 2008)
Maintenance Status
Ivory Lake Hut is designated as fully maintain currently.
DOc considers it potentially useful for tahr control purposes, as it is located
around the animals' purported northern
limit. Outdoor stakeholders also lobbied strongly for Ivory's full maintenance in the DOC 2004 High-Country Review.
Location
Waitaha catchment. Map BW18. Grid Ref: 1430255E/
5222095N. 1375m altitude.
Ivory Lake Hut is located on the ice-smoothed rock lip of
Ivory Lake cirque in the head of the Waitaha valley. Not far from the
Hut the Lake's outlet creek drops over the lip in a series of cascades
down into Stag Creek.
Ivory Glacier has shrunk considerably over the last 30 years and is
now not much more than a patch of dead ice hanging off the
rock faces at the southern end of the Lake. In summer flotillas of small icebergs migrate up and down the Lake
daily with the wind cycles.
In 1976 when I first visited the Glacier, then a lot bigger,
could be visited with a rowboat that was stored in the shed in the Hut.
The Lake is enclosed on three sides by the peaks of the Lange Range with a view up Stag Creek of Seddon Col.
Access
Ivory Lake is a very remote setting
and getting up the Waitaha River to it has always been somewhat of a challenge.
DOC ceased maintaining the mid and upper valley tracks in the early 90's and these languished for a time.
Permolat volunteers recut and marked the track from
Moonbeam Hut to Chainman
Creek in 2007 and 11 and it is currently in good shape. Even so, it will still take a fit, experienced
parties 2-3 days to make the journey from the Waitaha roadend to Ivory Lake.
From Top Waitaha Hut
continue upriver to the confluence of Reid and Stag creeks. Climb from here up onto
a flat tussock bench on the TL of Stag Creek.
This has numerous small tarns, is reasonably pleasant travel. The bench tapers out as Stag Creek
rises to meet it. Drop into the Creek when practical and boulderhop from here to the
Ivory Lake outlet creek.
The Hut is located on the lip on cirque at the top of the rock faces above the outlet waterfall.
It is not visible from Stag Creek. To access the Hut continue up Stag Creek 100m past the outlet creek and
pick a route up through a series of sloping ledges
onto the southern lip of the Lake. You may need iceaxes and crampons for this bit in
Winter. A less exposed route can be found a bit further up Stag Creek at a very small creek
draining the face at the eastern end of the Lake. Head up this creek on its true left to the
level of the Hut and sidle across to the eastern edge of the Lake. Travel time to Ivory Hut from
Top Waitaha Hut is around two hours.
In winter the snow can get very deep around the Hut, with often just the roof
visible. If travelling to Ivory at this time of year it may be advisable to carry a snow
shovel to dig the door out.
Type
Ivory Hut was built by the Ministry of Works in the 1960's to monitor
glacier dynamics. Their hydrology team led by glaciologist
Trevor Chinn spent a lot of time collecting data which is now valuable for understanding climate change
impacts on water storage. The Hut has six bunks and with a shed/ workshop along the South wall which is full
of all sorts of fascinating junk, and tools from the research days. Ivory
was sturdily constructed and is lined. It has a double
burner primus
in a cooking alcove. Vistors need to bring their own kerosine and the primus needs meths
to pre-heat it. There is no toilet here, a potential problem given the dearth of
vegetation and topsoil in the area.
Condition
Ivory Hut is soundly contructed and has withstood the numerous alpine storms
pretty well over the years.
It was repainted
in 2001 by DOC volunteers and glass and perspex windows (some broken) were replaced by tougher
polycarbonate. Additional repairs were made in 2003 and new tie-downs fitted. At last report
Ivory was in good condition. A leak around the
"chimney" area appears to have been sorted out.
Routes
There is route from Ivory Hut to Price Basin Hut
in the Whitcombe via the Lange Range which involves climbing
up onto spot height 2056m on the
Lange Range and descending the ridge leading
to Mt. Wylde Brown. There is a section of crumbling
rock buttress near the top of this ridge that you can sidle underneath on the South
side. The remainder of the route down into Price Basin
is easy ridge travel. There is a bit of
permanent snow at the very top of this route.
Seddon Col is easy to get to from Ivory Lake side, but
the Whitcombe side is vertical at the top with rotten
rock and requires ropes and climbing gear. It is probably
easier to get down into Seddon Creek and the Wilkinson River
via the SE end of the Lange Range. A rock buttress prevents easy
access to the Range from Seddon Col, so the best route onto it would
be the same one you'd use to get over into Price Basin. It would be
possible using this route to drop off Mt Thorndike down its
South Ridge into the Wilkinson, or continue
right down Pahlow Ridge, and Pahlow Creek into the Whitcombe.
There are good routes over spot
height 1870m behind Ivory Glacier to the Tuke, Galena Ridge and
the Whitcome valley via Steadman Brow. Spot height 1870m is an easy
climb from Ivory Hut up the obvious ridge on the true right of the outlet creek
where it exits the Lake.
There are numerous points along the ridge between spot height 1870m and Mt.
Beaumont where descents into the Tuke are possible. It takes about 4-5 hours
to get from Ivory to Tuke Hut.
Dickie Ridge and Dickie Spur Hut are accessable
via Sawtooth Ridge and the Tusk, from spot height 1870m. Sawtooth Ridge is traversable,
mostly on its South side. Take an ice axe for this bit.
North of the Tusk around spot height 1920m there is a section of ridge that a few parties have also had
trouble negotiating. The reality is that there are a couple of places that
call for an ability to downclimb, and a moderate head for heights. If you don't have that you're probably
in the wrong area anyway.
Healey Spur
Hut and the Cropp Basin can be reached by traversing Mt. Beaumont. Healey via Galena
Ridge, and Prices Flat Hut in the Whitcombe valley via Steadman Brow and the
Cropp Brow tops track. The ridge from spot height 1870m to Beaumont is easy travel.
Mt. Beaumont has permanent snow on it's summit, and a very small glacial remnant on its South face,
but is an easy traverse. Galena Ridge is pretty good going apart from one steep little notch
just North of the col between the Tuke and the Cropp that requires care.
There is a good route down the Cropp Brow trail that connects with a maintained
tops track up Steadman Brow. This takes you down to Price Flat in the Whitcombe. DOC finished
recutting this track in 2010.
The section of the
Lange Range encircling the NW end of Ivory Lake
is a razorback, very exposed, and narrow enough
in places to dangle your legs in separate catchments, with a drop
of several hundred metres on each side. A rope
would be essential for a traverse of this section.
A climb of Park Dome from Ivory Hut is highly recommended,
reasonably easy, and provides stunning
views of Mt. Evans and the Southern Alps. It can be done
with just ice axes in high summer, or if conditions permit, at other times. It would be advisable
however to have crampons on hand in case they're needed. A rope is optional - there is a small glacier
with a few slots in it that can be skirted around if you can see them.
To get onto the Dome drop into Stag Creek from the
Hut and ascend the face onto the spur that bisects
the two main branches of Stag Creek. Climb up and around
the true right of the small glacier feeding the South
branch of Stag Creek to access the summit.
Repairs
The next vistor could take up some sealant and attend to
those leaks. You can also assist DOC by collecting all the bits and pieces
of metal and old equipment scattered
around the Lake and placing them in the shed.
Building a toilet here would be a good idea, although possibly challenging given that a lot of
the surrounds are either bare rock or shallow
gravel pans. Any increase in the low numbers currently
visiting the site is likely to create waste disposal
problems.
Provisions
on Site
As of October 2004: 1 Working Kero cooker (gravity fuel-feed jar model),
3 billies, 1 tea pot, 1 camp oven, 4 enamel plates, cutlery, kero
cooker (in lean-to shed, no Kero), an ornamental fire extinguisher,
dining table and two chairs, 1 armchair, 1 good snow shovel
(which Warren Chinn jammed in the door handle for the next party to dig out the door..),
1 strange looking leaf shaped snow shovel, a collection of preserved invertebrate
specimens from 1972, and a thousand other extraordinary bits and pieces! The aluminium
rowboat in the 1976 photo is no longer in the shed unfortunately.
