MT CurTis Hut
Maintenance Status:
Mt Curtis Hut is a community built and maintained hut that is open to the public on a donation-for-use basis. It was built with Department of Conservation permission in 2002 to replace a derelict, unconsented hunter’s hut built in the early 1970s out of beech poles and tin. The new hut's construction was initiated and mostly funded by locals Hamish Roundhill and Warren Inwood. Additional donations and practical help were provided by the local community, although Warren did most of the building, which is to modern standards but with character and a personal touch. The usual access is via a community-maintained track from SH6 near Inangahua.
Location:
Northern Brunner Range, 1.4km west of Mt Curtis. NZ Topomap: BS22, Shenandoah. Grid Ref: NZTM E1520858/ N5360985. Altitude 1185m. Mt Curtis Hut is located near the northern end of the Brunner Range, tucked away at the bushline, on the spur separating the Rough and Dee Creek catchments. The hut can be accessed in a half day from SH6 and provides easy access to the tops. It is readily visible from above and although you can't see the Inangahua valley from it, there are good views back up towards the tops. The hut sited is very sheltered and gets all-day sun. Historically the Hut only got around a dozen recorded parties a year, mostly chamois, deer, or pig hunters, but in recent times with increased social media profiling, the Hut has started getting more interest from the general tramping community.
Access:
The community-maintained track from SH6 is not currently marked on NZ Topomaps and was recut when the hut was built. It is fairly well marked, mostly with pink flagging tape, and is in good condition currently. It starts in Dee Creek which is bounded initially by private land on its TR. The creek bed is rocky, wide, and easy to walk up at low flows and the track starts at the first side-creek on the TL (E1514930/ N5364894). It is freshly flagged up onto and along the terrace for around 900m which it follows parallel to the creek climbing slowly initially, then more steeply once the spur is reached. Allow around four hours at a steady pace to reach the Hut and three for the return down.
The Brunner Range provides easy, open travel from the hut in both directions and navigation is straightforward in good conditions. Mt Curtis Hut is sited at the bushline with a band of scattered alpine scrub between it and the open tops. There is a roughly cut and marked track through the scrub although travel is easy enough without it.
Type:
Mt Curtis Hut is not a standard design and has been built with a friendly feel about it. It has four bunks, a woodburner, a table, and a covered entranceway. Outside there is a woodshed, an outdoor cooking area with a kitchen bench and sink and lots of hooks and washing lines. There is a roof-fed water tank and a toilet.
Condition:
Warren, Hamish and friends painted the Hut and toilet, cleared the undergrowth around the hut site, and did a general tidy-up in February 2024. The Hut is currently in excellent condition and the all-day sun keeps the interior nicely dry.
Routes:
The tops north of Mt Curtis are easily traversed including the section where the ridgeline dips into the bush. There is an old hut just NE of Boundary Peak which is reputedly damp, and mouse infested. An old mustering track cut in the 1960s down the NW spur over Points 770 and 704m to the Iron Bridge on the highway may have some flagging tape on it but is not actively maintained.
There is an untracked route down Boundary Peak's SW spur into Ram Creek through fairly open beech forest. Ram Creek itself is relatively easy travel.
The Brunner Range south of Mt Curtis is very easy travel all the way to Bourkes Rock with scattered tarns along the way providing lovely camp sites. The bush is pretty open from Bourkes Rock down into the Larry River however travel down the river is a bit rough. There was also an old mustering track down the spur between Landing and Dunphy Creek, that Hamish Roundhill has done a bit of cutting on and loosely flagged. The top end of the route is hard to locate, and it ends up on Hamish's farm. He is happy to provide access and directions for trampers and hunters if they ring him in advance (021 471 201).
Larry Saddle and Wheel Creek Hut can be accessed via the northern Victoria Range. The ridgeline allows for fairly easy travel with small traverses a little scrambling required to get around some of the peaks. It is dotted with tarns all the way and so water is not an issue. Mt Ralph with its sheer northern and western faces can be easily traversed on its eastern shoulder. Approaching from the south can be best done via the small catchment draining the southern side of the peak. As a rough rule of thumb allow around four hours from Mt Wynn to Mt Pelion, 2-3 hours from there to Mt Victoria, and 3-4 hours from Mt Victoria to Larry Saddle. A light track goes down the TL rib of the side-creek that runs under the Saddle and from here it should be straightforward travel down Wheel Creek to the hut.
Mt Curtis Hut is a community built and maintained hut that is open to the public on a donation-for-use basis. It was built with Department of Conservation permission in 2002 to replace a derelict, unconsented hunter’s hut built in the early 1970s out of beech poles and tin. The new hut's construction was initiated and mostly funded by locals Hamish Roundhill and Warren Inwood. Additional donations and practical help were provided by the local community, although Warren did most of the building, which is to modern standards but with character and a personal touch. The usual access is via a community-maintained track from SH6 near Inangahua.
Location:
Northern Brunner Range, 1.4km west of Mt Curtis. NZ Topomap: BS22, Shenandoah. Grid Ref: NZTM E1520858/ N5360985. Altitude 1185m. Mt Curtis Hut is located near the northern end of the Brunner Range, tucked away at the bushline, on the spur separating the Rough and Dee Creek catchments. The hut can be accessed in a half day from SH6 and provides easy access to the tops. It is readily visible from above and although you can't see the Inangahua valley from it, there are good views back up towards the tops. The hut sited is very sheltered and gets all-day sun. Historically the Hut only got around a dozen recorded parties a year, mostly chamois, deer, or pig hunters, but in recent times with increased social media profiling, the Hut has started getting more interest from the general tramping community.
Access:
The community-maintained track from SH6 is not currently marked on NZ Topomaps and was recut when the hut was built. It is fairly well marked, mostly with pink flagging tape, and is in good condition currently. It starts in Dee Creek which is bounded initially by private land on its TR. The creek bed is rocky, wide, and easy to walk up at low flows and the track starts at the first side-creek on the TL (E1514930/ N5364894). It is freshly flagged up onto and along the terrace for around 900m which it follows parallel to the creek climbing slowly initially, then more steeply once the spur is reached. Allow around four hours at a steady pace to reach the Hut and three for the return down.
The Brunner Range provides easy, open travel from the hut in both directions and navigation is straightforward in good conditions. Mt Curtis Hut is sited at the bushline with a band of scattered alpine scrub between it and the open tops. There is a roughly cut and marked track through the scrub although travel is easy enough without it.
Type:
Mt Curtis Hut is not a standard design and has been built with a friendly feel about it. It has four bunks, a woodburner, a table, and a covered entranceway. Outside there is a woodshed, an outdoor cooking area with a kitchen bench and sink and lots of hooks and washing lines. There is a roof-fed water tank and a toilet.
Condition:
Warren, Hamish and friends painted the Hut and toilet, cleared the undergrowth around the hut site, and did a general tidy-up in February 2024. The Hut is currently in excellent condition and the all-day sun keeps the interior nicely dry.
Routes:
The tops north of Mt Curtis are easily traversed including the section where the ridgeline dips into the bush. There is an old hut just NE of Boundary Peak which is reputedly damp, and mouse infested. An old mustering track cut in the 1960s down the NW spur over Points 770 and 704m to the Iron Bridge on the highway may have some flagging tape on it but is not actively maintained.
There is an untracked route down Boundary Peak's SW spur into Ram Creek through fairly open beech forest. Ram Creek itself is relatively easy travel.
The Brunner Range south of Mt Curtis is very easy travel all the way to Bourkes Rock with scattered tarns along the way providing lovely camp sites. The bush is pretty open from Bourkes Rock down into the Larry River however travel down the river is a bit rough. There was also an old mustering track down the spur between Landing and Dunphy Creek, that Hamish Roundhill has done a bit of cutting on and loosely flagged. The top end of the route is hard to locate, and it ends up on Hamish's farm. He is happy to provide access and directions for trampers and hunters if they ring him in advance (021 471 201).
Larry Saddle and Wheel Creek Hut can be accessed via the northern Victoria Range. The ridgeline allows for fairly easy travel with small traverses a little scrambling required to get around some of the peaks. It is dotted with tarns all the way and so water is not an issue. Mt Ralph with its sheer northern and western faces can be easily traversed on its eastern shoulder. Approaching from the south can be best done via the small catchment draining the southern side of the peak. As a rough rule of thumb allow around four hours from Mt Wynn to Mt Pelion, 2-3 hours from there to Mt Victoria, and 3-4 hours from Mt Victoria to Larry Saddle. A light track goes down the TL rib of the side-creek that runs under the Saddle and from here it should be straightforward travel down Wheel Creek to the hut.
Looking North along Northern Victoria Range - Photo Tom Hanchett.
The ridge between the Montgomerie and Silcock Creek catchments SW of Larry Saddle is reasonably good travel most of the way to Kirwans Hill. It is seldom travelled and probably only gets traversed every couple of years. Some of the patches where the ridge dips into the bush are a bit scrubby, the worst of these being the traverse under Point 1311m on the Montgomerie side. The other bush sections aren't too bad with quite a few patches of relatively open beech forest. The only water sources on the route are some small tarns at a picturesque campsite a few hundred meters SE of Point 1263m and large tarn at the eastern end of the Kirwans Hill tops. The route is marked from south of Point 1315m to Kirwans Hut. One should allow 6-8 hours for the traverse from Larry Saddle to Kirwans Hill.
The Victoria Range south of Larry Saddle is fairly easy travel initially but becomes increasingly demanding the closer you get to Ivess Peak. There are no recordings of anyone making the full traverse from Larry Saddle to Lake Stream Hut in any of the current hut books. Some imposing rock buttresses on the south ridge of Ivess Peak would make a traverse of it a technical job requiring proper climbing skills and gear. The only options around this bit would be to drop into the heads of either Woolly or Shaw Creek. The latter would provide the opportunity for a stayover at the very picturesque Top Waitahu Biv.
Repairs needed:
Nil currently. The track will need some maintenance work soon (mostly pruning) for anyone who may be interested. Marking the track with permolat would also be a great project for increasing its longevity into the future.
Provisions on site:
Four mattresses, a range of pots and pans, a broom, a dustpan and brush, pegs, an axe, a saw, and various building and painting tools.
The Victoria Range south of Larry Saddle is fairly easy travel initially but becomes increasingly demanding the closer you get to Ivess Peak. There are no recordings of anyone making the full traverse from Larry Saddle to Lake Stream Hut in any of the current hut books. Some imposing rock buttresses on the south ridge of Ivess Peak would make a traverse of it a technical job requiring proper climbing skills and gear. The only options around this bit would be to drop into the heads of either Woolly or Shaw Creek. The latter would provide the opportunity for a stayover at the very picturesque Top Waitahu Biv.
Repairs needed:
Nil currently. The track will need some maintenance work soon (mostly pruning) for anyone who may be interested. Marking the track with permolat would also be a great project for increasing its longevity into the future.
Provisions on site:
Four mattresses, a range of pots and pans, a broom, a dustpan and brush, pegs, an axe, a saw, and various building and painting tools.
