Mt Mantell

Mt Mantell (1606m) is off the Maruia Saddle road at the top of the Matakitaki Valley south of Murchison. It is a good target for many keen trampers!

At the beginning of October, four of us took up the challenge and knew it would be a long day.

The start of the track is between the 1st and 2nd fords at culvert #17 on the Maruia Saddle road. There is no sign but markers on the trees clearly mark the start.

The track follows a steep ridge through mature beech forest, so altitude is gained quickly. We trudged and gasped our way up, stopping often to admire the views showing through the trees.

As we approached the bush line, we encountered snow on the ground and once out of the trees, the snow was quite thick. The views were stupendous! We had a 360 deg view and were able to identify mountains in the Nelson Lakes NP, the Lewis Pass, the Victoria Forest Park, Martiri ranges and Mt Owen.

Unfortunately, because we'd started a little later than planned in the morning, we didn't have time to walk across the ridge to Mt Mantell itself, just 2 kms away. We'll do that next time. The walk back down is hard on the knees as it's so steep and, by the time we got back to the road, we were all suffering from 'jelly legs'! The whole trip took 7 hours, challenging but really enjoyable.

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