Fit trip. Tents needed. Map BS24 Pourangahau/Mt Robert
Day 1 – Drive to St Arnaud. Park cars at lower Mt Robert carpark and walk along Lakeside track to Hopeless Hut, up the Travers Valley (around 8 hrs). Apparently there is limited camping room around the hut so it would be goo d to arrange sharing tents. Hopeless hut is 6 bunks. If you want to s tay in the hut (if there are free bunks) please bring a hut ticket.
D ay 2 – Walk up Hopeless creek to Sunset Saddle (1900m), side trip to climb Mt Angelus (1hr), camp at Hinapouri tarn.
Day 3 – Walk out via Robert Ridge back to carpark.
There are some descriptions of the rout e on the Internet. They reference loose boulders / boulder hopping an d it involves walking up / across scree. We would need a fine forecas t and good weather / visibility. Sounds like it would take @4hrs to g et to the saddle from Hopeless Hut. The ATC group stayed at Bushline Hut on the way out, then walked back to Kerr Bay the next day.
This i s from an Auckland Tramping Club write up:
The track heads up valley from Hopeless hut terminating in a large imposing cirque. There are two pos sible options for conquering the cirque walls. Either climb directly up, to the true left of the waterfall, or scramble up the large scree fan on the west side of the cirque, staying closer to the northern side of the fan. (t he GPX file I have goes up the shingle fan) The latter option is the more r ecognised route and the direction we took. The slope is loose and scrambly. Once you connect with the head wall, a cairned route can be picked up to t ake you higher. From here to the saddle is almost entirely rock travel. Thi s part of the route could be more difficult to follow in bad weather.
Two high tarns in rocky basins are eventually reached and the cairned rout e (passing between the tarns) is more easily followed from here to the top of the saddle. If you don’t like boulder hopping then this is not the trip for you. There were a few tiny patches of snow to traverse which could be e asily avoided. We reached Sunset Saddle (1900m) bang on mid day and were gr eeted with expansive views in all directions. Lake Angelus Hut could be see n in the distance. The saddle would be a fantastic spot to be sitting at su nset.
Descending from the saddle was no great drama and well cairned. We passed a high alpine tarn on the way down to the larger Hinepouri Tarn and decided it was a very appealing place to stop and set up camp for the n ight having ample flattish areas for our six tents.
Coldwater hut to
Hopeless Hut: 5-6 hours
Hopeless Hut to Sunset Saddle: 4 hours
Sunset Saddle to Angelus peak and return: 1 hour
Sunset Saddle to hig
h tarn campsite: 1 hour:
Lake Angelus Hut to Bushline Hut: 4-5 hours<
br /> Bushline Hut to St Arnaud: 2-3 hours
https ://www.aucktramping.org.nz/about-atc/all-trip-reports?view=article&id=5 76:hopeless-creek-sunset-saddle-robert-ridge&catid=120
https://whatisbruceupto.com/2022/02/26/nelson-lakes-5-days-with-highligh ts-waiau-pass-and-sunset-saddle/
https://www.nelsonlakesshuttles.co.nz/trip .reports21.html
This eve nt was imported from: https://live.nelsontrampingclub.org.nz/events/1368/tr avers-valley-sunset-saddle-robert-ridge?tmpl=componentDTSTAMP:20260714T090909 DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240127 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240130 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR