High Burn - Mount Shrimpton, 17 - 19 December 2015

A solo trip in the mountains in the back of Makarora. I started this trip without a set route or destination in mind. Instead, I just walked for three days with eyes wide open, letting the landscape around me dictate where I could go and where I could not. A brilliant wee trip across a stunning bit of country.

Day 1: From Cameron Flat up Camerons Creek for lunch at Cameron Hut, then across the river and onto the tops. Sidle under Pt 1866m and Pt 2020m to a scenic campsite on the saddle Pt 1547m above Cascade Creek.
Day 2: Sidling under Pt 1931m, then right over Pt 1940m before a descent to an unnamed lake on the saddle separating Cascade Creek from Camerons Creek. Over the tops south of the lake, then down into the High Burn. The hut was blown over by the wind and is lying on its roof. Across the river and up to a camp above scrub-line, 150m below the High Burn - Big Hopwood Burn Saddle.
Day 3: Up to the saddle above the Big Hopwood Burn, then a long sidle westwards to just under Pt 1960m. I had not intended to climb Mount Shrimpton, but when I saw an elegant snow ramp leading straight to the summit, I could not resist. I then descended the Mount Shrimpton Track to Makarora.

Trip map. 1 grid square = 1km. Left click on map then select "Sizes -> Original" in bottom right corner of screen to view full size.
Panorama from Camerons Creek lookout. Mount Birnam and the Blue River are left of centre image, while the ridge of Castle Hill is on the right.
High Burn Shrimpton 008a Blue River Camerons Creek Makarora River Mount Birnam New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View up Camerons Creek to Pt 1866m, Young Range - looks like I'm heading into some fresh snow!
High Burn Shrimpton 037 Camerons Creek New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
Camerons Creek and Cameron Hut. Pt 1866m and Pt 1834m (McKerrow Range) above.
High Burn Shrimpton 045 Cameron Hut Camerons Creek McKerrow Range New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
Camerons Creek and Cameron Hut. Pt 1866m (McKerrow Range) above.
High Burn Shrimpton 046 Cameron Hut Camerons Creek McKerrow Range New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
Cameron Hut
High Burn Shrimpton 050 Cameron Hut Camerons Creek New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range hut
View down Camerons Creek from Cameron Hut. Pt 1964m (Young Range) is the prominent peak on the right.
High Burn Shrimpton 052 Cameron Hut Camerons Creek New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range hut
Cameron Hut
High Burn Shrimpton 058 Cameron Hut Camerons Creek New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range hut
Cameron Hut. Pt 1886m (McKerrow Range) above.
High Burn Shrimpton 060 Cameron Hut Camerons Creek New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range hut
Cameron Hut
High Burn Shrimpton 061 Cameron Hut Camerons Creek New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range hut
Cameron Hut
High Burn Shrimpton 066 Cameron Hut Camerons Creek New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range hut
View of Cameron Hut from the west ridge of Pt 1866m, Young Range.
High Burn Shrimpton 068 Cameron Hut Camerons Creek New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range hut
View across Camerons Creek to Pt 1886m and Pt 2016m, McKerrow Range.
High Burn Shrimpton 071 Camerons Creek McKerrow Range New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View west from the ridge of Pt 1866m. Camerons Creek and Camerons Hut are at the bottom. Pt 1646m and Pt 1726m (McKerrow Range) are on the skyline.
High Burn Shrimpton 075 Cameron Hut Camerons Creek McKerrow Range New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
McKerrow Range panorama across Camerons Creek from the Young Range.
High Burn Shrimpton 084a Cameron Hut Camerons Creek McKerrow Range New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View into the head of Camerons Creek South Branch. The saddle at centre image gives access into the High Burn. Mount Constitution is directly above; Triplet Mountain is back left.
High Burn Shrimpton 109 Camerons Creek High Burn Mount Constitution New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Triplet Mountain Young Range
Pt 1886m (left, with the diamond-shaped rock face) and Pt 2016m, McKerrow Range, across Camerons Creek.
High Burn Shrimpton 112 Camerons Creek McKerrow Range New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View into the head of Camerons Creek South Branch. The saddle at centre image gives access into the High Burn. Mount Constitution is directly above.
High Burn Shrimpton 113 Camerons Creek High Burn Mount Constitution New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Triplet Mountain Young Range
View into the head of Camerons Creek South Branch. The saddle at centre image gives access into the High Burn. Mount Constitution is directly above.
High Burn Shrimpton 114 Camerons Creek High Burn Mount Constitution New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Triplet Mountain Young Range
View into the head of Camerons Creek South Branch. The saddle at centre image gives access into the High Burn. Triplet Mountain is back left. Mount Constitution is in the centre; the McKerrow Range continues to the right towards Mount Shrimpton.
High Burn Shrimpton 117a Camerons Creek High Burn McKerrow Range Mount Constitution New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Triplet Mountain Young Range
View into the head of Camerons Creek South Branch. Triplet Mountain and Mount Constitution are on the left; Pt 2016m (McKerrow Range) is on the right.
High Burn Shrimpton 139a Camerons Creek High Burn McKerrow Range Mount Constitution New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Triplet Mountain Young Range
View into Camerons Creek North Branch. Pt 1964m is on the far right, with Mount Brewster just left of it. The spur in the foreground on the far left is a good route connecting to Stewarts Creek.
High Burn Shrimpton 154 Camerons Creek Mount Brewster New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View across the Makarora River. Mount Stuart is the flat snowy peak on left. Mount Victor is further left, and the Lindsay Glacier and Mount Nerger are on the left edge of the picture. Mount Cameron (front) and Mount Diomede (back) are perfectly aligned just right of centre image. Further right is the rocky Mount Campbell, then Mount Burke (front) and The Keystone (back).
High Burn Shrimpton 155 Lindsay Glacier Makarora River Mount Burke Mount Cameron Mount Campbell Mount Diomede Mount Nerger Mount Stuart Mount Victor New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps The Keystone Tramping Young Range
View into Cameron Creek North and East Branches. Mount Brewster is at centre image; Pt 2020m (Young Range) is the rocky peak on the right. Further back and on the left are Mount McFarlane and Shattered Peak.
High Burn Shrimpton 164 Camerons Creek Mount Brewster Mount McFarlane New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Shattered Peak Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View into Cameron Creek North and East Branches. Mount Brewster is at centre image; Pt 2020m (Young Range) is the rocky peak on the right. Further back and on the left are Mount McFarlane and Shattered Peak.
High Burn Shrimpton 165 Camerons Creek Mount Brewster New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View into the head of Camerons Creek South Branch. The McKerrow Range is on the right, with Pt 2016m being the most prominent peak. I camped on the sun-lit saddle on left (Pt 1547m), then traversed the sun-lit tops the next morning.
High Burn Shrimpton 184a Camerons Creek McKerrow Range New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
Looking ahead to the first section of tomorrow's route: Pt 1931m is at centre image; Pt 1940m is back right.
High Burn Shrimpton 185a New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
Looking north from Pt 1866m. Pt 1964m is in the foreground at centre image; Mount Brewster is in the background.
High Burn Shrimpton 188 Mount Brewster New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View noprth from Pt 1866m
High Burn Shrimpton 203a Lindsay Peak Mount Abrupt Mount Bertha Mount Brewster Mount Campbell Mount Diomede Mount MacFarlane Mount Nerger Mount Stuart Mount Victor New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Plover Crag Shattered Peak Southern Alps The Joker Topheavy Tramping Weary Summit Young Range
View noprth from Pt 1866m
High Burn Shrimpton 203b Lindsay Peak Mount Abrupt Mount Bertha Mount Brewster Mount Campbell Mount Diomede Mount MacFarlane Mount Nerger Mount Stuart Mount Victor New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Plover Crag Shattered Peak Southern Alps The Joker Topheavy Tramping Weary Summit Young Range
Mount Alba and Mount Awful. Pt 1946m above Leven Stream is in front of the latter.
High Burn Shrimpton 204 Mount Alba Mount Awful New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View to the north-west from Pt 1866m
High Burn Shrimpton 206a Eyetooth Misty Peak Mount Actor Mount Argos Mount Franklin Mount Harris Mount Warren New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Souter Peak Southern Alps Tramping Young Peak Young Range
View west from Pt 1866m
High Burn Shrimpton 208 Mount Aeolus Mount Broome Mount Castor Mount Kuri Mount Pollux Mount Ragan Mount Turner New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
Pt 2016m, Young Range
High Burn Shrimpton 209 New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View north-east from Pt 1866m, Young Range. Mount Huxley is in cloud, right of centre image. Tent Peak is on the far right.
High Burn Shrimpton 210 Mount Huxley New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tent Peak Tramping Young Range
View south-east from Pt 1866m, Young Range. Leaning Mount is at centre image.
High Burn Shrimpton New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range Leaning Mount
View of Mount Constitution, McKerrow Range, from Pt 1866m, Young Range.
High Burn Shrimpton 212 McKerrow Range Mount Constitution New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View of Mount Shrimpton (McKerrow Range) from Pt 1866m, Young Range. It's going to be a fun tops traverse across some rugged country to get there.
High Burn Shrimpton 213 McKerrow Range Mount Shrimpton New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View into the basin west of Saddle Pt 1547m, Young Range. Mount Shrimpton and Pt 2016m (McKerrow Range) are on the skyline.
High Burn Shrimpton 225 McKerrow Range Mount Shrimpton New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View into Cascade Creek from Saddle Pt 1547m, Young Range. Pt 1858m is just right of centre image; Pt 2025m is on the left.
High Burn Shrimpton 245 Cascade Creek New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range tarn
View into Cascade Creek from Saddle Pt 1547m, Young Range. Pt 1858m is just left of centre image.
High Burn Shrimpton 247 Cascade Creek New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range tarn
Campsite on the Saddle Pt 1547m at the head of Cascade Creek, Young Range tops.
High Burn Shrimpton 254 Cascade Creek New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range camp campsite tent
View into the basin west of Saddle Pt 1547m, Young Range. Mount Shrimpton and Pt 2016m (McKerrow Range) are on the skyline.
High Burn Shrimpton 267 McKerrow Range Mount Shrimpton New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View into the basin west of Saddle Pt 1547m, Young Range. Mount Shrimpton and Pt 2016m (McKerrow Range) are on the skyline.
High Burn Shrimpton 268 McKerrow Range Mount Shrimpton New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View from the shoulder of Pt 1931m, Young Range. From left to right are Pt 1956m (Leven Stream), Misty Peak, Eyetooth, Mount Actor, Mount Argos, Mount Bertha.
High Burn Shrimpton 279 Eyetooth Misty Peak Mount Actor Mount Argos Mount Bertha New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
View across Camerons Creek to Mount Shrimpton (far left) and Pt 2016m, McKerrow Range.
High Burn Shrimpton 281 McKerrow Range Mount Shrimpton New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Young Range
Looking south-west over the McKerrow Range from Pt 1940m at the head of Waterfall Creek, Young Range. Mount Aspiring / Tititea is on the skyline on the far right.
High Burn Shrimpton 338 McKerrow Range Mount Aspiring New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Waterfall Creek Young Range
View down Waterfall Creek from Pt 1940m, Young Range. Leaning Mount is on the skyline on the far left; Mount Patriarch is the flat mountain on the far right.
High Burn Shrimpton 339 Leaning Mount Mount Patriarch New Zealand Otago Otago Alps Southern Alps Tramping Waterfall Creek Young Range

Southern Alps Photography

High Burn - Mount Shrimpton, 17 - 19 December 2015

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