Memories of this trip – being oh-so-cold. Beautiful hike, felt like we were on the moon due to Titiroa’s distinctive white granite.
Highs: the forecast was stellar and we were treated to an ocean of stars in the evening (forget Tekapo!)
Lows: airbed popped and I spent the night in the foetal position
Overall: a must do in Southland
- Time: 10h from jetty to biv; 6.5h biv to car (17km)
- Season: you want a good forecast as it’s pretty exposed at the top for bivvying; also mid-late winter you would have to take crampons
- Team: Joe, Maria 19/06/21
Titiroa is part of the Hunter Mountain range on Lake Manapouri. You can access it as an out and back, or do what we did as a loop track.
We left one car just up to road from Borland lodge. Then we drove round to Manapouri and stayed at Possum Lodge the night before – a stone’s throw away from the jetty where you start. You need to cross Waiau river to get onto the walking track. There are water taxis in the summer season but it was June and besides, it is only about 50m wide – easily doable with a packraft! Harder when there’s only one between two and heavy packs per person… Joe took one for the team and did the trip once with the bags, and the second time with me. Obviously you can use any other river worthy vessel too, as long as you’re happy to stash it somewhere discretely or just risk losing it. At the end of the trip you’ll have to retrieve whatever you left of course requiring a river swim to finish the hike! Other option is to hike with the packraft but we opted just to swim back over at the end. Just watch for passing boats… We were on the water by 0700.
Easy flat Doc track through beech forest. Stick to the trail following the lakeside as the Circle track is a loop track that takes you inland. Around 6km in is the Hope Arm hut. Take a left here heading up Snow White clearing track which takes you to Garnock burn. Ice cold river crossings had me in tears!
Head directly up through the bushline and stick to the ridge of Titiroa. It’s a good grunt going up to 1715m, but in total we clocked just shy of 2000m elevation in total. From the summit, soak in the panoramic views of the Fiordland surrounds! We summited just after 5pm. Smattering of snow around, lots of very oddly shaped boulders. The sun was just starting to set as we descended to find a biv spot for the night. Always love golden hour!
After a sleepless night thanks to a popped airbed / no repair kit, we set off around 8am. Boosted down to North Borland hut, and along North branch Borland river track. OJ and carrots never tasted so good. Drove back round to Pearl Harbour jetty for a brisk swim (thanks Joe!).
Peak Exposure 