Access

There are two ways to access higher altitudes by road, as of June 2023:

• The top of the Crown Range road is usually close to snow line and gives access to Mount Sale 1735m to the west or Quartze Peak 1573m to the east via the Rock Peak Track.

• The second and most popular route is the Snow Farm road which begins in Cardona and rises 1000m to the Snowfarm Nordic Ski Area and the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds (SHPG). The road does not take you completely to the border of the Conservation Area, you will need to cross private property one of two ways:

1. The original legal easement through the SHPG facilities. If the SHPG facilities are operational you must check in at the obvious security gate where they will direct you to the office where you will pay a $20 road toll for the car, and then be escorted to the the carpark. From there it is 1km down a relatively easy valley to the Meg Steam which is the border of the Conservation Area. If SHPG is not operational the gates are closed and your legal right of access is blocked, hopefully this will be changed.

2. The Snowfarm Nordic Area.  If you park at the Snowfarm carpark you can go to the office and pay the $10 per person to pass through through the Snowfarm to get to the Conservation Area.  This is the access that was free in the past.  This route is roughly twice as long as the SHPG route, something to consider as you walk uphill at the end of the day. Another option is to buy a season pass and trail fees are paid for the season.  There is limited parking this season at the snow farm so car pool if you can. The Snow farm is owned by the Pisa Alpine Charitable Trust which fully deserves any support you can give it.

Pisa Range Access Points and Tracks

1. Crown Range Road Summit to Tuohys Gully

Rock Peak Track starts at the Crown Saddle car park. Follow an old 4WD track as it zigzags up from the car park to the transmitter station at Rock Peak. The track continues to Tuohys saddle from where there are the options of descending to Tuohys Gully or to the Meg Hut. No seasonal restrictions. No motorised vehicles.

2. Cardrona–Cromwell Pack Track Tuohys Gully car park to Lowburn car park (Swann Road)

A) Tuohys Gully car park to Meg Hut, 2-3 hrs 7 km, 4WD track. Walk / bike. No vehicles.

B) Meg Hut to Deep Creek Hut: 3-4 hr, 8 km, poled walking track leading to 4WD track and then a poled track. Walk but not bikeable on the tussock sidle across to Deep Creek Hut

C) Deep Creek Hut to Lowburn car park (Swann Road): 4-5 hr, 10 km, 4WD track becoming a poled walking track. Walking / No biking.

600m past Deep Creek Hut is the Conservation Area boundary. Text Box: NZ walking access website. For the track to appear on the link below you have to zoom in quite a bit when you open the link below.

https://www.herengaanuku.govt.nz/maps/outdoor-access-maps/

The track is poled, follow the orange marker pole to make sure you stay on the easement.

The track deviates away from the farm track, make sure you are following the orange markers. The track has a NZ Walking access sign and stile at the starting point in Low Burn.

“This section of the track belongs to Lowburn Station and is not maintained by DOC. Visitors must follow the orange poled route and not the farm road marked on Topo50 Maps.
From the hut, follow the farm road up to the ridge. Signage on a farm gate indicates the start of access through Lowburn Station. This is a working farm – please respect the landowner’s access conditions and remain on the poled route.
The route follows the ridge on a farm road for a short distance before dropping steeply down a fence line to an old cattle track. The route sidles along the cattle track until it intersects and again follows a farm road down to the valley floor and the ruins of an old stone cottage.
Here you cross the Low Burn stream for one last uphill climb before crossing through farm paddock to the stile on Swann Road.”

Email From DOC: 22.5.23

Access to Deep Creek Hut has been negotiated and put in place by the NZ Walking Access Commission, there are no walking restrictions. The track does not appear on DOC maps. I have inserted a link below to NZ walking access website. For the track to appear on the link below you have to zoom in quite a bit when you open the link below.

https://www.herengaanuku.govt.nz/maps/outdoor-access-maps/

The track is poled, follow the orange marker pole to make sure you stay on the easement.

The track deviates away from the farm track, make sure you are following the orange markers. The track has a NZ Walking access sign and stile at the starting point in Low Burn.

“This section of the track belongs to Lowburn Station and is not maintained by DOC. Visitors must follow the orange poled route and not the farm road marked on Topo50 Maps.

From Deep Creek Hut, follow the farm road up to the ridge. Signage on a farm gate indicates the start of access through Lowburn Station. This is a working farm – please respect the landowner’s access conditions and remain on the poled route.

The route follows the ridge on a farm road for a short distance before dropping steeply down a fence line to an old cattle track. The route sidles along the cattle track until it intersects and again follows a farm road down to the valley floor and the ruins of an old stone cottage.

Here you cross the Low Burn stream for one last uphill climb before crossing through farm paddock to the stile on Swann Road.”

In reverse, 4km north of Cromwell turn onto Lowburn Valley Road and then onto Swann Road to the signposted car park 4kms from the highway.

3. Deep Creek to Mt Pisa Summit

From Deep Creek Hut it is not possible to continue on the 4wd track to the main Pisa ridge line and then head north. On the ridge is a private hut. The 4WD track east of Mitre Rocks is on private land. The only legal access to go north along the Pisa ridge line is to go off track – easy enough - and take the spur from the hut up to Mitre Rocks. 700m past Mitre Rocks the 4WD track can be legally re-joined within the Pisa Conservation Area boundary.

4. Deep Creek to Mt Michael and the Kawarau Gorge Road

There is no legal access for this section of 4wd track.

5. Cardrona Roaring Meg Pack Track

A) Tuohys Gully car park to Meg Hut: 2 hr, 7 km The car park is signposted to the right, across the Waiorau Snow Farm entrance bridge and again at the end of the road. The track climbs steadily up a 4WD track to Tuohys saddle (1,140 m), from where an easy grade track to the left leads down to the Meg Hut (960 m).

B) Meg Hut to Roaring Meg: 3-4 hr, 12 km Either from Meg Hut or, easier, from Tuohys Saddle, continue through the Roaring Meg gorge. This poled track has steep sidles before descending an unmarked 4WD road (private land) to the Roaring Meg power station in the Kawarau Gorge. Mountain bikes, firearms and dogs are not permitted on this private land – access through this section is for trampers only.

Difficult biking. The steep sidles on the true left of the Roaring Meg are mainly unrideable.

In that bikes are not permitted to use the private road at the Kawarau end, there is also no access up to Deep Creek Hut which would otherwise allow a great extended trip along the Pisa Range.

Snowfarm / SHPG Accesses

Whitney will add the details of this complicated situation later

6. Little Criffel Track

Avalon car park to Little Criffel to The Larches car park: 6–7 hr, 18 km

Avalon car park to Little Criffel: 3–4 hr, 8 km.

Avalon car park is 12km from Wanaka. The poled track climbs 1,341 m to Little Criffel Trig and is steep and unformed. From the car park, cross the Cardrona River and follow the markers and stiles up the hill.

Larches Car park is 6km from Wanaka. It is necessary to follow poles along the roadside fence line for a few hundred metres before the track angles down to the Cardrona River. Farmer’s crops can make this messy travel. The track across the river climbs onto high terraces – often overgrown – before meeting a 4wd farm track which zigzags up almost to the main ridge line through farm land before entering the Pisa Conservation Area. Continue a further 2km along to the trig.

Access via Larches car park closed 10 October to 10 November.

A tramping route. For biking, the ascent from the Larches car park is tough and a descent to Avalon car park is very difficult.

While the trig is on Conservation land, this block is not connected to the rest of the Pisa Conservation Area. A kilometre further south along the ridge line is the Conservation Area boundary. There is no legal access further south along the Criffel Range or from the Pisa Range.

The special lease status of the land between Criffel and Pisa means that there is tramping access between the two blocks of Conservation Land. The 4WD track which links the two blocks further south is not a legal access.

7. Queensbury to Mt Pisa Track: Pisa Range Ridge Track

Queensbury car park is reached by turning off the highway 10km south of Luggate and 20km from Wanaka. On a sealed road zigzag up before turning left at a T intersection into Wailana Heights Road. Continue 1.2km along the hillside to the car park. Follow the initially steep 4wd track past a radio mast and up to the Pisa Conservation Area boundary 3.5kms from the car park. A further 4.5kms on the intersection with the Locharburn Track from the Luggate – Cromwell highway is met. Lake McKay is 9.6 kms from the car park. The often-eroded 4wd track continues on to a track intersection near Pt 1956m before dropping into Sallys Pinch and climbing to Mt Pisa summit 13.5km from the road and almost 1500m higher.

For biking there is much good riding but the steep climbs are often difficult and a push because of water erosion accelerated by trail bike use despite it being DOC land.

8. Locharburn Track

The track starts almost 15km south of Luggate, just before the highway drops into Kidd Creek. The poled walking track follows an easement through private land and climbs steeply 3kms to the Pisa Conservation Area boundary before continuing up to meet the Pisa Range Ridge Track 6km from the road. A walking track not a biking track.

9. Tinwald Burn Ridge Track: Mt Pisa Station to Pisa Range Ridge Track

The car park is 13.5km north of Cromwell and 40km south of Wanaka. Turn off the highway onto Mt Pisa Road, turn right at the intersection and drive 4km to the road end. The 4wd track climbs steeply to the Pisa Conservation Area boundary at 6.5km before continuing to the meet the Pisa Range Ridge Track 3km further on. From here it is around 2km to either Mt Pisa summit or Column Rocks. Over 1400m of climbing.

A walking track and more of a descent route for bikes.

No 2WD vehicle access to Tinwald Burn car park

There is no access for 2WD vehicles to Tinwald Burn Ridge car park. This is due to a large hole in the road in the Cherry Orchard section about 400 metres before the car park.

Parking before the hole is not possible due to the narrow, unsealed road. 4WD vehicles can pass in dry conditions. Bikers or walkers can still pass this section with drop off and pick up from Mt Pisa Road.

There is currently no date scheduled to fix the road.

I'll try and add a map to show the various access points.

Neil Sloan