Chris, Steve, Emily and I drove into the Routeburn Shelter yesterday evening and then walked into the Routeburn Flats Hut. We camped North of the hut for the night.
Today we headed back past the Routeburn Flats Hut directly South climbing up a steep ravine and picking our way up to Emily Pass. From there we headed up Emily Peak from the ridge leading South East from the pass. It was a mixture of scrambling and some easy climbing on chossy rock. Steve lead the few pitches to the summit and we climbed up on top rope. We had a great view from the summit down to Lake Mackenzie. We down climbed from the peak and abseiled the last section back to the ridge and headed off down to Lake Mackenzie where we had a brew up. The DoC warden interrogated us as we walked past Lake Mackenzie Hut. Where would we be staying? Did we know the rules? It’s already late. That’s a long way. We assured him we’d be camping sufficiently far away from the Great Walk and set off northwards. At Conical Hill we dropped down to Lake Harris and then found a camp site on the flats below the climb to Lake Wilson. The site was pretty nice with an upstairs, an elevated knoll where Steve and I pitched for the night. The Fornes were downstairs.
A good day out.