Mt Ida – Ida Range, Oteake Conservation Park
Sunday 24 May 2026
It had been almost 12 years since the previous trip to Mt Ida, led by Noel Pullan in July 2014, on a bitterly cold mid-winter day, that saw us turn around at about 1400 metres, after we all agreed that it was far too cold to continue on up into the thick layer of cloud covering the top of the range. Over the intervening years, I had made a few suggestions to various club members that perhaps it was time to have another crack it, so thanks to Jenny for including it on the autumn calendar.
After driving up to Palmerston from home in Dunedin, I met-up with the other five trampers, who had left Oamaru at the usual 8:00 am start time, before continuing in two vehicles along State Highway 85 through the Pigroot to the Mt Ida Station homestead, just over 3 kilometres past Wedderburn, where the Little Mt Ida access road starts from a farm yard about 300 metres past the homestead on the right-hand side of the road. We’d been assured by the station owner that the access road was in a good, dry condition (unlike 12 years prior), so there were no issues driving the 7.3 kilometres to where we parked, at the prominent right-angled corner of the road where it continues on up to the television transmission tower and building on top of Little Mt Ida.
At 10:22 am we set-off along the 4WD track from the road corner at 740 metres, initially following the course of the Ida Burn north, before turning northeast and climbing briefly up to a track junction at 880 metres, at the base of Mt Ida, covering the 3-kilometre distance in around 45 minutes. We stopped here for a morning tea break, while the last of the valley fog cleared, revealing a perfectly fine and calm day. From here, we crossed a boundary fence and started up the tussock slope beneath the rocky outcrops of the southwest spur. Based upon the winter ascent in 2014, I had described this initial climb as “quite steep”, but with an additional 12 years of ageing to take into consideration, I would now upgrade this rating to “very steep”!
We weaved our way up through, around and over the rock outcrops and after an hour and a half of hard slog, we had completed the ascent of the spur and settled down for a lunch break at 1425 metres, on what could now be described as the southwest ridge proper. We enjoyed a relaxed lunch in the sun, enjoying the spectacular views over the Maniototo Plain to the southwest. At 1:00 pm we resumed our ascent of the southwest ridge and despite the last 90 vertical metres requiring a scramble over some “quite steep” rocks, we were all at the large summit cairn at 1690 metres around 1:30 pm, a total of about 3 hours and 10 minutes from the vehicles. We sat in the late-autumn sun with mostly calm air and tried to take in the enormity of the scenery around us, from the vast expanse of the Maniototo Plain, stretching from the southeast, right around to the south, and southwest across the Manuherikia Valley, backed by the Dunstan Mountains and, even further back, Tapuae-o-Uenuku / Hector Mountains, The Remarkables, Mt Earnslaw / Pikirakatahi, Mt Aspiring / Tititea, around to the northwest and north to the distant chain of the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, culminating in Aoraki / Mt Cook and the countless high peaks of the Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park. To the northeast and east were our local peaks of the St Marys Range and Kakanui Mountains, where you could easily trace the routes of previous trips. It was a truly magnificent viewpoint and well worth the effort to get up there, especially on such a calm day with as much visual clarity as you could hope for. After making the most of the available photo opportunities, and a top-up of food and drink, it was time to begin the descent, departing from the summit cairn (which encloses the original 1881 trig station) at 2:13 pm, giving us 3 hours until sunset.
We made short work of the descent of the adjacent southern ridgeline, which lead us all the way down to the saddle in front of Little Mt Ida, before the final 20-30-minute steep climb up through the tussocks to the building and tower on the top of Little Mt Ida at 1169 metres. Although it was anticipated that we may have been there closer to 5:00 pm, and capture some sunset photos to the west, we had all departed from the top of Little Mt Ida by 4:10 pm, enjoying the easy walk down the access road to the parked vehicles at the bottom, with the last of the party arriving just after 4:40 pm, completing the 12.4-kilometre circuit in 6 hours and 20 minutes.
Soon after, we were back in the vehicles and on our way out to State Highway 85, before returning to Palmerston via the Pigroot, where we parted company at the end of what I would personally rate as one of the best days I’ve had in the hills.
Sincere thanks for the company of Jenny (and for organising and arranging the trip), Robbie, Julian, Jane Simpson and Jake (visitor).
Rodney Meiklejohn
(Dunedin-based NOTMC member)
