Mt Kyeburn and Little Kyeburn

Mt Kyeburn & Little Kyeburn Track – Sunday, 29th November 2020

Seven of us left the Medway Street car park at 7am and travelled through Dansey’s Pass with a brief stop at the Dansey’s Pass pub for a pit stop and some had coffee.

We arrived at the end of Little Kyeburn Road around 9:00 a.m. where we met Helen & Rodney, who had driven through the Pigroot from Dunedin.  With everyone now in the two 4WD vehicles, we continued on along the 4.6km of Mount Buster Road to the DOC car park at the entrance to the Oteake Conservation Park, at an elevation of 460m.

Just after 9:30 a.m., we set off along the 4WD track heading northeast from the car park, walking the two kilometres to the junction of the Little Kyeburn Track and the track we would continue to follow up the southwest spur of Mt Kyeburn.  We couldn’t actually see Mt Kyeburn at all, as the cloud was down to about 1200m, although there was hardly any wind to speak of, so we were soon well and truly warmed up.

After 45 minutes walking, we reached an altitude of 850m and had passed the first of several zigzags on the 4WD track leading up the spur. After an hour and a quarter, at an altitude of 1055m, we stopped for a rest break on one of the long straights of the track. After two hours, at a corner of the continually zigzagging track, we reached an altitude of 1245m and could now look across to the northwest to the Buster Diggings disused goldmining site. To the north we could also see the top of Kohurau (2009m), the highest point of the St Marys Range, with Benmore Peak (1894m) and Totara Peak (1822m) also being visible in the distant north-northwest.

Two and a half hours after setting out, we reached the end of the 4WD track at an altitude of 1365m. From this point, we headed cross country, initially following a fence line straight up the slope, before deviating around to the north up through tussocks for quarter of an hour to reach Point 1446 metres, just over a kilometre west of Mt Kyeburn. After regrouping, we soon reached the 4WD track circling the top of Mt Kyeburn, leaving a final steep ascent of 120 vertical metres to the top. Seven of us took the steeper, direct route, with two walking northeast along the track towards the junction with the Mt Kyeburn Track, where the slope to the top was a much reduced gradient. Unfortunately, the cloud had not really cleared, although we did have some views to the northwest, but the view to the southeast out to Danseys Pass was limited at best. By 1:15 p.m., all but one of the nine party members had made the final climb to the top, where we sat beneath the old trig beacon for a late lunch and a well earned rest.

After taking some group photos at the top at 1:45 p.m., we headed north down to the junction of the Mt Kyeburn Track and continued on past Point 1558, while taking in the view northeast towards the clouded St Marys Range peaks of Mt Domett (1942m), Little Domett (1860m) and Grayson Peak (1660m), with Cone (1563m) the only peak totally free of cloud. As the tracked turned and headed southwest towards Buster Hut and the Buster Diggings, Mt Ida (1690m) and the Ida Range had cleared of cloud, offering a clear view out to the Maniototo Plain beyond. We walked the remainder of Mt Kyeburn Track, reaching Buster Hut around 3:00 p.m., where we once again regrouped and had another rest break before commencing the descent down Little Kyeburn Track.

We were soon on our way down Little Kyeburn Track and commencing the steep descent down into the gorge of Little Kye Burn. Despite some overgrowth of scrub on parts of the track, the walk out through the gorge was uneventful and we were all back at the vehicles by 5:30 p.m., completing an 8-hour round trip of 20 kilometres. Despite blue skies above us by this time, Mt Kyeburn was still totally enveloped in cloud.

We drove back out to Little Kyeburn Road, dropping off Helen & Rodney at their car, at which point we all drove back through the Pigroot to Palmerston, where we parted company getting back to Oamaru about 7.30pm.

Thanks to Jane, Julia, Pip, Bess, John, Brian, Helen & Rodney for the good company.

Also thanks to Rodney for writing up this trip report. Neville