Despite having been up Mt Cloudsley just two weeks ago, I didn’t mind at all when my trip to Mt Torlesse had to be cancelled due to cattle in the area – and we ended up heading to Mt Cloudsley again. This time, we approached this gentle looking mountain via Mt Izard.
We left Christchurch at 7 AM. With a group of 13 other trampers, we followed the Hogs Back track at first, before taking one or two “shortcuts” – the efficiency of which was promptly questioned by the more sensible participants. As one of my favourite Czech sayings goes: “It was further, but on the other hand, much harder.”
Climbing Mt Izard can be divided into two parts: first, a hard grassy slog up to about 1500 m, and then a rocky (but still hard) slog all the way to the top. Most of us put on crampons around 1800 m – not so much out of necessity, but for fun and practice. Some parts of the ridge had firm snow bordering on ice, which actually helped build confidence as we climbed higher.
At the top of Mt Izard, Lynette decided to head back to search for her glasses – which provided welcome company for Lisa, who had also chosen to return from Mt Izard. The rest of us, after a decent break (during which some of us got rather cold), continued on towards Mt Cloudsley. Along the ridge we encountered a layer of fresh snow over firmer old snow. The ridge travel was very pleasant, only slightly hindered by a fresh westerly breeze.
From Cloudsley, we descended along Long Spur. Somewhere around 1600 m, we dropped down onto a long scree slope leading to Long Creek. A strange thing happened here: Jonathan and Igreta were at the front along the ridge. Jonathan decided to drop onto the scree, while Igreta, unaware of his move, continued running down the Long Spur ridgeline. It took me about 5–10 minutes to catch up with her and explain that everyone else had dropped down north onto the scree. She was literally running in the wrong direction. We traversed across and made it safely to the bottom, about 15 minutes behind the others.
Once in Long Creek, we were moving at nearly the speed of light. Just before the Hogs Back Track, we climbed up on the true left of the creek, where we stumbled across a vague track. Intrigued, we followed it… until it disappeared (OF COURSE IT DID), and we found ourselves bush-bashing through dense forest. What a lovely, CTC-like ending.
Once we were finally back on the Hogs Back Track, Alan led a party of shortcutters, while I joined the more civilised party of track-followers. Despite my furious pace, Alan reached the top of pt1056 about 10 seconds before me. His shortcut turned out to be a true shortcut – not a longcut disguised as one. He claimed to be walking at a slow, conversational pace, though the sweaty patch on top of his head (where hair once lived) suggested otherwise.
We rolled back down to the cars in no time. A pretty good, decent winter day out!
Stats: 17.85 km, 9h 15min, 1780m ascent. The route on NZ TopoMap (GPX download below)
Participants: Michal Klajban (leader, scribe, GPX), Alice Lines, Xiaoqiu Jiang, Tim Anderson, Diana Dolensky, Geoffrey Cornelis, Lisa McArthur, Igreta Sinanaj, Jason Bartlett, Mark Nicholls, Alan Ross, Lynette Hartley, Naomi Wells, Jonathan Carr
Tramped on 20th July, 2025.
Photos
Map
Max elevation: 2104 m
Min elevation: 886 m
Be the first to comment on "Mt Izard to Mt Cloudsley in Craigieburn Range"