The Lewis Pass Tops is an incredible place to explore, with expansive views and tarns dotted along to tops you are never short of distractions.
I had been up here only a few weeks earlier, camping at Lucretia Tarns and reaching Brass Monkey Biv. When this trip was tabled, I didn't hesitate to put my name down as this was going to be slightly different to the earlier trip.
We departed Ashburton early Saturday morning heading for the Lewis Pass parking area on the main road to the West Coast, making a brief stop in Amberly for takeaway hot beverages and morning tea.
Climbing away from the main road, it is steep in places with a few breaks in the trees to give impressive views over the highway into the St James track area, up Cannibal Gorge. After about 40 minutes we reached the tree line and the scrubby top appeared above. After another brief climb we were up on the tops following the ridgeline, passing many tarns of various sizes.
We could see point 1580 on the distant ridge, and knew we could cut across a tussock basin rather than continuing along the ridgeline. From this point there is a steep descent to a small saddle and from here we dropped further down to tarns and a stream where we would be camping for the night.
Our tussock campsite offered stunning views of The Apprentice and Mt Technical. After setting up camp some of the group headed up to climb The Apprentice, returning to camp via the Lucretia Tarns.
As the afternoon drew on, we relaxed around camp, chatting away drinking endless cups of tea. When the other group returned from their ascent everyone set about cooking dinner and relaxing into the early evening.
When morning dawned, we were treated to a gorgeous sunrise of oranges and reds and a stillness that made the camp so inviting.
Once we had eaten and packed up, we returned to the tops track and retraced our steps from the day before.
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