The Mt Bealey Loop
Why Walk Up and Down in One Day? Enjoy the View Overnight Instead!
Hike Planner
Use the hike planner PDF below for more logistics and route information on the Mt Bealey Loop – including route notes and a GPX file.
If you intend on using information in this blog to complete the hike yourself, please consider a small donation to fuel the motivation to write more of these detailed visual posts.
My Trip
16/12/2018 – 17/12/2018
Introduction
This hike was a spontaneous decision during a road trip around the Southern Alps. Avalanche Peak was a popular day walk that can be done from the Arthurs Pass township, and I was somewhat committed to camping near Avalanche Peak. However, with some quick research using my topo map, it wasn’t hard to see some potential overnight hikes nearby.
There was the hike down to Crow Hut from Avalanche Peak, or utilising the Mt Bealey Track to make a loop to Avalanche Peak. I decided on the latter, as it appeared to be more epic as a ridge traverse.Â
Day 1 – Arthurs Pass Township to near Lyell Peak (via Mt Bealey Track)
Arthurs Pass Township
I had parked my car in the main carpark and briefly visited the DoC visitor centre. I was a little concerned about leaving my car overnight in the carpark, but I was reassured it wasn’t a high risk area. It was now time to begin my journey, heading south. Here, I headed along the highway past Rough Creek bridge, and veered right onto Mt Bealey Rd. At the end of the road is the beginning of the trail heading up the spur.Â
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Mt Bealey Track
The track was nice and peaceful. I didn’t see another person the entire time on it, as most were on the Avalanche Peak track. It begins by heading up fairly dry beech forest at a reasonable steepness, but nothing too hard. I had around 600m to climb through this forest before reaching the tree line.
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Mt Bealey
After reaching the bush line edge, I had open views of the amazing landscape in front of me. It was spectacular! I climbed up towards Peak 1760, ensuring I stuck to the main ridge. Nearing the top, I noticed some potential camping south of Peak 1760. It was a little too early for me to camp though, and I banked on finding a spot with better views to Mt Rolleston.
Looking towards Mt Bealey from the Peak of 1760, I could see there was sharp ridge to traverse, but the terrain looked fairly forgiving to scramble over thankfully. With no real issues, i had finally arrived at Mt Bealey to 1836m elevation. My suspicions that the peak was in fact, unsuitable to camp on became reality. ‘Damn’ i thought, ‘Here’s hoping the next peak is more ideal’.Â
Mt Bealey to Peak 1778
This was perhaps the hardest section of the entire hike. It involves a ridge line of rocky jagged peaks from Mt Bealey to Peak 1778. They looked a little daunting at first, but as you near them, it’s clear they are easier to traverse than they look.
The rock strata (mostly Greywacke) in this region is tilted almost 90 degrees, and vertical. Due to this tilt, I did find the sharp edges of the rock to be sometimes an issue – ending up with a cut or two on my fingers from supporting myself.
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Peak 1778 to Lyell Peak
Reaching Peak 1778, and discovering still no real campsite offering, I was contemplating the lower snowgrass regions. However, I decided to see what Lyell Peak had to offer first. The views from this peak were amazing, as you could see almost every major landmark from this point!
The section from Peak 1778 to Mt Lyell wasn’t as hard as the previous section, but I was quite weary by this point and was longing for camp. It was around here I met up with another hiker (for the first time). He was a solo young hiker, and had come from behind where I just came from. ‘What the hell’ I thought, ‘where did he come from?’.
After speaking to him, he had been attempting a day trip of the same route (in the opposite direction). However, he struggled to find the forest opening of the Mt Bealey Track, and had turned back to come back down the Avalanche Peak Track.
He had no camping gear, no water, and no maps. I gave him most of my remaining water (I was going to melt snow later anyway), as he had been out of water for hours, and showed him the map.
He was running out of daylight, and pushed on fast back towards Avalanche Peak. I shook my head… ‘the situations people get themselves into’. Luckily, he was camped at Arthurs Pass and should be able to descend by the twilight hours.
Camp
After my conversation with the other hiker near the summit of Lyell Peak, i had finally seen a promising site to camp. Between Lyell Peak and the lesser peak just to the north, there was a flat cobbled section with some underlying softer sediment. Snow was only 100m away a little down the slope too. The views were epic also. This was it! Finally!
My first task after setting up my tent was to melt some snow for water, as I had given away almost all my water before. I filled up my Jetboil and cup with snow, and began the process. It was then dinner time with some rum. ‘Ahhhh the serenity’, I said to myself, taking in the surrounding atmosphere. It was so peaceful and the scenery was just perfect.Â
A little after dinner, the sun was setting and I had some fun playing around with photos. I wanted to get some night photos but I feel asleep too fast.
Camp to Avalanche Peak
In the morning, the conditions were still ideal. I wasn’t in any rush – the benefit of overnighting, rather than trying to force a day hike. After some oats and coffee, it was about time to make a move.Â
The section after camp was easy. It was more of a saddle between the peaks and pretty flat overall. There were a couple of obvious ways to get up to Avalanche Peak, I chose the western side. Once at the summit, i was greeted by some Kea.
Scotts Track to Arthurs Pass Township
The last section was the descent back to Arthurs Pass township. I had two choices from the Avalanche Peak Track, or Scotts Track. I chose the latter as I suspected better views of Punchbowl Falls on the way down, and I wasn’t in a rush for the shorter route.
Being back on a marked track again was a little disappointing, as it didn’t take long before i began to bump into day hikers again. I always preferred the solitude of being off-trail and away from others when hiking.
Trip Review
Did the trip go to plan?
Although finding suitable a camp site was harder than expected, all aspects of this trip went to plan.Â
What would I change?
Nothing. I was pretty content with my trip on the Mt Bealey Loop. The views were amazing along the ridge the entire way, and I had great weather. It was fairly accessible, yet somewhat adventurous, without being very difficult. I was thinking about an extension of the trip from Avalanche Peak to Rome Ridge and down the Coral Track as a possible longer version.
Did I achieve any personal goals or objectives?
No, this trip was something I felt comfortable handling on a whim, and therefore, didn’t meet any new challenges or personal achievement. However, it was very satisfying and I guess you can say I achieved my goal of being alone in my tent 🙂Â
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