A Well-known Mystery: Ivory Lake

An odyssey to the iconic Ivory Lake Hut, from the Waitaha to the Whitcombe.

It’s safe to say that Ivory Lake as a destination has a bit of a reputation. Tales abound of parties aiming for the lake coming unstuck, beaten by big weather, big terrain, big scrub, or a combination of all three. Such are trampers that this is its attraction, its a challenge. I can’t pinpoint when I first heard of Ivory Lake. It’s the sort of place that haunts tramping forums, its reputation travelling on the comments of passing trampers. When fellow fireman Regan mentioned that he was planning a trip to Ivory Lake, my interest was peaked. This evolved into a fluid plan that had as many as four people involved coming from all over the country. Our route would take us up the Waitaha river, before climbing to its headwaters at Ivory Lake. From there we would go over the Lange Range and pt 2056 to Price Basin Hut, before joining the Whitcombe and following this out to the Hokitika Gorge.

In the end it was just Regan and me who rolled into Hokitika on the 28th, bright eyed and bushy tailed. The all important weather forecast was looking hopeful, after a big dumping of rain the night before chances were we might get a clean streak through till our planned date of exit on the 5th of Jan. In preparation for our expedition we pre-loaded on…