Waiau Pass Track coming up

This is a hard 116km 8-day hike. It goes from St Arnaud connects to the Travers/Sabine Circuit onto finish at the end of St James Walkway.
First, the steep and wet rock track up the Sabine River to its headwaters at Blue Lake. Then, over Travers Pass and through an avalanche risk zone. I needed a clear weather window to hike through the mountains over Waiau Pass to St James Walkway.
Waiau Pass is the TA second-highest point, 1870m. It's the most likely part of the route to be blocked by snow and has some avalanche risk on its southern face. I began this section solo in the summer (Late Jan 22) and met up with other hikers along the way.

[Christina]

The blue lake is so high on my bucket list - I hope to get there in the next year or two. Is it as beautiful as they say?

[Terri]

Amazing!

[SandraD]

@christinav It sure is worth it, very pretty. And quite easy to get to from either Lake Rotoiti or Lake Rotoroa, only Lake Rotoiti has a water taxi that could make it shorter depending on what else you plan to do. If you're a hiker plan to get through Angelus Pass, needs a booking though, that's on my bucket list. The Blue Lake Hut is a nice hut too and you could do many walks around there.