Timing

Do not attempt this track in anything except fine weather with light winds on a summer’s day with dry rocks, having checked the weather forecast and verified with DoC on the state of the track. Take warm, windproof clothing and plenty of sustenance. Failure to heed any of the above points may result in a slip (with nothing to catch a fall except the bottom, which is a long way down). Or you may get wiped out in an avalanche. Neither of these outcomes are desirable, so if there is any doubt, save it for another day. It will always be there the next time.

Access

Gertrude Valley is signposted 1.5 km from the eastern portal of the Homer Tunnel and 10.5 km from the turnoff down the Lower Hollyford Road. A rough bouldered 4WD track leads to parking area. The track starts from a large orange triangle on a post below the parking area.

Track

The track divides into 3 sections, each of approximately 45 minutes.

The first section traverses the valley floor, surrounded on all sides by granite faces thrusting skyward with impossibly steep gradients. The walls to your left have glacier seracs, cheekily protruding over the top edge of the wall. The vegetation includes mountain toatoa, hebes and snow tussocks. Follow the waratahs and cairns over the well-trodden track.

At the head of the valley, the track bears left up a cleft in the otherwise impenetrable granite walls. The track follows a small rivulet, which tumbles, cascades and rolls over the smoothed rock. The track steepens considerably and follows cairns over and between the large boulders. The stream crossing is a good place to fill you water bottle and take in the views. Some of the large boulders are good spots for your walking companion(s) to perch on while you take photos, which will become the envy of all you show them to. The small cascades twinkle in the sunlight and the clear pools are the ultimate refreshment on a hot summer’s day.

The third stage is the toughest of all and is aided with a steel cable bolted to the rock face. This has been scoured into a smooth hummocky texture by the glacier, the striations caused by embedded rocks scratching the rock surface are still able to be felt. From a distance the grey rock resembles rhino hide with its lattice of ripples and scratches. Dolichoglottis, with white and yellow hybrid flowers, exploit moisture in the crevices and provide studs of beauty on the stark background. Look also for mountain buttercups.

Unfortunately, the saddle you can see above is not Gertrude Saddle, but at least you are treated to views of stunning Black Lake, a tarn occupying the glacially carved bowl. The deep green water is gin clear and the source of the stream you have been following. Stretch those calves and follow the cairns to reach Gertrude Saddle proper (1410 metres), this time welcomed with a view that would be hard to beat anywhere in the world, only 2 hours walk from a road.

Geology

The Gertrude Valley is a classic example of a glacial cirque. As the weight of ice scours down the headwall of a watershed, it nibbles back at the head of a valley creating a bowl. When it meets the glacier of the adjacent watershed , they form an arête, such as Gertrude Saddle.

Flora

The relatively open aspect of Gertrude Valley is the best education in Alpine flora without venturing too far off the beaten track. Pockets of forest include stunted silver beech, all twisted and gnarled from its altitudinal limit. Above the tree line only native species survive, including snow tussocks such as Chionocloa pallens and C. rigida. Other plants such as Muehlenbeckia axillaries, forms low mats and has rounded dark green leaves. Shrubs are common, including Hebe subalpina, coprosmas such as Coprosma pseudocuneata, mountain daisies such as Celmisia semicordata and herbs such as the mountain buttercup, Ranunculus lyallii, the largest in the world. Members of the carrot family include Anisotome flexuosa, distinguished by the leaves that resemble the top stalks of a carrot.

As you head up from the valley floor, conspicuous members of the plant communities, mostly occupying moisture filled cracks in the smoothed rocks, include pineapple shrub Dracophyllum menziesii, the everlasting daisy Helichrysum bellidioides and Senecio, now named Dolichoglottis, with its white and yellow hybrid flowers. At the saddle look for the gentians such as Chionogentias montana.

European History

Early surveyor E.H. Wilmot first viewed what he called the Hollyford Saddle from Adelaide Saddle in 1881. The name Gertrude Saddle was conferred in 1882 when climber R.H. Holmes ascended the saddle and named it after his wife, who accompanied him on the trip.