Robinson Creek
Robinson Creek
7th January 2022
v4a3II***
Haast Pass,
Mount Aspiring National Park
Descent with Emma Stanley.
This was my first time teaming up with Emma, so we went for a short but spectacular canyon that she had previously descended but I hadn’t.
Halfway up the walk-in, the top of the spectacular cavern can be seen by peering out through the trees. The sight and sound of water pouring into a deep dark chasm was quite intimidating, but Emma reassured me that the abseil wasn’t as scary as it looked.
Any hesitations about the quantity of water descending the canyon were put to rest at the second abseil, into the “Roundy Roundy Pool”. Despite the guidebook talking of guides watching clients circling around this pool many times before being able to get out, there was hardly any current to speak of and exiting was very straightforward.
A couple more abseils and jumps took us to the top of the Cavern. I stayed on the rope from the previous pitch in order to access the anchors, and once attached I could fully take in my surroundings. Next to me the creek plummeted 25m into the gloom. Emma was the first to descend, and as I followed I stopped halfway to further appreciate how beautiful the place was.
A final bit of downclimbing and abseiling brought us back to the car.
Emma descends the first abseil pitch
The “Roundy Roundy Pool” had very little roundy roundy to speak of due to the low flows
Beautiful blue pools and sculpted bedrock
Emma walking through a small tunnel between boulders
Emma descends the 25m pitch into the spectacular cavern
Looking back up at the waterfall tumbling into the cavern
The light at the end of the tunnel, leading the way out of the cavern
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