Helmet Hill April 13-14

 

I had been wanting to return to Helmet Hill since my first visit with Travis back in 2006. It is one of the largest unexplored limestone areas of the South Island. Our brief look turned up some promising karst features but no caves so far.

I met Lara at 4am on Saturday, car loaded with an assortment of caving, mountaineering, climbing and tramping gear. It was not until we left town and headed south that we decided on a destination: Helmet Hill. We drove through pre-dawn Southland, headed for the southwestern-most road in New Zealand. After seeking permission, we drove down forestry roads trying to find the one that would get us closest to the hill. The forestry was bigger since my last visit and the road was a bit overgrown with gorse. Eventually we found the right spot and began packing. We skirted around the swamp and traversed through crown fern-floored bush. In places the crown ferns were head-high, probably the highest I have seen. It took us about an hour to reach the base of the hill, but the forest was otherwise really pleasant and healthy looking.

We continued to climb the ridge of Helmet Hill. The hill is a large east-dipping sheet of limestone which creates an 80m-high cliff on its western side. We would be looking on the dipping surface for cave entrances. We past through several nice bits of bush and limestone rock outcroppings to reach the spectacular campsite Travis and I had stayed at last time (frontispiece). A clearing just big enough for a tent, 1.5 m from the edge of an 80m-cliff, with commanding views over Lake Hauroko, southeastern Fiordland, Point Craig, and Stewart Island. We had lunch, set up the tent and then looked for caves.

We came to a complicated area of large jumbled limestone blocks and looked for caves. I eventually realized it was a giant landslide and that our chances for caves here was poor. We did find a few notable talus caves though. We continued on finding interesting holes and karst features along the way but everything was either choked with debris or would become too tight. It was discouraging but a nice enough landscape anyway.

The wind picked up overnight and was in full force the next day. We spent a couple more hours looking around, again finding bits and pieces but nothing promising. I amused myself by entertaining native birds with the survey laser I brought...its only use on the trip. Then we packed up. Although the caves remained elusive, we still enjoyed the great camp spot, untouched bush, and fantastic bird song. We made better time back to the car. Thanks to Lara.