The Apprentice via Lewis Tops, Lewis Pass, NZ
Purple shows roughly where my return route differed from my outbound route.
Screenshots of the NZ topographic map are licensed as CC BY 4.0 by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).
The Apprentice (1678m) is a peak near the higher Mt Technical (1870m) and the expansive Lewis Tops tussock ridgeline at Lewis Pass, South Island. The border between Hurunui District (Canterbury) and Buller District (West Coast) passes just west of its summit. It is 20 minutes’ drive east from the hamlet of Springs Junction, and 60 minutes west from the town of Hanmer Springs.
Despite a strong wind, it was my favorite long hike in this region. I was hiking in autumn; I hope to return and summit The Apprentice on a day with longer daylight.
Time
Including breaks, my hike took 8 hours 40 minutes. DOC estimates that it’s 1.5 hours ascending from the trailhead to the end of the orange poles near Point 1568.
Route
AllTrails reports an elevation gain of 1314m over 14.8km, but one user’s recording shows 1719m ascent over 15.9km, while another shows 1614m over 13.6km.
I parked at St. James Walkway parking lot on the north side of the highway. It is three minutes’ walk east along the highway from the trailhead. The trailhead is across the highway on the south side, and there is no marked crossing. I walked along the east edge of the highway and crossed directly to the trailhead.
Like many other hikes in Canterbury and Otago, the first section is a fairly steep ascent through beech forest on a track full of rocks and tree roots. As usual in this area, I saw a few South Island robins.
Above the treeline, orange poles mark a well-worn track. But the poles end not far onto Lewis Tops, and from there various impact tracks fade in and out of visibility. There are a lot of tarns, and they seemed like the easiest place to find an impact track again, but I nevertheless I spent a fair amount of time walking across pure tussock. My outbound trip was further north, overlooking the Maruia Valley, while my return trip was closer to the southern edge of the tops.
Lewis Tops is a series of small and moderate hills, along which it was enjoyable to walk despite the strong wind, until the hill containing Point 1580. It is an easy ascent from Lewis Tops, but a steep, rocky descent toward the saddle with the Apprentice. Skirting Point 1580 to the east by around 20 meters, I found some evidence of an impact track descending among the rocks. The risk of tripping while descending made it seem like the most dangerous part of the hike.
Crossing the saddle quickly, I began ascending toward the Apprentice. There are at least two plausible routes, and I mostly took the one at left. On either route, the main decision is whether to climb up boulders, which are more fun in the sense of adventure, or steeper plant-covered slopes (mostly non-tussock), which are more fun in the sense of good cardio exercise.
Perhaps 50 meters below the ridge, there is a large scree slope, seen in photo 47 below. It was not too steep and I found it fairly easy to walk almost straight up to the larger rocks of the mostly solid ridge, seen in photo 49 below. As seen in photo 50 below, I crossed these rocks and walked just to their right (west) of them to reach the summit of the Apprentice two minutes later. The summit offered a good view of Mt Technical and Lucretia, and a distant view of Brass Monkey Bivouac beyond Lucretia.
On my way back, I heard a kea call, but never saw it.
Night fell during my descent through the forest. I had heard rurus (morepork owls) in the bush in Auckland, but this was the first I saw. My video is too low-quality to upload.
Once I reached the trailhead and began walking along the highway, I used my flashing headlamp to make it easier for cars to see me.
I may have been the only one on the Apprentice that day, but I passed campers returning on my ascent, and one arriving on my descent.
If 1 is an easy track, and 4 is using hands and feet on exposed rocks, I give this track a 3 at worst.
South Island robin near the trailhead.
Mt Technical beyond a tarn.
Panorama from the Lewis Tops ridge. It was a windy day.
Returning in the evening
Hunting
The entire route is in a hunting area. Hunters are forbidden to “discharge firearms near tracks, huts, campsites, road-ends or any other public place.” I have hiked in dozens of hunting areas, and only passed hunters three times - this wasn’t one of those hikes.
Here is the DOC topomap with all hunting areas visible.
Other pages about this hike
Pages about overlapping hikes
Lewis Tops only
Mt Technical
