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Mt Fyffe to Gable Peak, Kaikōura

Mark Eaglesfield

Location of Mt Fyffe, northwest of the town.

Screenshots of the NZ topographic map are licensed as CC BY 4.0 by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).

Mt Fyffe (1602m) is a very long day-hike around 20 minutes by car from Kaikōura, a small town in the far north of Canterbury, South Island.

I bicycled from town, which took about 1 hour 20 minutes outbound (uphill) and around 1 hour on the way back.

After reaching the summit, I continued through the snow to Gable Peak (1582), the next named peak on the ridge.

Time

DOC estimates 8 hours return to the summit alone.

AllTrails users report an average of 7 hours 58 minutes return to the summit alone.

A breakdown of my roughly 10 hours 20 minutes hike to Gable Peak:

  • 3 hours 40 minutes to reach the summit of Mt Fyffe

  • 2 hours 45 minutes to walk through the snow to Gable Peak and back

  • 1 hour 15 minutes resting on the summit of Mt Fyffe, both before and after Gable Peak

  • 2 hours 40 minutes from the summit of Mt Fyffe down to the parking lot

Screenshots of the NZ topographic map are licensed as CC BY 4.0 by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).

Route

AllTrails reports that the return hike to the summit involves 1415 meters of elevation gain over 17.2 kilometers.

Having arrived in Kaikōura by Coastal Pacific train from Picton, I didn’t have a rental car. Instead, I rented a mountain bicycle from a sports shop on Kaikōura’s West End.

The last part of the road to the parking lot is unpaved, so I was glad of the mountain bicycle’s tires. I hid my bicycle in the woods near the trailhead picnic table.

The entire track to the summit was wide and in good condition, although condition worsened a bit near the summit. It is a boring track, especially considering the forest that blocks most of the views on the lower part of the hike.

The summit has a fine view and a couple of benches. From there, I walked over the gently undulating ridge to Gable Peak. I mostly followed someone’s tracks through the snow from a previous day, but I also saw orange marker poles. I don’t recall if they went all the way to Gable Peak.

Instead of descending steeply to Gable Saddle and continuing to Gables End, I turned back. I didn’t have gaiters, so the snow had soaked my socks.

Once I returned to Mt Fyffe summit in mid-afternoon, the other hikers had descended. I lay down on a bench, put my hat over my face, and let the sun dry out my socks.

If 1 is an easy track, and 4 is using hands and feet on exposed rocks, I give this track a 1 to the summit, and a 2 beyond the summit. I was walking in snow, so I’m assuming based on Edward’s photos that loose rock on moderate slopes makes that portion a 2 without snow.

Looking south. Cloud inversion covering the town.

Looking north toward the Seaward Kaikōura Range.

Northwest toward Gable End.

Hunting

The 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 more than 30 hunting areas, and only passed hunters twice - this wasn’t one of those hikes.

Here is the DOC topomap with all hunting areas visible.

Pages about hiking past Gable Peak

Pages about the hike to the summit of Mt Fyffe

Mt Fyffe seen from Kaikōura Peninsula

Mt Fyffe and the Gable ridge are probably obscured by cloud at left.