The Dome (1945m) looms over anybody driving into Arthur’s Pass National Park from the east, standing on the northern edge of the Waimakariri River. The views on offer from the ridge to the summit include the river and countless mountains to the south, which would be enough for most people. But the highlights are in fact impressive mountain ranges and valleys in the national park in all other directions, especially to the north. Certainly some of the best views we’ve seen in this area on a day walk, and there are no bad walks in Arthur’s Pass. You’ll earn these views though, with no easy way up or down the mountain.
This difficulty means the Dome shouldn’t be your first peak in Arthur’s Pass, but for experienced trampers it’s one not to miss. Track notes at the end.
The Dome ascent: The Scenery
Video from the summit…
On our way back…
Track Notes
The Start
Our route started at the railway bridge over the Bealey River. You have to cross the river and might be tempted to do so on the railway bridge (there is a narrow walkway). Nevertheless, a sign threatens a $10,000 fine, and as we pulled up at the start we saw a train come around the corner, and they certainly travel fast. In summer fording the river wasn’t a problem – look for the wide flat bits for the shallowest depth.
Ascent
We followed the route described in Canterbury Foothills and Forests to the summit. Enter the forest near some small bluffs just south of the railway bridge. For a short while we followed trap line markers (blue and yellow), but these soon disappeared and then we just tried to keep to the spine of the ridge. We followed the odd animal track when there was one.
Towards the bushline you have to find your way out through some stunted trees, but eventually you should come across a clearing and there are a couple of cairns to help guide you back if you descend this way.
The ridge starts off easy enough, and soon becomes very rocky necessitating lots of rock hopping. There’s not much scrambling until you descend from 1920m. From there it’s a straightforward climb to the summit. Our notes described the ridge as “delightfully easy” – I wouldn’t say that because it is long and the rough terrain makes it slow going. Nevertheless, there’s very little exposure and the views are excellent, so quite enjoyable.
Our notes also suggested 4-6 hours to summit (2-3 in the bush, and 2-3 on the ridge). We took a bit longer than that – maybe 6.5 hours: 2 hours 40 minutes of bush bashing, then I guess 3 1/2 or so hours to cover the 5 km of ridge.
Descent
For the descent you can apparently continue north past the summit and descend scree slopes and tussock, then through forest into the Edwards Valley.
That sounded a bit complicated for us, so we took a scree slope from near point 1759m that had been described as an ascent route on arthurspass.com. It runs all the way down to the river. There are two slopes – take the left one (also the ‘true left’ since you are descending). It started off okay, but perhaps two thirds of the way down it became very steep and bare, so we had to exit the slope (left) to the edge of the bush. We bush-bashed down until the scree slope looked less steep and had more rocks on it, and finished our descent on the slope. We both fell doing all of this and Sophia got cut and bruised. If you do take this route just look ahead and leave the slope before it gets too steep.
The exit along the Edwards River was pleasant and straightforward. There’s even a marked track for a while, which will feel like a novelty.
Your alternative descent route of course is to go back through the forest. You made it up that way after all. I thought this would take too long but to be honest we took over 5 hours returning the way we did, so I don’t think we saved any time.
It was a long day out for us then – a little over 12 hours – which seems excessive for 16km and 1500m change in elevation. Mind you, there were certainly a lot of photographs to be taken, and they do take time. :-)
You can find parking somewhere near the railway bridge.
Great achievement as a day trip. We attempted Dome in spring snow via your route on one occasion but a predicted storm meant unpleasant conditions going from our camp near 1484 on the ridge to the summit so we bailed down that very scree you took. It had a thin layer of snow near the bottom so was fast to descend. We went onwards to the Edwards Hut.
Our second and successful attempt was via that scree after camping at the base of it on a lovely summer’s day. Congratulations to Sophia for perservering to the summit. I’ll bet she had no regrets. Some folks climb it via the railway bridge near Mt Horrible, and a spur that goes to the summit from the true left of Douglas Stream. That way looks way more steep and gnarly!