I live on The Canterbury Plains within the Waimakariri river catchment.
Its water flows through and under (aquifer) where I live and is of great use and value to me and many others.

Most people in the province access their water directly from the river, or more often, from the underground aquifers that are part of it.

Previously I have explored the White Glacier #1456091 and Broken River, #1465379 both tributaries to the Waimakariri river.

When I look out the window I see the Torlesse range and its its centre Mount Torlesse. (1961 m asl)

Climbing Mount Torlesse is usually achieved via the Kowai river, another tributary to the Waimakariri.

So I decided to have a closer look.
Access to Kowai river and Mount Torlesse is partly via private farmland (Brooksdale Station) although the mountain itself is in the Korowai Torlesse Tussocklands Park.

You park at a layby on state highway 73 just before Porter Pass and hop the fence and follow a farm track down to the Kowai River. The layby is opposite an old shack that was once a road workers hut.

You can ask permission of the land owners by calling the farm station manager, Stu Gunn 0276511422.

Some people do, some don't...the riverbed itself is Crown land so a public right of way but technically you will be crossing private land at some points - the farm manager is very relaxed and has no problem with people accessing the route.

Walking up the Kowai river is the easy part of this trek, as long as the river is not flooded.

After about 2 hours you come to a hut that was build in the 1970s by a Lincoln University (then Lincoln College) scientist to set up water and soil monitoring equipment to study the hydrology and soils of the area.

The hut has been maintained long after that work was finished and provides a great base for exploring the National Parkland behind it.

I had been told about this hut by some guys I met in a hut up in the Arthurs pass area a few years earlier and while it is not an official government hut it is free to use and is maintained by volunteers and the land owners.

Getting to the hut is the easy part and some people walk straight on up to the mountain but we spent the night at the hut and early the next morning set off up the ridge directly behind the hut on the true right of the river.

There is no marked track but you follow the ridge which takes you all the way to the top.

At first there is low prickly scrub but soon the ridge opens up and the path left by others, including wild deer and Himalayan goats (Chamios and Thar). There are more deer and goat and pig prints up there than human ones.

Soon the going gets steeper and you climb up a series of rocky and scree covered segments.

Well before reaching the snowline, maybe halfway up the climb a couple of native parrots (Kea) swooped down to joined us and beg for food. They followed us for about 10 minutes before giving up. If you feed them they increase their boldness toward people and their boldness is not a good thing- they like to rip up the plastic and rubber on cars and anything shiny and so it is best to not encourage them.

I found the lichen growing on the rocks fascinating - this ancient and hardy organism clinging to the rocks were little else grows and where it is probably covered with snow for several months every year but baking hot and dry in summer.

Finally the snow cover starts. There had been the first decent snowfall of winter a few weeks earlier and on places it was turning to ice. You do not want to lose your footing as on either side there is a steep slope. We did now have ice pick or crampons, just a walking pole and 5 metres of rope.

Most of time it was possible to still walk on the rocky ridge but in a few places that option was covered in snow.
It appeared only one other person had been up here since the snowfall and they had left their mark in the snow so where necessary we walked in their footsteps taking care to get a secure foot hold on each step.

There was a point where it seemed this could be too challenging and dangerous- I am not an expert mountaineer or skilled in snow trekking...but after more than five hours of hard slog the top was reached.

It was an exceptional autumn day- almost no wind and clear sky- could see the Pacific ocean 40 kilometres to the east. I could see the Waimakariri river winding its way to the sea and the Southern Alps to the west and the north.