Some time in 1937, the Hutt Valley Tramping Club built a hut on the upper slopes of Mt Holdsworth. The hut was rebuilt in 1981 and lasted 18 years before burning down in 1999. The hut was rebuilt again in 2000 and lasted another 18 years before assessments of its structural integrity led to the decision by DOC to rebuild Powell Hut (which had become the most popular hut in the Tararuas) again. The new hut was completed in July 2019.
It's not hard to see why the hut is such a popular destination: it possesses a winning combination of great location; easy access; a well maintained track through a great part of the forest; and best of all, despite sitting at quite a high altitude, the track up Mt Holdsworth isn't really that steep (by Tararua standards at least).
So, when looking for somewhere to go for a winter tramp, checking out the new Powell Hut was an easy decision.
We set off up the Gentle Annie track shortly after midday, arriving at the rocky lookout just over an hour later.
After rocky lookout, there's a little more uphill before reaching the Mt Holdsworth/Totara Flats track junction - which is also roughly the halfway point - where we ran into a group from the VUW tramping club who were heading for Totara Flats.
From the junction it's a quick walk across the pleasantly flat Pig Flat to Mountain House shelter. By this point we'd been walking for about 2.5 hours and covered 6.3km.
The Gentle Annie track winds its slowly up the hill through some indulgently scenic forest, from the towering trees of the mixed beech and podocarp forest around Donnelly Flat to the stunted sub-alpine trees at pig flat, and moss-covered gnarled beech goblin forest.
Almost immediately after Mountain House, the track begins to climb steeply toward Powell Hut. By way of compensation, the scenery is lush and the bird life abundant, which provides many a good excuse to stop and catch your breath.
The last kilometre or so consists of many stairs of questionable quality, some of which are substantially less convenient than just scrambling up the hillside. On the plus side, patches of the track just below the hut are out of tree cover, providing excellent views. Occasional patches of snow sat around the track, and on the nearby peaks.
A slow 2 hours after reaching Mountain House we finally arrived at Powell Hut. The new hut seems to stick out above the hillside more than the previous one, despite being in the same place and not being that much bigger.
The door off the large front deck leads to a generously sized entry room thing for removing boots, etc. out of the elements. Inside, one end of the hut contains the cooking and dining area, which is a similar layout to what it was before, and still has big windows providing a view over the Wairarapa. The other end of the hut contains wardens quarters and 4 bunk rooms (2 6-person and 2 10-person) with standard DOC sleeping platforms and mattresses, as well as shelving for pack storage.
The hut was at or near capacity for the night, with a school group occupying much of the space. That being said, I've been in noisier huts and had worse nights sleep.
The next morning we decided to follow the school group (who were heading over Holdsworth and down the east holdsworth track) up the track a ways, in search of more substantial snow. The wind was blowing and icy cold, but skies were otherwise clear.
We ended up going all the way to the top of Mount Holdsworth - an unplanned detour that ended up being the best part of the tramp.
Heavy grey cloud had begun to shroud the peak as we approached, and was well and truly settled by the time we arrived. All the while the wind raged on as we took many a photo and stomped around in snow that was knee-deep in a few places.
Soon enough we were on our way back down to Powell to pick up our packs and hoof it back down to the car park.
Shortly after taking a quick break at Mountain House, we made another decision to take an unplanned diversion. Rather than continue back down the Gentle Annie, we instead took the River Ridge track on a whim to check out somewhere new.
The track is typical of the Tararuas - plenty of mud and roots and the kind of descent you feel in your knees, but fun none-the-less.
The bottom of the spur is reached after ~2km of continuous descent, and the track joins the Atiwhakatu track. From there, it's a nice and easy ~3km to the carpark.
All up, the return journey from Powell took just over 3 hours to cover 7.74km.
GPS Data:
Carpark to Powell via Gentle Annie: 8.32km, 4 hours 32 minutes.
Powell Hut to capark via River Ridge and Atiwhakatu track: 3 hours and 11 minutes.
(Powell Hut to Holdsworth peak not recorded)
