Fanthams Peak / Syme Hut

A challenging hike up to the top of Fanthams Peak and Syme Hut – the North Island’s highest DOC hut – with amazing views across to towering Taranaki and out over the Taranaki plains.

Length: Around 8.5 km return, with over 1,000m elevation gain / descent

Time taken: 9 hours return with lots of rests — DOC says 5-6 hours return …

Difficulty: Difficult

Facilities: The track leaves from Dawson’s Falls Visitor Centre, which has toilets and an intentions book available outside of opening hours. The nearby Konini Lodge offers accomodation and food/drinks. Syme Hut on top of the peak is a 10-bunk, standard hut with rainwater tank, but no heating. It operates on a first-come, first-served basis, and costs one $5 standard hut ticket (blue ticket).

– Note: I did this walk in January / Summer. There was still a little bit of snow hiding out in the shade at the top. In winter, crampons and ice axes (as well as experience using this equipment) will be needed to access the hut, which may or may not be a frozen block of ice at that time of the year anyway; Syme Hut is nicknamed the Fridge for a reason. Check out these photos here and here for reference.

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Little bit of history on Fanthams Peak & Syme Hut

Fanthams Peak is the parasitic cone attached to Taranaki’s southern flank. It is one of the only deviations from its near perfect symmetrical shape, caused by lava bubbling out through a weak point in the side of the volcano.

The peak, called Panitahi in Te Reo, gets its English name from Francis (Fanny) Fantham. She was the first European woman to reach the top in 1887 at only 19 years of age, and in a dress no less. What a badass. The story goes that she then continued on to attempt the summit of Taranaki via the southern route, but sadly turned back because she thought it was improper to continue with only male companions.

Syme Hut sits on top of Fanthams Peak. It’s the highest DOC hut in the North Island! It has an amazing view through the window across to the southern slope of Taranaki. The hut gets its name from Rod Syme. Rod was an amazing NZ mountaineer who among his many achievements, summited Taranaki 227 times and helped lug all the gear up to build the first hut in 1930.

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How to get to the trailhead for Fanthams Peak / Syme Hut

The track starts just above the Dawson’s Falls Visitor Centre on the south-east side of Taranaki. This is about a 30 minute drive from Stratford and accessed via the beautiful tree tunnel that is Manaia Rd.

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The hike up Fanthams Peak

I, for some reason, thought that this trip would be a great chance to introduce some friends to tramping. Jordan had been on one overnight hike before. Loretta and her husband Hector had only done day walks. In retrospect, this was not a wise decision. Fanthams Peak is most definitely not what I’d call an easy hike. But we’re somehow still friends, so … all’s well that ends well?

We piled out of the car at the Dawson’s Falls Visitor Centre just before 10am. We bought our hut tickets and sign the intentions book. The plan was to hike up and stay the night at Syme Hut, and then hike back down the next day. Although it was a bluebird day, I was a little concerned about the wind forecast for the following morning.

The lady on the desk at the visitor centre, while very friendly, unfortunately couldn’t tell me much more than the MetService forecast I’d already seen. But luckily we were leaving early in the day (so we could take it slow and still claim the best bunks for Loretta and Hector’s first overnight hut experience). So if needed we could turn around and make it back down before dark.

The Hillary Seat

The track started off winding up through the lush bush, slowly but unrelentingly climbing. I’d already started to sweat due to the heat of the day (and wasn’t looking forward to tackling the scree slope at midday). So it was a relief to be walking in the cool shade of the trees. About half an hour in, we reached the edge of the bushline and the Hillary seat. This was constructed in 1956 to honour Sir Ed’s successful expedition to summit Mt Everest in 1953. Taranaki was one of the mountains he had honed his mountaineering skills on in the 1940s.

We had a bit of a rest and some food and water (and reapplied sunscreen now that we were out of the tree cover), before continuing on up the more exposed track, still steadily climbing up spaced steps. Luckily there was a little bit of a breeze to cool us down now that we were out of the trees and into direct sunlight. A quarter of an hour from the Hillary seat, we reached the Hooker Shelter; another chance for some chocolate.

At this point the weight of my pack had really started to set in. I hadn’t carted all the gear for an overnight tramp in a few months and was definitely noticing the difference! The rest of the team were doing extremely well, despite not having really carried overnight packs before at all.

Steps, steps and more steps

Although the steps felt like they were never-ending, looking back at the distant visitor’s centre gave us some satisfaction. It already looked so far away! And I knew that we would be yearning for these easy steps soon. I knew what was to come.

After another half an hour or so from Hooker Shelter, we reached the turn off to the private Kapuni Lodge (owned by Mt Egmont Alpine Club). We had another rest and chatted with a group who were also taking advantage of the rest stop. This marked the end of the ‘easy’ section of the track From here it was stairs, more stairs, scree and more scree until the top.

There are apparently about 500 stairs. The turn-off for the upper track to Lake Dive is halfway up them. We’d passed a few people doing the Lake Dive circuit. They said that the lower track, which we’d passed near the start of the tramp, was very overgrown (a heads up for anyone considering that trip). Most of them mistakenly assumed we were also walking in to Lake Dive. They cheerfully told us that the uphill was almost over. Oh, if only that were true, screamed my legs. I just nodded and politely smiled as they breezed past.

Fanthams Peak is the tramp that just keeps on giving. Going up the stairs was torturous, but very quick and efficient. The scree that came next however, was a completely different story.

For the love of scree

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of walking on scree, let me colour you a picture. Imagine trying to walk across a floor that’s covered in marbles. Not easy. Now imagine that the floor is sloped at 45°. You’re trying to climb up this slope covered with marbles and no handrails. With a pack that constantly pulls you off balance. Oh and the marbles are actually sharp volcanic rocks.

Scree is the worst.

This section was by far the hardest of the tramp, particularly for the rest of the group who hadn’t experienced this kind of terrain before. The feeling of not being able to trust your footing, and continuously sliding backwards on a steep slope can be really unnerving. Some people really don’t like it. We took it slow with lots of rests as we followed the orange tipped poles. Loretta, Hector and Jordan did so well!

The scree section of the tramp is split into three (unequal) sections. The first is relatively short and not quite as steep. There were some tracks throughout the tussock on either side of the scree that made for relatively easy going, rather than the eroded track following the poles which was slippery and tiring to climb (one step forwards, slide two steps back). The second section was very short and also steeper, but a relatively stable section of slope with moss-covered rocks and a well-established track zig-zagging up.

The third section was the worst and by far the longest; it was all scree (and not even the good kind that’s consistent, this scree was a mix of loose small rocks, loose big rocks, slippery dirt, and unmoving rocks), and it seemed to go on forever. We took lots of small rests, as this kind of terrain can be just as mentally draining as it is energy sapping.

Decision making on Fanthams Peak

This last section of scree took us another two hours to climb (although for hikers experienced with this kind of terrain, it would be a lot shorter). We stopped and re-evaluated several times to make sure everyone was comfortable continuing, and to consider our options. I had continued to worry about the wind forecast for the following morning, which had increased during the day to gale-force (handily there was cell service for most of the track so I could keep an eye on the forecast).

Jordan and Loretta were already a bit nervous at the thought of descending the scree slope. Adding gale winds to the picture would make this at minimum, unpleasant, and at worst, unsafe and unnecessarily scary. I wanted everyone to stay safe and come away excited to do more tramping, not to be put off from doing more! I floated the idea that we might need to turn back around once we reached the top. And suggested leaving some of our packs on the scree slope to collect on our descent and just taking up some warm clothing and food. Everyone was keen to continue on however, so we kept going.

Just below the (false) ridge-line of the second scree slope, the scree turns to rock. This necessitated a little bit of what felt more like rock climbing rather than tramping. This was a bit more difficult for those in our party who really didn’t like heights, but luckily was over pretty quickly. Thankfully I knew that this was going to be a false ridge, so there were no tears. Plus we had our first really close up view of Taranaki and snow, which was pretty exciting.

Finally at Syme Hut!

Once out of the protection of the ridge, the wind was already quite strong and rather chilly. We put on some more layers of clothing. Then we continued up another 15 minutes to the true ridge and our first view of our destination; Syme Hut!

It was a fantastic feeling to reach the top! My legs seemed to suddenly have more energy in them as I bounded about taking photos. Fanthams Peak is actually rather flat-ish on top (with the actual peak being in the southern corner of the top). Syme Hut is perched right on top close to Taranaki’s southern slope. The hut is tied down with thick wire to withstand the crazy weather it gets hit with. After taking lots of photos and just staring up at Taranaki (whose summit looked deceivingly close), we piled in to the hut out of the wind to reassess our situation and plan what to do next.

Syme Hut is well laid out; fitting 10 bunk beds (five mattresses on the bottom and five on top), a bench and sink, table and benches, and a “mudroom” entrance with rainwater tank and tap, all into its tiny footprint. And the view out of the window is to die for.

Should I stay at Syme Hut or should I go?

We sat down on the benches to figure out the plan. The wind coming in from the west was already quite strong. I knew that the forecast said it was going to be double that by the following morning. I recommended that we have a rest and cook up our dinner meals (at 4pm) in order to get some more energy and lighten our packs for returning back down that same afternoon.

Everyone was in agreement. We didn’t want to stay an extra night should things go badly the next day and have to call work to explain we were trapped on a mountain and couldn’t come in on Monday. And I think Jordan and Loretta really didn’t want to go down the scree slope with gusty winds (or really go back down it at all if they had the choice).

I cooked up the Back Country Cuisine meals I’d brought up for everyone (which went down a treat with the group who had been initially a bit suspicious of freeze-dried food!), and made some coffee/hot chocolate, while Jordan and Loretta also heated up their noodles. Feeling much more rested and refreshed, we cleaned up the mess we’d made on the benches and floor, and asked some new arrivals to take some group photos, before setting off back down the hill at around 5pm.

And back down again …

It was hard to say goodbye to the hut and the beautiful view of Taranaki. I’d been looking forward to spending a night in the hut, as well as seeing sunset and sunrise over Taranaki from the amazing viewpoint. I’d also been looking forward to sharing the hut experience with Loretta, Hec and Jordan. But it wasn’t mean to be.

Going down the scree slope turned out to be easier than Jordan and Loretta had feared. Although still not easy. We again took it slow with lots of rests (because you often don’t get as out of breath on the downhill, it’s easy to just keep going and not give your muscles and joints regular rests). We all had a few tumbles but nothing serious. I had fun digging my heels in and going for a few skiing runs down the scree, before waiting for the rest of the group.

Before too long we made it to the tussocks and the steps, only about an hour and a half after leaving the hut (scree is much quicker to go down that up). Everyone was still feeling ok. The descending sun was creating beautiful highlights across the tussocks and the mountain.

The stairs weren’t the easiest for Loretta, who isn’t the biggest fan of heights. But she handled them like a champ and we were soon back at the turnoff to Kapuni Lodge. From there it was a hop, skip and jump back to Hooker Shelter, the Hillary Seat and then on through the bush to the trailhead.

We made it back to the carpark and visitor centre about 10 hours after we’d left (with an hour stopover at the hut). The last 15 minutes were a killer, as always you keep expecting the end to be just around the next corner, and the next corner after that. I asked the group to pose for the same photo as we’d taken at the start. I think their exhaustion was at least semi-exaggerated.

Loretta led us in some much-needed stretches on the carpark lawn (perks of working with a physiotherapist!), before we hopped into the car and drove off—Taranaki and Fanthams Peak in the rear vision mirror.

Final thoughts

I honestly thought that this trip up Fanthams Peak would have put Loretta, Hec and Jordan off ever hiking again—it was harder than expected and very challenging for first-timers, as well as longer due to not staying overnight at the hut—but I underestimated their determination and enthusiasm. We were at Kathmandu shopping a sale for tramping gear the very next day!

Thanks guys for being awesome tramping buddies 🙂

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Safety

As always, please stay safe when you’re out exploring and always follow the Outdoor Safety Code:

1. Choose the right trip for you (read my article on tramping safety, speak to DOC)
2. Understand the weather (conditions change notoriously quickly on Taranaki)
3. Pack warm clothes and extra food (check out my post here about what gear you need to take)
4. Share your plans and take ways to get help (have an emergency beacon on your person)
5. Take care of yourself and each other

Taranaki is notorious for its rapidly changeable weather conditions, so it’s especially important to be a smart tramper.

If you’re not feeling super confident then you can always get in touch with me here on the blog or on my Instagram. Or take a look at my Tramping 101 series which includes this post about how to stay safe in the outdoors.

Also don’t be a dick, check out my guide to New Zealand tramping etiquette.

Stay safe and get outside!