Two powerful alpine waterfalls surround me as I hang several hundred metres in the air, high above a picturesque valley in the Southern Alps. My hands are tightly clasped around a pathetic clump of snow tussock, my feet tucked into earthen toeholds. This is the Waterfall Face on the Rabbit Pass Route, and I am reconsidering my lite choices… but I get ahead of myself.
This story really starts with two chance meetings with an American backpacker, Katie, in different areas of Fiordland. Fast-forward a couple of years and together we decide to do the classic Crossing from the Makarora to the East Mātukituki over Rabbit Pass. The route is infamous: tell anyone about it and the first thing they’ll ask is, “How did you find the Waterfall Face?”
We saved a day’s walk up the Wilkin River and a potentially dangerous Crossing of the Makarora by booking a ride with Wilkin River Jets. The ride was like a journey back in time as cows were quickly replaced with ancient beech forests, the river a deep blue highway into
