Starting at the West Matukituki Valley Parking lot make your way up the main trail which is basically a road before the valley turns towards the Northern direction. Passing by the Matukituki Hut and Pearl Flats you will cross a few bridges before making it to the base of the Liverpool Hut Trail. Like many other trails in New Zealand this is challenging as you claw your way up the trail before reaching alpine and descending a bit to the southwest over to the Liverpool Hut. This part of the tour is a full day alone so take advantage of a dry shelter and get a bit of sleep before starting the next day.

Waking up at the Liverpool Hut head west over to the first gully and descend down to the main stream. Walking in the gully you need to wrap around a ridge before once again climbing north up the next side stream which while somewhat steep will allow you to get to the upper glaciated basin of Mount Barff. From here just keep ascending and soon enough you will be out of the drainage and on the open upper slopes with the summit in plain view. The summit route can be gained by accesses a mellow ridge on its Eastern slopes and pushing all the way to the summit.

Once on top of Mount Barff it is of vital importance that you follow your ascent route back down as the gullies to the West do go to the valley but there is a waterfall that blocks your decent. Take a few extra seconds descending to make sure you don’t make the same mistake that we did.

For more pictures and the full story check out this link https://www.whereiskylemiller.com/new-zealand/mount-barff-liverpool-hut/