View source for Haast Pass

{{Short description|Mountain pass in New Zealand}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox mountain pass
| name = Haast Pass / Tioripatea
| photo = Haast Pass - vyhlídka - panoramio.jpg
| photo_caption = Lookout point above the summit
| elevation_m = 562
| elevation_ref = <ref name="topo"/>
| traversed = {{NZlSH|6}}
| map =  New Zealand
| location = [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast]] / [[Otago]], New Zealand
| range = [[Southern Alps]]
| coords = {{coord|44.105278|S|169.3561|E|type:pass|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| label_position = bottom
| topo = 
}}

'''Haast Pass / Tioripatea''' is a [[mountain pass]] in the [[Southern Alps]] of the [[South Island]] of New Zealand. [[Māori people|Māori]] used the pass in pre-European times.

The pass takes its name from [[Julius von Haast]], a 19th-century explorer who also served as provincial geologist for the provincial government of [[Canterbury Province|Canterbury]]. Following the passage of the [[Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998]], the name of the pass was officially altered to Haast Pass / Tioripatea.<ref name="LINZ">{{LINZ|id=7328|name=Haast Pass / Tioripatea |access-date=28 June 2023}}</ref> The pass lies within the limits of [[Mount Aspiring National Park]] and forms part of the boundary between the [[Otago]] and [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast]] regions.

The Haast Pass is one of the three passes where a road crosses over the Southern Alps – alongside the [[Lewis Pass]] and [[Arthur's Pass (mountain pass)|Arthur's Pass]], although the [[Homer Tunnel]] passes under the Main Divide. The Haast Pass rises to a height of {{convert|562|m}} above sea level <ref name="topo">{{cite web|title=Haast Pass|url=https://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap?v=2&ll=-44.107217,169.354849&z=14 |publisher=NZ Topo Map|access-date=12 September 2022}}</ref> at the saddle between the valleys of the [[Haast River|Haast]] and [[Makarora River]]s.  As such, it is the lowest of the passes traversing the Southern Alps.<ref name="Pascoe">{{cite book |last1=Pascoe |first1=John Dobree |title=The Haast is in South Westland |date=1966 |publisher=AH & AW Reed |edition=1 |location=Wellington |author1-link=John Dobree Pascoe }}</ref>

The route through Haast Pass (now {{NZlSH|6}}) was converted from a rough track to a formed road that reached the Haast township in 1960, but was not linked with the rest of the West Coast until 1965.

[[File:Fantail falls, Haast Pass, NZ.JPG|thumb|upright|left|[[Fantail Falls]] in Haast Pass]]
No settlements exist on the Haast Pass road between [[Haast, New Zealand|Haast]] and [[Makarora]]. The road passes through predominantly unmodified [[Nothofagus|beech]] forest. Between the township of Haast and the summit of the pass, State Highway 6 follows the route of the Haast River, and provides access and viewing points for several notable waterfalls including (west-to-east): [[Roaring Billy Falls]], [[Thunder Creek Falls]], and [[Fantail Falls]].

==History==
[[Ngāi Tahu]] used the pass to cross from [[Lake Wānaka]] to the [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast]]. At the time of European exploration, it was notorious for its use in 1835 by a war party led by [[Te Pūoho-o-te-rangi]]; a surprise crossing enabled Te Pūoho to ambush seasonal villages in the [[Awarua River (Southland)|Makarora valley]].<ref name=Pascoe/>

Europeans first learnt of the pass when [[Huruhuru]] drew a map for the explorer [[Edward Shortland]] in 1844. The first European ascent was from the Wānaka side in March 1861, when the exploring survey John Holland Baker, seeking new sheep country, looked down from the saddle towards the West Coast.<ref name=Pascoe/> Charles Cameron, a gold prospector, claimed to have made the first crossing to the coast in 1863. However he was widely believed to have only got to the upper reaches of the [[Haast River|Haast River / Awarua]]. The honour of first official crossing was claimed by [[Julius Haast]], Canterbury's provincial geologist, who led a five-man expedition in January 1863. He named the Haast River after himself, "directed, so he said, by his provincial superindendent", and returned to Lake Wānaka "nearly shoeless" after six weeks.<ref name=Pascoe/>

By 1880, there was a good packhorse track across the pass, but work to form a road across the pass did not commence until 1929 when work began at [[Lake Hāwea]].<ref>{{cite news |date=29 June 1972 |title=Opening up the Haast |work=[[The Press]] |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19720629.2.184 |url-status=live |access-date=21 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817204141/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19720629.2.184 |archive-date=17 August 2022 |via=Papers Past}}</ref> A further phase commenced from the east at [[Makarora]] in 1936, and proceeded as far as the [[Gates of Haast]], but was then halted for several years because of diversion of resources to the Second World War.  Further work on the western side of the Gates of Haast did not begin again until 1946.<ref>{{cite news |date=21 March 1960 |title=The History And Future Of The Haast Road |work=[[The Press]] |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19600321.2.134 |url-status=live |access-date=21 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220821042659/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19600321.2.134 |archive-date=21 August 2022 |via=Papers Past}}</ref> Progress was slow, and by 1955, there was still 10 miles of roadway to be formed on the western side of the gorge.<ref>{{cite news |date=22 December 1955 |title=Haast Pass Highway – Work on roadway progressing |work=[[The Press]] |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19551222.2.17 |url-status=live |access-date=21 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220821042702/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19551222.2.17 |archive-date=21 August 2022 |via=Papers Past}}</ref>

The Haast Pass road between Otago and southern Westland was officially opened in November 1960, but it was announced that a complete road closure would be required in the New Year to replace the existing temporary [[Bailey bridge]] at Gates of Haast with a permanent structure.<ref>{{cite news |date=19 October 1960 |title=Haast Pass Road - Eastern Section Open Soon |work=[[The Press]] |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19601019.2.152 |url-status=live |access-date=21 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220821042701/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19601019.2.152 |archive-date=21 August 2022 |via=Papers Past}}</ref>  In September 1961, the new [[Callender-Hamilton bridge]] was opened, after 3 months of total road closure.<ref>{{cite news |date=16 September 1961 |title=General news - New Haast bridge |work=[[The Press]] |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19610916.2.108 |url-status=live |access-date=21 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220821045023/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19610916.2.108 |archive-date=21 August 2022 |via=Papers Past}}</ref>  During this period, supplies for the Haast township, normally delivered via the road from [[Cromwell, New Zealand|Cromwell]] in Otago had to be hand-carried across a catwalk over the river from one truck on the Otago side to another truck on the West Coast side.<ref>{{cite news |date=31 July 1961 |title=Difficulty In Carrying Supplies To Haast |work=[[The Press]] |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19610731.2.93 |url-status=live |access-date=21 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220821044335/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19610731.2.93 |archive-date=21 August 2022 |via=Papers Past}}</ref>

The official opening of the entire Haast Highway was held on 6 November 1965, following the completion of the last {{convert|50|km}} section between [[Haast, New Zealand|Haast]] and Paringa.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2015-11-06 |title=Re-enactment to mark Haast highway opening |language=en |work=[[Otago Daily Times]] |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown-lakes/re-enactment-mark-haast-highway-opening |access-date=2022-09-07}}</ref> However, a [[chipseal]] surface on the entire route was not completed until 1995.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Travel: Hasst Highway, Southern Alps |language=en-NZ |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northland-age/news/travel-hasst-highway-southern-alps/QDLGCSBXG24TRI4J77Q47LNMJM/ |url-status=live |access-date=2022-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220907071944/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northland-age/news/travel-hasst-highway-southern-alps/QDLGCSBXG24TRI4J77Q47LNMJM/ |archive-date=7 September 2022}}</ref>

In the early 20th century, a railway from the West Coast through the pass to [[Otago]] was suggested by local MP [[Tom Seddon]]; it would have linked the [[Ross Branch (railway line)|Ross Branch]] with the [[Otago Central Railway]], which then terminated in [[Omakau]].<ref>{{cite news |date=24 January 1906 |title=The Dense Forests and Snow-Fed Streams of the West: Ross to Wanaka via the Haast Pass |page=57 |work=[[Otago Witness]] |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW19060124.2.120 |url-status=live |access-date=7 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127173022/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW19060124.2.120 |archive-date=27 November 2020}}</ref> However, the line never came to fruition; the Otago Central Railway terminated in [[Cromwell, New Zealand|Cromwell]] and no railway was built south of [[Ross, New Zealand|Ross]], just a lightly laid [[tramway (industrial)|bush tramway]] to serve logging interests near [[Lake Ianthe]].<ref>{{Churchman & Hurst Railways of New Zealand|page=193}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of mountain passes#New Zealand]]

==References==
{{Commons category|Haast Pass}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Mount Aspiring National Park}}
{{Westland landforms|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Mountain passes of the Southern Alps]]
[[Category:Landforms of Otago]]
[[Category:Westland District]]
[[Category:Mount Aspiring National Park]]
[[Category:State Highway 6 (New Zealand)]]