Fiordland · Easy · There and back

Key Summit from The Divide

Up the start of the Routeburn Track from The Divide to Key Summit, an alpine knoll of tarns with views over the Hollyford and the Darran Mountains.

Distance
7.2 km (4.5 mi)
Ascent
370 m
Time
About 3 h
High point
916 m
Grade
Easy

Line © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), checked by Global Adventurer.

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Key Summit from The Divide
jokin.lacalle · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The walk

From The Divide shelter and car park on the Milford Road, follow the Routeburn Track as it climbs steadily through silver beech forest for about an hour to the signed Key Summit turn-off. Turn left onto the Key Summit Track, which zigzags up above the bushline to the summit plateau. Follow the short alpine nature walk among tarns, bog pools and stunted beech, with views to the Darran and Humboldt mountains and down the Hollyford Valley, then return the same way.

It is 7.2 km there and back with 370 m of ascent; allow about 3 hours. The grade is Easy: a well-made track with a steady climb through forest.

Until the end of November 2026 contractors are upgrading the Key Summit Track: it stays open, but walkers may be held for up to 30 minutes. About 800 m up, walk through the slip with care and do not stop. From May to November the top is often snowy and icy, though the route is simple avalanche terrain. In that season the Milford Road can close for avalanche control, chains must be carried, and stopping is banned between the Hollyford Road turn-off and The Chasm. Sandflies are common.

The car park at The Divide is free. It is on SH94 about 85 km from Te Anau, and Milford Road coaches and Routeburn track transport stop at the shelter.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.

Good to know

  • At 532 m The Divide is the lowest east-west crossing of the Southern Alps
  • In the last ice age a glacier filled the Hollyford Valley and flowed right over Key Summit
  • On top a short nature walk winds between alpine tarns, bog and stunted beech, with views to the Darran and Humboldt mountains
  • The walk follows the first hour of the Routeburn Track, then leaves it for the summit

Summits on the way

  • Key Summit 918 m · passed close by

Getting there

Start: The Divide car park. -44.82512, 168.11751

Directions to the start

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Paths change, and the weather decides the day. The line and figures come from OpenStreetMap and our own checks; take a map, check the forecast, and turn back if it isn't right.