Born in Australia but of German ancestry Ebenezer Teichlemann took the post of local doctor in  Hokitika in 1897. Between 1899 and 1924, Teichelmann recorded 26 first ascents of mountains and seven first ascents, or crossings, of passes, cols, or saddles. He was also a prolific photographer that dragged the extremely heavy cameras of the era along on his journeys, and today a collection of more than 600 of these images is held in the MacMillan Brown Collection of the University of Canterbury. So, it is hardly surprising that there are a number of peaks, passes, and creeks named after him as well as a monument in Hokitika.

Looking across to the Garden of Eden, image @ Tim Norris

Teichlemanns Creek is located near the head of the Perth Valley in the Adams wilderness area, and right on the main divide where with a bit of effort you could climb up and look down into the head of the Havelock to the East. You also get a reasonable view of the Garden of Eden ice plateau as it drops off into Able Lake.

The campsite sits at about 1500m on a ridge, and would be one of the most exposed campsites of all the tahr ballot landing sites. It’s particularly exposed to anything from the South West, so it pays to keep a good eye on the forecast as it would not be a fun place to ride out a storm from that direction. There is however a bit of a rough bivvy rock just below camp that would help if things really got bad.

Camp from the ridge above

There’s also a ZIP hut located on a bench above the perth river some 700m below, this isn’t available for use as its used by doc staff for monitoring the extensive trap system they have through this area. From what I’m hearing the kea have had a couple of good nesting seasons as a result of the ZIP work. But with that comes a bunch more juvenile kea that like nothing more than a messy campsite to wreck havoc on. So keep your camp tidy and don’t create a game for them by throwing things, or you will find they will hassle you all week.

Joseh and Craig on the ridge below camp

There’s a bunch of good hunting below camp at the top of the scrub line, but you will also see animals on the opposite side of Teichlemanns creek both high in steep bluff systems and low in the dense scrub. There’s also hunting to the North in Tarn Creek, just some people might find accessing it a bit of a challenge.

With camp being at 1500 meters, it’s almost a given that you will be dealing with snow, even in May. And from June on there’s every chance you’ll be dealing with getting around on wet or frozen snow, so make sure you’ve got the right tools to deal with this.

Originally produced for NZHunter Magazine - Grab a subscription here