Omanui / McKinnon Pass (previously spelt Mackinnon Pass) is an alpine pass between Mount Hart and Mount Balloon in

Fiordland Fiordland (, "The Pit of Tattooing", and also translated as "the Shadowlands"), is a non-administrative geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western third of Southland. Most of F ...

, New Zealand. The pass is at an elevation of and is located southwest of

Milford Sound / Piopiotahi Milford Sound (, officially gazetted as Milford Sound / Piopiotahi) is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Fiordland's marine reserves, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te ...

. The pass is the highest point of the famous Milford Track connecting Lake Te Anau and the Clinton River valley with the Arthur River valley and Milford Sound / Piopiotahi.

History

The pass was known to local

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

as Omanui meaning "the great running" or "the great escape". Europeans did not discover the pass until October 1888 when Quintin McKinnon and Ernest Mitchell made their way over the pass from the Clinton Valley. McKinnon had been commissioned by the chief surveyor of Otago to find a route from Te Anau to Milford Sound. McKinnon and Mitchell spent a month slashing a track through the forest and eventually made their way across the pass to reach the existing track to

Sutherland Falls Sutherland Falls is a waterfall near Milford Sound in New Zealand's South Island. The falls are located 13.5nm South West of Chao Pass. At 580 metres (1,904 feet) the falls are the tallest waterfall in New Zealand. The water falls from Lake Qu ...

. The McKinnon Memorial, a large

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

, is located at the pass commemorating the traverse of the route by McKinnon. The pass was known for a number of years as Mackinnon Pass although it later was agreed that the correct spelling was McKinnon. The name was officially changed in July 2022, correcting the spelling and adding the Māori name to form the dual name Omanui / McKinnon Pass. Today, the pass is crossed by thousands of hikers every year on the Milford Track. There is a day shelter at the top of the pass for hikers to use as a rest point and for use in emergencies.

Views

Although often clouded in, the pass offers spectacular 360-degree views. The pass is on the ridge between the Mount Balloon to the east and the Mount Hart to the west. Mount Elliot is visible to the north.

Climate

References

{{Fiordland Tourist attractions in the Southland Region Mountain passes of the Southern Alps Landforms of Fiordland Fiordland National Park