We climbed the first summit on Mt Victoria via the Lake Ohara access to Abbot Pass.
The Abbot pass access is in poor condition. I have not been there in the previous four years so I am not sure how recently this has changed. There has been a large natural rockfall that has piled boulders on the mid section of the access trail near the small towers. These boulders are loose and not settled in. This presents added hazard especially if another party is traveling below you. The melting ice on Lefroy is also adding to the active rockfall in the area. We witnessed a number of large boulders pepper the access trail in an area that I would have thought to be too far away from Lefroy to be in the hazard zone. These boulders bounced several hundred meters sideways and rolled down next to the large garbage chute gulley off of Mt Victoria. This is right where the trail crosses the garbage chute and continues up the compact ground above.
There are a couple of good tent spots at the pass with easy access to water.
The melting permafrost at the col is effecting the access to the route up Mt Victoria. Just above the outhouse the scree slope is gradually melting out and regular rockfall is occurring here. The base of the route still has a trail to the regular start but the rotten rock below is no longer supported by permafrost. I would be most concerned here in a heavy rain storm with concerns that a major slump could occur. Rockfall off this disintegrating area is happening continuously. See photo
Once you are on the route the climbing conditions are good. We didn’t actually get on the snow and ice so I’m unsure what the conditions are like in those areas.