Starting about 20 minutes’ drive north of the township, the six- to eight-hour tramp up the valley passes through conservation land before entering Mt Earnslaw Station land.
Owner Geoffrey Thomson said camping had never been allowed on the station’s land at the head of the valley, but had become the norm in recent years.
Despite Department of Conservation (Doc) signs showing a fire ban in the valley, the number of fireplaces around the camping area shows it is being flouted by many visitors.
That, and the increasing amount of human waste, prompted him to take action late last year by having new signs installed clearly showing the boundary between the conservation and station land.
Trampers are restricted to camping inside the conservation boundary at the upper edge of the forest.
From there, it is another hour’s walk to the head of the valley and its stunning views of the icefall at the foot of Mt Earnslaw.
Mr Thomson said he had been mulling over the issue for a few years since mountaineering friends returned from a trip up the valley and described the mess and fireplaces they’d seen.
He realised things had got "pretty much out of control" a couple of summers ago when he saw about 40 cars parked at the start of the track.
"Essentially, we want it to stay as a pristine valley so that everyone that does go up, actually enjoys it without stumbling around in other people’s mess."
Mountain Scene first covered the issue four years ago when Wakatipu Tramping Club member Greg Thompson described seeing a "tent city" at the head of the valley on a March weekend.
Chatting to some of the campers, he was told a selfie in front of the icefall was a popular shot on Instagram.
It’s a phenomenon seen at other visitor hot spots in the Queenstown Lakes, with particular shots developing a copycat momentum on social media.
It can attract ever-increasing hordes, such as the spreadeagled ‘#royspeak’ shot overlooking Lake Wanaka.
Doc principal technical adviser social monitoring Jeff Dalley said a counter installed at the start of the Earnslaw Burn track in 2021 showed the number of visitors increased about 50% a year in the three years afterwards.
As of mid-January — only halfway through the 2024-25 year — there were 5710 visits, compared to 2250 in all of 2021-22.
"That’s unusually high growth for a Doc destination," Mr Dalley said.
Mr Thomson said he hoped people would now "do the right thing" and stop camping at the head of the valley.
"Knowing human nature, there’s going to be the odd one who’ll never do what the rules say, but that’s the intent."
