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It is one of the three passes which have a road ( State Highway 6) from the east to the west over the Southern Alps. The other two are the Lewis Pass and Arthurs Pass. The road was converted from a rough track to a formed road in the early 1960s. The road finally received a complete tarmac surface by the early 1990s.
The pass was used by Maori in pre-European times, but not on a regular basis.
The Haast Pass rises to a height of 562 metres above sea level at the saddle between the valleys of the Haast and Makarora Rivers. As such, it is the lowest of the passes traversing the Southern Alps. The Haast Pass road is devoid of any settlements between HaastHaast is a town on the West Coast of New Zealand. It is spread amongst three small localities called Haast township, Haast Beach and Haast Junction and is located close to the mouth of the Haast River. The main economic activities are farming, fishing and and MakaroraMakarora is a small community in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated on State Highway 6 on the eastern side of the Haast Pass and adjacent to the Makarora River. Local tourism operators offer scenic plane flights and jetboa. The road passes through predominantly unmodified beechFor the beech tree, see below. Beech is also the name of an aircraft manufacturer that was purchased by Raytheon. Fagus crenata Japanese beech Fagus engleriana Chinese beech Fagus grandifolia American beech Fagus japonica Japanese blue beech Fagus longipe forest. The pass itself is within the limits of Mount Aspiring National ParkMount Aspiring National Park is located in the South Island of New Zealand. It was established in 1964 as New Zealands 10th national park. The park covers 3,555 kmē at the southern end of the Southern Alps, directly to the west of Lake Wanaka, and is popu and forms part of the boundary between OtagoThe Otago region of New Zealand lies in the southeast of the South Island. It comprises approximately 32,000 kmē making it the second-largest region in New Zealand. As of 2001 census the region had a population of 181,542. The name "Otago" anglicises the and the West CoastThe West Coast is one of the regions of New Zealand, located on the west coast of the South Island. It includes the districts of Buller Grey and Westland''. It reaches from Kahurangi Point in the north to Awarua Point in the south, a distance of 600 km..