Ben Lomond

| Queenstown, NZ

1/2

Ben Lomond is an iconic peak situated right above central Queenstown - a must do hike for any visitors who are fit enough. I started early-ish on Saturday morning to beat the summer crowds - heading out of the carpark at 7am. I decided to head up the Tiki Trail from town instead of from the water treatment plant which is my usual departure point.

The first part of the climb is through pretty dense forest but the trail is good and well marked. It's a relentless and steep climb but you get some pretty spectacular views starting after about 10 minutes, looking out over Lake Wakatipu towards The Remarkables.

You then suddenly hit the gondola station and are diverted out left through a bit of rolling section where you can finally stretch the legs. This unfortunately doesn't last long and soon you are climbing again, however if you turn around you are greeted with views like this.

Reaching the saddle I ducked in for a quick nature stop at the toilet there and opened up the snickers from my pack. I was mostly fuelling using Infinit (similar to Tailwind) but I love having some chocolate tucked away.

After the saddle you make your push for the summit and it starts to get really steep and you are on all fours in a couple of places. I went past a guy who had perched a tent in possibly one of the most spectacular places I can imagine and made a mental note to come back up with mine one evening.

The final stretch definitely takes longer than expected as you are forced to be careful with your steps. However as you reach the summit it starts to flatten out a little bit and you get a little job into these amazing views.

The 360 degree views from the summit are truly incredible and if you are ever in Queenstown you have to make the trip up (winter will be covered in snow though...). I've done it quite a few times now and I still never regret it.

The way down starts pretty bloody slow as I tried not to fall off the side of the mountain. Once I reached the saddle I settled into more of a run and was starting to think I'd made the wrong choice in vest size. In the old Salomon sizing I was an M/L but got a Large for my new one and I definitely noticed the water bouncing around a bit on the front. I think the bottles are sitting a lot more upright rather than a little diagonal as the did on my old one. Oh well.

I started running into a few more people on their way up but all in all a pretty uneventful trip down. I was wanting to fit in a few flat kms at the bottom along the lakefront but unfortunately this trip had taken a little longer than expected so I gave them a miss.

Still, a really good morning out in the mountains. And a lot of alone time for what can be a really busy trail. I'd call that a success any day.

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