Sunday morning dawned just as bad in Kaiapoi but the forecast was good so off we set. The drive to Lake Coleridge is spectacular - you run out of superlatives long before you get there!
The weather on arrival was perfect and the hill was largely clear of snow, just a few patches visible near the summit.
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| View from the Intake Road. Peak Hill on the left, lower slopes of Kaka Hill on the right. |
Access is via a well marked DOC track with the first bit an easement across farmland.
Once you enter the Conservation Area, it's a steep grunt straight up to the ridge.
From there you walk along the ridge and, after several false peaks, end up at the summit
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| Traditional cairn at the summit. There's also an excellent information board |
As soon as I set foot in the activation zone, I heard activity on 2m and worked Mark ZL3X on Moorhouse Range, Rick ZL3RIK on Carews Peak and Robin ZL3REW in Rakaia (the only one I was expecting to work on 2m!). Once I arrived at the summit, I worked Jim ZL3ND in Methven and I had my four contacts, a new peak activated!
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| Looking East towards Rakaia, the only line of sight path! |
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| South East towards Mark on Moorhouse Range. How we worked on 2m is beyond me! |
I set up HF with the endfed antenna "pointing" North. With no wireless broadband available, I hit the normal watering hole frequencies and worked John ZL1BYZ on AK-018 and John ZL3MR on Saddle Hill. Warren ZL2AJ worked me and kindly spotted me on Sotawatch. That brought a flurry of regular Chasers and I then changed to 20m for VK. No callers on SSB so I went to CW in the hope that the RBN would pick me up and alert. It must have as I worked a flurry of VKs. Caught up with the other activators again after 0000z and most of the locals. Last contact was at 0025z and I commenced packing up as the wind was rising and temperature dropping as was forecast.
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| Looking North. Very little snow thankfully and a stunning vista! |
This is a really spectacular summit and highly recommended for the reasonably fit activator. Be well prepared, this is the Canterbury High Country and this hill is extremely exposed to weather.
Getting there: EDIT 5th Sept 2020:
"drive through the Lake Coleridge village and turn onto Algidus Road to the carpark, about 9km."
This road from the village is a forestry road and can be closed. A better route is to turn off at Homestead Road (before the village-signage for Peak Hill) and then left into Algidus Road.
Follow the markers across the easement and up the track. It's about 1 1/2 hours to the top. Walking poles (if you have them) are recommended for the descent, the track is on the South side and pretty slippery.
It's worth stopping in at the village on the way home to check out the power station, fascinating information boards and displays.
