ZL3/CB-729 Knowles Top 22 May 2020

 This hill near Glentui is one I had been looking at doing for a while but I was focusing on the wrong side! John ZL3MR found the route up through the Ashley Gorge and it's a beaut! David ZL3DRN joined me and we set off on a cold, crisp autumn morning, arriving at the Ashley Gorge bridge about 8.45am. There's no parking on the North Side where the track starts however there is a reserve area in the camping ground on the South side. Follow the signs and walk back across the bridge to the track start.

Head up the Ashley Loop track (take the Right hand fork) and you'll soon come to another sign for the Waterfall Track. Take this one and climb steadily on a well marked and formed track noting the abundance of birdsong - no doubt due to lots of pest traps. You'll soon reach a lookout point with a bench seat dedicated to Neil Judson and a sign pointing to places of interest. 

Depart the track here, turning Left  uphill behind the seat to an unmarked but clear trail straight up the spur. There are clearings and short sections of bush to negotiate but you can't go wrong if you stay on the ridge crest. It's pretty steep (33%) so take your time up this bit and enjoy the views regularly!

 Once you reach the bush-line, you'll find the entrance to a track (unmarked but clear) at the very end of the last clearing which takes you right to the top of the ridge. You'll crest the ridge and descend for about 1 minute and then find a junction where you turn right to head to the summit. There's a pile of old fencing wire on the ground at the junction. If someone removes the wire in the future, the track is clear enough. My GPX file is uploaded to the SOTA Tracks section. Waypoints shown below.

Ridge junction point with fencing wire on the ground. Turn Right here (out of shot).

 From here it's an easy walk to the summit sidling around the ridge. Soon you'll emerge from the bush to a large, tussock covered summit with ample operating areas to pick from. You should be able to find shelter from just about any breeze up here. The views are amazing.

View towards Christchurch with the Ashley River in the foreground

Looking North, Mt Thomas and CB-617 in the foreground and Mt Grey CB-673 in the distance

We set up a 57' foot endfed wire (inverted vee style) with a 17' counterpoise and a VK6YSF UNUN (uses a very economical L01238 toroid from Jaycar). It tuned very easily with the KX2 tuner on all bands and worked very well - good signals on the lower bands and contacts to Indonesia on 20m. I also had an Italian station call me but we couldn't complete. 40 contacts in my log.

57' wire on 6m Tactical Mini pole showing trig and vast AZ

 Summit to Summit contacts with Mark ZL3AB (Big Ben Range ZL3/CB-857) on 2m and 60m were much appreciated and capped off my 100th SOTA activation nicely. Thanks Mark!

This is a really nice summit and definitely on my annual list. The AZ is huge so if you wanted to try 160m SOTA, this would be a good one!

 

Getting there: Drive to the Ashley Gorge Bridge, turn into the camping ground on the South side of the bridge and turn right to head down to the reserve area. Park under the trees and follow the signs to walk back up to the road, cross the bridge (footpath) and the track starts as you exit the bridge on the North side. It is well signposted.

Permission : None needed, Conservation land all the way

Cell coverage: Good on Spark/Skinny (4G)

Time: John's estimate of 2 hours +- is a good one

Repeaters: All Canterbury repeaters and easy 2m simplex to Nth and mid Canterbury

Notes: Steep and slippery heading up/down the spur - walking poles needed and a reasonable level of fitness

Waypoints:

Lookout: S43° 13.453' E172° 14.313'

Track junction: S43° 13.110' E172° 13.852'

Track Entry/Exit point to/from summit: S43° 12.771' E172° 14.669'