This is an un-named summit in the Korowai/Torlesse Tussocklands Park. It's the peak NE of Ben More and 5m higher, hence why we were headed there! We had a false start a few weeks ago when a dump of rain on the Friday meant that it was too icy to attempt. No problems this time and, with an improving forecast, we headed up to Lake Lyndon for a nice early start. DOC has closed vehicle access to the area so it was a case of parking on the Lyndon road 1km past the Lyndon Lodge turnoff (near the "Z" bend).
Dave ZL3DRN did the first activation of this summit so we used his GPX route up a very steep (51% grade) initial climb to attain the ridge. After that it's a much easier route up the ridge to the summit. All the while looking south at the route he had planned for our descent - more on that later...
We made good time up to the summit - my climbing fitness is certainly improving, arriving about 1.5 hours before our alerted time... Regular readers will notice a pattern here. As forecast, the Canterbury Plains were blanketed in thick cloud but we had spectacular views of the mountains around us.
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| Christchurch is out there somewhere! Nice up here at 1660m ASL though. |
We used the Repeater hut as shelter from the very light breeze and set up the gear - antenna du jour is the 40m EFHW with switchable 60m loading coil designed by Stephan HB9EAJ. I really like this antenna for it's ease of setup, End Fed convenience and it's fairly light weight. Oh, and it's resonant on 7 bands!
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| Dave in action with the KX2. 6m pole in the background, EFHW matching unit bungeed to my pack |
John ZL3MR was on Mt Barrosa ZL3/CB-499 and had also arrived early. Even though Mt Hutt was directly in the way, we managed 2m S2S contacts with him. The Christchurch gang were quickly worked on 2m also and then we hit the HF bands. We weren't expecting much given the Geomagnetic storm but it worked out OK with nice S2S contacts with Andrew VK1AD/2 and Matt ZL3NVW. Also worked were VK1MA, VK1MCW, VK5PAS, VK5IS and JA5QJX/0 plus our loyal ZLs on 40m and 60m.
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| Dave in his happy place. Lunch at Ben More with the ridge we ascended in the foreground. L to R ZL3/CB-570, Mt Lyndon CB-460 and Trig M CB-536 behind with just a glimpse of the SE end of Lake Lyndon |
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| Route home is via the long ridge to the left of shot. The ridge we ascended is the scrubby one on the right. Lake Coleridge in the background with Peak Hill CB-542 in the background. |
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| Google Earth view of our route. Lake Lyndon in the background. |
Getting there: Head over Porters Pass on State highway 73 before turning left at Lake Lyndon and driving about 5 kilometres. Just before the road turns hard right (Z corner) right there is an area you can park. Note that vehicle access is not permitted into the park itself now.
Permission: None needed - Korowai/Torlesse Tussocklands Park
Trig: None, repeater station on the summit
Cell Coverage: None until at the summit. Spark better than Vodafone but still very patchy.
Repeaters: 705 and 2m simplex to Christchurch is easy - direct line of sight.
Time to the top: Allow 3 to 3.5 hours up. It is a 6.3km walk up with 941m of climbing.
Update: Thanks to Dave for the photo of me in the Matagouri, it was pretty tough going!
