Red Hill ZL3/CB-411 May 2022

 The run of fine, settled Autumn weather in Canterbury continues! Red Hill was the target summit this week, located in one of our favourite SOTA playgrounds - Korowai/Torlesse Tussocklands Conservation area near Porters Pass. We have noted a marked increase in calls from Australia when we alert and spot on SOTA summits that are also located within WWFF.co designated parks/conservation areas. The excellent Parks n Peaks website has a variety of tools and information. Give it a try and see if it bumps up your QSO total? The only caveat is to please ensure you send in your log to Paul VK5PAS for upload to the WWFF system, otherwise the Hunters don't get credit for the park. If you use VK Portalog (Android) or Parks & Peaks (Apple) it's easy, they automatically produce the required ADIF file for you after you enter the WWFF reference.

Due to hooligans, 4WD access to the reserve is now prohibited so you need to park on Lyndon Road and walk in - an extra 2km on the round trip. We arrived to a frosty start just after 8am but soon warmed up as the sun rose and energy expended. It's a steady climb up the valley to Point 936m before turning left up another valley and following the river up before turning uphill and making for the ridge. This was quite a steep scramble through scree, patches of bush and tussock but once on the ridge, fairly easy going for a while.

The first ridge and reason it's called Red Hill - iron deposits

A steep spur awaits before attaining the final ridge and along to the Red Hill summit 

Wait, there's 2 people up there?! We really didn't expect to see anyone today (TBH it's always slightly disappointing) as this is well off the beaten track. It's a nice summit with spectacular views down to Lake Coleridge and across to Mt Cook on the South West side and across the Canterbury Plains  and down to Oamaru on the other.

Lake Coleridge with SOTA summit Peak Hill (other side of lake, left)

The predicted "Light" NorWest wind was actually gusting around 30 km/h so we found a sheltered spot in the lee and piled on the outer garments.

I got HF set up in quick time whilst Dave played SOTA spokesman and photographer for the other party on summit. As usual, he started on 40m SSB and I hit 2m FM. With a good view of the plains, I managed a quick-fire 16 contacts (a record for me) including Richard ZL4ES down in Kakanui (south of Oamaru), 218 km away.

Dave got his 4 on 40m and I worked 4 on 40m CW. A switch to 30m produced 3 Australians - very light and the wind certainly didn't help but in with the earbuds and it was much easier! For what it's worth, I use Koss "The Plug" buds - they are fantastic on noisy/windy summits as they mould to fit your ear and isolate external noise. A few calls on 20m produced nothing so, as I was getting cold, we decided to pack up and head to a sheltered spot for some lunch. A quick call on 2m just after 0000z before leaving the summit gained another 4 in the log for a total of 20 contacts on 2m.

After dropping steeply down a spur, we found a sheltered lunch spot along the ridge with great views of the mountains around us, many of which I have now summited. It's a great feeling.

The scree Dave selected was nice and soft, it provided an excellent way to lose a lot of height quickly. There is significant erosion up there from the big weather events in 2021, at one point on the scree, a huge portion of the gut had simply disappeared - certainly keeps you on your toes.

Be careful running down the scree toward this....

As we arrived back to the bush-line at the top of the valley, the Bellbirds were out in force. Dave pulled out his caller to see if he could entice them closer and sure enough, we were visited by a couple of very curious birds. It's great to see and hear so many of them in the area.

Getting there: Drive to Lake Lyndon and turn onto the Lyndon road, pass the Lyndon Lodge (and Lyndon Lump) turnoff and park on the side of the road beside the DOC signs at -43.329548, 171.677985

Permission: Much of this route is through Brooksdale Station and permission is required.

Ascent: 6.6 km and 913m vertical gain (it's harder than these figures suggest) 2 hours 45 min. 

The circuit is 13.6km and 1019m vertical.

Hamilton Peak ZL3/CB-267

 Located above the Broken River and Craigieburn skifields, Hamilton Peak offers great views of the alps, foothills and plains. 

Saturday 30th May forecast was for a nice Autumn day with light winds, even at 2000m so off we went, arriving at the locked gate on the Broken River access road just before 8am. First vehicle there which is always a good thing! A brisk pace up the skifield road and track soon had us at the tow base. We elected to walk up the line of the rope tow and then climb Nervous Knob to achieve the ridge that would take us to Hamilton Peak. Three quarters of the way up I decided Nervous Knob is well named... Hearing "three points of contact at all times Geoff" from Dave reinforced that this was a bit more than a hike up a hill!  Well outside my comfort zone but eventually I arrived on top and just for good measure, took a slight detour back up to the summit of the knob.

Recovery at the top of Nervous Knob!

The walk from there across the ridge to Hamilton Peak was fine (in comparison!) and we arrived at the summit 30 minutes prior to our alerted time 11am NZST. There was quite a strong Westerly wind blowing 30 km/h gusting 39 km/h so we set up in the lee of the summit where a convenient outcrop served to hold the pole and shelter us from most of the wind. Air temperature was 3 degrees Celsius (-2 to -3 wind-chill) so we got stuck in, knowing we wouldn't be hanging around too long. The temperature and wind we could handle, the ominous looking cloud coming across the alps ahead of the Nor-wester was the concern.

Looking West at the cloud building 

Following our now established pattern of Dave starting on 40m SSB and me on 2m FM, we both quickly had the requisite 4 contacts to qualify the summit including a couple of S2S. 

14 contacts on 2m FM - a great spot

I then jumped on 40m CW and worked the North Island regulars before trying 20m. No calls from VK after 3 minutes and an RBN spot. Dave was watching the weather and made the call, "we should go" so, knowing we had a long exposed ridge to traverse on the way home, we packed up quickly and set off. Total time on summit was around 35 minutes - apologies to anyone we missed.

View from the operating site. Craigieburn Ski-field in the valley (left), our descent route along the ridge (right). Mt Oxford in the far distance (left) and Castle Hill Peak/The Gap (right)

Wherever possible we choose a circuit route to avoid going back the way we come so we headed down the SE spur looking for a nice scree to join up with the Camp Saddle track back to Broken River. It was a great route with 100 m height gain. The scree selected was a ripper, long and deep - great fun!! As we jumped into it we spotted a party on Camp Saddle and speculated how jealous they would be watching us surf the scree down! The end of scree met the track and we found a nice spot to have lunch with great views down the valley and across to Castle Hill Peak and "The Gap"

Lunch view - Castle Hill Peak (centre) and "The Gap" (left)

The party of 6 we had seen on the saddle arrived for a chat, all older gentlemen led by a very sprightly 84 year-old! The walk back down took us across the last of the scree and down into the beech forest along a wide and well marked track back to the road and on to the car.

A good walk - 11.6 km and 1131m of vertical gain in the spectacular Craigieburn Forest Park Conservation Area.

Getting there: SH73 to the Broken River skifield access road. Drive in until you reach the locked gate and park (don't obstruct the gate or the other road). Walk up the road and then take the walking track to the bottom of the ski tows. From here, there is no track. Make your way up to the ridge. I don't recommend the Nervous Knob route, maybe skirt it but beware having to climb the scree!

Permission: None need, Craigieburn Forest Park Conservation Area.

Time: Ascent - 2.5 hours up (5.8 km and 1042 m vertical gain)

Cell coverage: Spark/Skinny 4G