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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
