A Tale of Lakes, Creeks, Tarns and Cyclonic Winds…

03/01/19 ~ 04/01/19

Introduction

First hike of 2019! After just moving to the Queenstown area (Jacks Point), it was time to visit my new backyard mountains – The Remarkables. This mountain range is one of the iconic ranges surrounding Queenstown, and hosts a popular ski field beside the tallest peak there – Double Cone at 2307m. That’s a little over the altitude of the tallest peak in Australia – Mt Kosciuszko, at 2228m! Wye creek, in the middle, divides The Remarkable range from the Hector range.

The Route

There is only one route marked out here – the Wye Creek Route. I had a friend joining who wasn’t done an overnight hike before and I wanted to make it more of a spectacle – so I planned to do a backcountry loop via Lake Hope. It turns out this probably wasn’t the best idea (as you will soon read haha). The route that i had originally planned was changed due to adverse weather and the difficulty level (see map). However, the alternate easier route following Wye Creek was achieved.

Car Logistics

This trip requires two vehicles – one at the bottom of, and one on top of the mountain range. The first car should be parked on side of the highway near the Power station at the end of Wye Creek. There is a car park for Wye Creek hikers, but we had planned to come out off a 4WD track a bit further south, so I parked there (a small grassy section off the side of the road). The other car is needed to get you up to The Remarkables ski field carpark where you start the hike.

Conditions

The Remarkables are high mountains, deceptively so. It is a very exposed and open are to high winds and low temperatures. The forecast stated 15kmph winds in the area, however this clearly wasn’t accurate when up high. It felt like the wind was coming from all angles, even in areas that seemed protected. Ensure you have a sturdy tent and secure it well!

Map

The Hike

Day 1

Lake Alta

After parking up both cars (in the locations on the map), we set off on our trip at 11:30am. Within 10 minutes, you arrive at Lake Alta, an enticing blue lake amongst what would be a ski field in winter. It was amazing the colour changes from when the sun was on it, to when the clouds rolled over.

We then headed up the right side of the lake towards Peak 2200. The way up was mostly scree slope, but it was easy and didn’t take long.

At the summit, near what i can only imagine is a weather station, you receive amazing panoramic views of the Wakatipu Basin and all the peaks in the area. Below me, I could see my house at Jacks Point and just how intensely steep The Remarkables range really is!

We climbed back down to Lake Alta and had lunch before heading into the next valley. Not before taking a look back at the beauty of the lake!

Wye Creek Tarns

In this valley there are several tarns that feed Wye Creek, and are all spectacular!

It was in this basin area you can see why the Peak is called Double Cone too, as its shape is more prominent on this side.

Choosing a suitable line to take up the ridge, we deviated from the Wye Creek route and over the eastern ridge towards the Hector range. The way we chose was pretty good, however, the terrain is very coarse with very large fragments of schist to scuttle and scramble over. This did slow us down, and force an earlier camp. However, for a relatively inexperienced hiker, Carolin was pretty confident on the rocks which was great!

Towards the Hector Range

On top of the ridge is a flat region and a shallow tarn, before descending down more schist slopes to a group of larger tarns. These were beautiful and would have served as great swimming spots had the wind not have chilled the air.

It was getting late, around 7pm and we needed to camp. There was plenty of flat terrain, but still rather bumpy. We found a flat spot in the small deviation between the tarns. I made sure the tent was secured well with the wind. At that time, the wind was fairly strong, but nowhere near as bad as up higher.

Howling Winds!

Then nightfall happened…

You could hear the thundering rolling gusts smash into the mountains prior to actually hitting the tent. It was a surreal sound. Seconds later – you felt it like a truck hitting the tent! The tent held up, but it definitely was taking a beating. It wasn’t quite as heavy and sustained as the wind i experienced on Mt Tronador in Patagonia, but it was inconsistent and the gusts were insanely fast and came from all angles. I honestly though we’d be out of the winds, as they all came from the east and had two ranges to pass. However, i think they were just so high they found a way into every crevice and valley.

Sleep was hard to come by and i felt bad for Carolin as this was her first overnight tent experience in the backcountry 🙁

Day 2

Changing Plans

I made the decision that morning to not continue the trip towards Lake Hope. The terrain was more difficult than I had predicted, and not ideal with the high winds (that never disappeared). It was perhaps, too much to ask of Carolin with her inexperience. The easiest route was to backtrack to the ridge and head down to Wye Creek. This way, we’d still have a nice trip and end up close to the second car.

Descending the long slope was fairly easy. It was scree at first, but led into tussock. It was easiest to find rockier parts here, as the tussock was slippery.

Wye Creek

We made it to the creek and began to follow it downstream. There was an awesome waterfall after a small steep section. Sadly, there isn’t really a trail here and it’s a game of ‘avoiding the speargrass‘ for a lot of the way.

Eventually, the valley steepens, and becomes forested. Shortly before this part you get a glimpse of Lake Wakatipu.

The beginning of the forest is really nice, all the way to the water inlet to the power station. There is also a nice little waterfall here. After this, the trail steeply descends all the way to the carpark. There is a great spot for a photo in the clearing about halfway down.

At the bottom of the hill, we had to walk about 300m back to my car parked where we initially intended to come out.

Overview

Pros:

• Not as ‘easy’ as i imagined and offered some challenging terrain – good insight for future hikes when i’m by myself
• Fantastic, epic views of the mountains and lakes
• The lakes and tarns are quite nice, and frequent!
• Feels far from civilization, whilst being in Queenstown’s backyard

Cons:

• The wind is intense, and I’ve heard since it’s notoriously bad in that range
• Speargrass is everywhere in Wye Creek valley, but it’s not too hard to avoid
• You really need two cars to attempt with ease – hard for solo hikers