Lake Alta, New Zealand - December 2014

Well I’ve been home for a week now, I remember six days back when I wrote up my last post I was carrying on about the ridiculously hot weather that welcomed us home, well you’d never guess but this weekend they are predicting rain of biblical proportions. Yeah, well at least we had a few good days in between, well except for the cyclonic winds that came through some suburbs earlier in the week, at least life’s not boring. Anyway onto the blog, I’m still in the middle of writing up my ten day walk on Stewart Island on my crazy guy journal so haven’t got anything new to post on the blog, so I figured that I would do a little post about a short walk I did near Queenstown in New Zealand, the Lake Alta Track.

The Remarkables from Queenstown.

Lake Alta sits above the Remarkables Ski Field so first up I was able practice my Sebastian Loeb moves on the drive up from Queenstown, luckily for me I had a hire car as they are renowned rally cars which are perfectly suited to a bit of sideways action in the dirt. So after climbing up the 3000 switch backs in my asthmatic Corolla I was happy to park it and pull on the boots. Now I’ve done a bit of walking in my almost 50 years but I don’t think I’ve ever had a stranger start to a walk, initially I had to walk through a full on building site, The Remarkables Ski Field was going through a summer make over and it was full of cranes and assorted industrial paraphernalia.

Following my guide up the service track.

Once clear of the building site the Lake Alta track follows some ski lift service tracks up the mountain, the walking is easy if not a little steep. About thirty minutes from the carpark the signposted route left the service track and headed off towards Double Cone and Lake Alta, I was now walking on a more conventional type of walking track, ie one without heavy duty industrial equipment on it. Climbing from the service track I was very soon on a small rocky outcrop which gave me my first view of the partially frozen Lake Alta.

Crossing Rastus Burn.

Lake Alta.

The water was incredibly clear.

Now I suppose I could of headed back to the car having ticked Lake Alta off the list, but I figured that as I’d made a fair effort to get here and with the very real possibility that I would not get back here again, I thought that I’d explore a little. First up I went down to check out the beautifully clear aqua water, even in the overcast conditions the water looked stunning, the water that clear that the lake appeared to be only a few inches deep. From the Lake Shore the ski resort was not visible and the setting looked largely untouched by man, the partially frozen alpine lake with the jagged mountains blanketed with some residual snow.

The small cascade that I went over to check out.

From the shore I headed for a creek cascading down from Double Cone into the frozen side of the lake, on the way carefully crossing a couple of steep sections of snow. With Double Cone towering over head and me making fresh footprints in the snow I felt a lot more remote than I actually was. Descending back to the shore I hopped over the outlet creek and checked out a bit more of the lake before starting to head back to the car. Once I was back on the service track I met up with the first walkers that I’d seen all day, for such a short easy walk it certainly wasn’t over crowded.

Thee was a little snow left over from winter.

Getting back to the car all that was left to do was head back down the 3000 switch backs, stopping on the way for a couple of photos, before getting back to the hotel in Queenstown. Once I was back in town I had to make the hardest decision of the day, Fergburger or Devil Burger, a first world problem that probably deserves a post of its own!

Lake Alta's outlet.

Double Cone.

The Remarkables Ski Field.

The Dirt.

The Lake Alta Track starts at the Remarkables Ski Field near Queenstown, New Zealand. I walked around 6 kilometres including my aimless wondering around the lake. I used a brochure ‘Wakatipu Walks’ that I picked up from the DOC office in Queenstown and that, along with my GPS maps was enough for this well marked route. I’d rate this walk as easy, although there is a bit of climbing involved. The walk is in an alpine area so come prepared for dodgy weather. 

A Paradise Shelduck.

Queenstown and the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakatipu.

My rally hire car.