Chilling on the Roof of NZ

Today is an easy day as far as cycling is concerned. We only have to ride the ten kilometers or so to Arthur’s Pass Village. We will then do a day hike to one of the peaks nearby.

The ten kilometers of gradual climb to Arthur’s Pass Village seems like nothing compared to yesterday’s monster hills. In no time, we arrive at the tiny village.

Arthur’s Pass Village sits in a canyon at an elevation of eight hundred meters flanked by 1800+ meter peaks on either side. It has trail heads to an extensive network of backcountry trails and is popular with hikers. We don’t have the equipment to do an overnight hike, so a day hike would have to do.

After setting up camp at the public campground, we start our hike to Avalanche Peak. As soon as we find the trail, it leads us straight up the mountain. Forget about switchbacks, this is more like scrambling up rocks for an hour until the tree line at about 1200 meters elevation. Then it’s a walk along the ridgeline and a scramble up to 1836 meters elevation, the top of Avalanche Peak.

View of Arthur's Pass Village ten minutes into the hike

A precipitous drop along the trail at the tree line

James walks along the ridgeline

View of the whole valley from above the tree line

Going farther up still

Just below summit

Last scramble up loose rocks

Passing by remnants of snow from the previous winter

Standing at the top, we are being buffeted by the chilly Southwesterly and warmed by the strong sun. All around us are the other 1800+ meter peaks. With the village now turned into a collection of small dots below, I feel like I am standing on a shingle of the Roof of New Zealand. Only two days ago we were riding through very English-like countryside; now we are standing on a peak in a very Swiss-like place!

Standing on the shoulders of giants

Panoramic view from the summit of Avalanche Peak

We sit and chill at the peak, enjoying the perfect weather and the awesome scenery until the sun lowering in the sky signals that we should return to the valley before it gets dark.

At night, we cook our meal with things we bought at the village “convenience store.” Trying to conserve money, we cook all of our meals. Sometimes supplies are hard to find in small places, so we have to be inventive and create our own “Kwik-E-Mart cuisine.” Tonight’s meal: mystery meat sausages simmered in canned chopped tomatoes, served on basmati rice. Tasty stuff!

Stats:

Distance: 11.46 km
Time: 47h 14m
Max speed: 43.0 kmph
Average speed: 14.5 kmph
Odometer: 152.7 km