Queenstown, New Zealand.. What a beautiful place. The small city is situated on the waterfront of Lake Wakatipu, the third largest lake in the country. Further surrounding the city are The Remarkables, an array of massive mountain ranges making Queenstown feel like a secluded and hidden gem. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand how they got their name, truly remarkable.
If you think Queenstown is picturesque from ground level, imagine climbing 1748 metres in altitude and obtaining 360 degree panoramic views directly over the city, lake, and surrounding mountain ranges. The photos don’t even come close to doing our experience justice, but trust me when I say the views are breathtaking.
Starting on the Tiki Trail
There are a few ways that you can go about hiking to the Ben Lomond summit. There are a couple tracks that will take you up to where the track officially starts, which is actually already over 400m of elevation.
The Tiki Trail is the most famous, and considered the official way to conquer the summit so we thought we’d give the real deal a go. However, you can take a gondola that will take you to the top on the Tiki Trail and where the hike actually starts. I would recommend this for anyone that’s not extremely fit, as the Tiki Trail is a very steep ascent.
The Tiki Trail isn’t too long in distance, it’s only 1.5km kilometres, however it’s relatively steep in places and can take about an hour or more to conquer depending on fitness levels. It weaves through bush land, with penetrating views over Queenstown as you begin to get some elevation. You work your way to the top, which is where Queenstown Luges operate, as well as a skyline restaurant that has the most amazing views overlooking the city. Let’s Go
After slugging away for an hour or so, we finally broke through the bush and had made it to the summit. 400metres above Queenstown, absolutely beautiful. Wait we’re at the summit already? The summit before the summit.
Enjoying the Views
As I mentioned earlier, we have arrived at where Queenstown adventure and tourism operate a luge and restaurant venue, at this vantage point that possesses stunning views of the City.
You can catch a gondola from the bottom of the Tiki Trail, which will take you directly to this venue. You can then pay to race the luges down the mountainside, catch the gondola back up and do it all again.
But for us today, the show must go on…
Hiking to the Ben Lomond Saddle
This is where the Ben Lomond hike officially starts. In order to reach the saddle a 4km hike awaits, followed by another 1.5km if you wish to conquer the summit. The 1.5km to the summit includes about 700m of elevation, so be prepared for a world of hurt.
The views from the saddle are absolutely amazing, so if you’re not in optimal shape I’d probably recommend catching the gondola and just hiking out to the saddle and back. For those where fitness isn’t an issue, go for the summit baby, the pain is worth the reward!!
Initially the hike starts by entering some dark bush, it’s relatively flat and after about 30 minutes you come out the other side to the beginning of the most amazing views for the rest of your adventure.
It’s November at the moment, heading into summer in New Zealand. Therefore, the temperatures are warming up a little, but a few weeks ago there was a dumping of snow. This track is a safer hike in the summer months, however in the winter you have to be much more aware of the weather elements. It can be completely covered in snow from this point on, and the weather can change extremely quickly especially at altitude.
There was still snow of the mountain tops as we embarked towards the saddle, and the weather fantastic. For me I’d probably say this is the perfect time of the year for such a hike. You get the beautiful views, without the risk of the dangerous weather.
The Breathless Views From the Saddle
After about 4 hours of hiking, we had finally reached the saddle. Once you reach the saddle, not only do you have the view of Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown on one side, but on the other is a pristine view of the Southern Alp Mountain Range.
The views up here were out of this world. We stopped for a refuel break up at the saddle, and sat in awe of how beautiful it was to be up in the mountains.
As you can see, the views from the saddle are equally spectacular on both sides. We are lucky enough to be blessed with the most perfect day weather wise, with the blue skies really amplifying the visual experience.
Continuing Towards the Summit
After soaking up the allure of the saddle, we built up the strength to finally carry on towards the summit. From the saddle it’s only a further 1.5km track, however over this distance you gain over 700m of elevation. This is where the real hard work begins, but nothing worth achieving comes easy.
Not going to lie, it was a pretty gruelling hike from the saddle to the summit. There were numerous stops to get our breath back, and stop the legs from burning. However we kept pushing, and finally after about 5.5 hours of hiking we made it baby.. The Ben Lomond Summit
After all that hard work, we had finally conquered the summit. The views up top were truly amazing. It felt like we were sitting on top of the world.
We had 360 panoramic views of the mountain ranges, and Lake Wakatipu on a beautiful sunny day. Doesn’t get any better than that.
We stayed up there for about an hour enjoying the amazing feeling. The day wasn’t over for us however, we then had to embark on the return journey.
We covered 17km in total, with about 8.5 hours of hiking time. Gaining 1748 metres of elevation, and then coming all the way back down.
Hell of a day, Hell of an experience
If your ever in Queenstown, New Zealand give this one a go, you will not be disappointed!!