Day 14 (Jan 2) - Roy's Peak

Julian making the final push of the climb to Roy's Peak

Jan 2 brought us back to Wanaka where Julian and I hiked to the top of Roy’s Peak.

Nice views start within minutes of setting off from the trailhead

The summit was visible from the parking lot at the bottom and throughout the entire climb, and yet – or maybe because of it – the climb ended up taking much longer than it appeared.

 

Great views across the lake during the ascent - from about half-way up the mountain

We had started at an altitude of 300m above sea level and the summit was just below 1,600m – so maybe it should not be all that surprising that it took us three hours to reach the top and a total of just under 5 hours to complete the round-trip.

 

Ridge line about 200m below the summit

The views were superb throughout the hike and only got better and better the higher we climbed.

Great views over Lake Wanaka and the Southern Alps in the background

The summit provided a great panoramic view of Lake Wanaka and across the Southern Alps from Mount Barth in the North East to Mount Aspiring in the North West.

Nice view of the switchbacks.  The trailhead can be seen at the bottom on the right.

Although Julian struggled a bit with a headache and breathing issues I admired him for his persistence to make it all the way to the top and back, covering 16km (10 miles) and 1,300m (4,200 feet) of vertical gain despite having no physical training whatsoever.

Made it to the top without any physical training

Fellow hikers on the final ascent

We encountered a few trail runners, although at this stage of the climb everyone was walking

Short break on the way down.  The town of Wanaka is on the right at the far side of the lake.