“On a Mish” #9 It’s Bigger Than (Part Four). Cecil Peak(1978m). Cecil Peak Station. Eyre Mountains. 15.3.2014. The rounded mound which resides on the opposite side of Lake Wakatipu to Queenstown is sometimes thought to be Cecil Peak. Yes, the mountain does stand tall in Cecil Peak Station. However, the mountain’s summit is much rockier, and also much bigger than what is seen from the town. After getting to the top of the true summit my girlfriend and I kind of wished we were standing at the top of the round mound, as it would be much easier to get down from than the rocky mess found around Cecil Peaks’ highest point…
A short scramble got us to the top of the horrible rocky gully / gut we had used to access the summit ridge. I went first and when I though I was in a safe place my girlfriend followed. At one stage she accidentally dislodged a rock and luckily, I was far enough over to one side of the gut to watch it zoom past me. I highly recommend you climb the gut one at a time like we had on the way up.
At the base of the gut, we made our way across the piles of dinner plate scree to the saddle at the top of Bare Spur. We still had around 1300 metres to go before we were at the lake and our plan of getting back down, packing up, and then hiking to meet the SS Earnslaw at Walter Peak Station looked like it was going to be too much of a rush. Luckily, we had a spare day and could make the easy decision to stay another night in our brilliant bivouac.
With the light of the day beginning to fade we watched the beautiful wooden boat make its last trip to and from Walter Peak Station, and with that we were committed to another night at the base of Bare Spur.
A celebration was in order, and it was lucky we still had some food to eat, and wine left to make a victory toast to the big mish we had just done. Our legs knew they had had a big day out, and it was not long after dinner that we decided to retreat to the warmth of our sleeping bags in the bivvy. Falling asleep is easy when you have climbed a kilometre and a half and then back down again. Satisfaction mixed with fatigue is the perfect combination for a good night’s rest!
Early-ish the next day we collapsed our bivouac and headed back along the shores of Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak Station and the TSS Earnslaw Wharf. On the trip back across the lake we had time to digest our adventure and get another look at the peak from the water. It didn’t take long before the peak’s lower reaches blocked any view of the true summit, and we were once again looking at the large mound seen from Queenstown that many think is Cecil Peak. Both of us could now say with confidence that the actual summit is much bigger than what is seen from the opposite side of the lake…
