Sylvie, Max, Andy's Dad and Andy, near the start, telecom tower behind
Sylvie and I surveying the route ahead
The Remarkables is always pretty stunning!
Some good scrambling early on the ridge
Lots of fun!
Sylvie investigating the route above Lake Alta
Max takes a break and admires where we've come from
Some more good scrambling above Lake Alta
Me scrambling a lower route that Sylvie found. Andy and his dad opted for a more on the ridge pitch up above us.
Andy belays his Dad up above Frankton and Lake Wakatipu
Lake Wakatipu framed by the notch in double cone.
Max, demonstrating the importance of sunscreen!
Andy atop the second summit of Double Cone
Riding the summit boulder of Double Cone, Lake Wakatipu in the background!
It looked like fun, so Max had to try it too...
And so did Sylvie!
Looking towards the summit of Single Cone, the clouds did play some games with us, but at least stayed up above us. It was fairly windy, but this wasn't actually too much of an issue for completing the traverse as we were mostly on the sheltered Lake Alta side.
Andy, Max and Sylvie on the summit of Single Cone
View from Single Cone out over the Upper Wye Creek Basin
We encountered a mountain skills course on the lower slopes, driven here by poor weather in the the higher mountains. Something of a theme for the summer #themountainssayno!
Afternoon light on our route, Double and Single Cones!
Map of the route, pro-tip from Sarah Hamilton, the route does not go over Telecom tower (point 2200), but rather siddles below it to start the traverse.
There are multiple possible routes on the traverse so just work your way around mostly on the Lake Alta side and if you spend a bit of time investigating options mostly it's stiff scrambling rather than climbing. We only got the rope out once for a short section near the second summit of double cone. And for an abseil off Single Cone at the end, mostly just because we could combine with the others an do a double rope abseil!
