Mt Peel 

20-21 October 2024

Chris was very keen to climb Mt Peel, so was disappointed when it looked like a non-starter, as only three of us had booked. Graham came to the rescue to give us a car load, though he didn’t plan to do the overnight trip. Our four left on the Sunday morning and were walking from Blandswood at 11am, with Chris, Wang and Kerry carrying overnight gear and litres of water, while Graham had a day-pack to walk part-way to Little Mount Peel. We saw lots of day trippers along the way through leafy forest then dracophyllum scrub. The Deer Spur Track is well-built and maintained, with lots of wooden steps and board-walks. Stops and a lunch break stretched our walking time to the LMP shelter to four hours. It’s a great place to stay and gives super views of the plains. The shelter has wide bench seats, allowing four to sleep if they take mats to cushion the hard wood. The two tanks that catch rainwater were quite full, so the litres of water we carried was overkill. As usual, DoC advises that the tank water needs to be boiled.

Dinner was dehy lamb and mushroom with a fistful of fresh asparagus, all extended with 100g of instant mashed spud. Kerry had customary custard but was the only taker, so had plenty left to go with the morning muesli.

Monday dawned fine and clear and we could see Banks Peninsula and a mass of ponds and reservoirs, including the seven ponds of the Rangitata irrigation scheme at Arundel, which according to the Timaru Times can hold 16.5 million cubic metres of water. The 2014 article says seven, but the map shows ten ponds which are topped up when the Rangitata hits 110 cumecs. Wang’s phone-cam captured the sunrise.

Our trio set off at 7.45am for the long slog to 1583m Middle Mount Peel and 1743m Mount Peel. Along the way an absent-minded Kerry put his phone and wallet down as he took off a layer of clothing and neglected to pick them up. We were confident we knew where we’d stopped so carried on, planning to collect them on the way back.

We picked our way past crags and piled-up snow on the final ridge to Mt P and arrived there for lunch at 11.30 and to marvel at the snowy peaks we could see all around. The overall descent to Little Mt P is 432m but there are ups and downs to vary the task. The overall climb from our car to Mt P is 1691m, so it’s an epic climb to do in one day and we were pleased we’d spread the climb over two days. We were most impressed to meet a guy who had biked to the base of Coal Hill and climbed that hill then Mt Peel and was headed down to the road where he’d still need to get back to his bike. He seemed to be doing all this powered by water and collagen extracted from seaweed.

Yes, we did pick up the valuables on the way back to LMP and arrived back at Blandswood at 6pm where Graham was waiting to drive us home. Many thanks Graham for making the trip happen.
The team was: Graham Townsend, Chris Leaver, Wang and Kerry Moore    KM