So we seized the opportunity and decided to have a wander up the local Ben Lomond which over looks Queenstown. The trail's not overly long but it's up all the way and it's a whole 1,400m of up. For a hill so easily accessible we only saw around 10 people the whole day and had some good chats about nearby hills to do and conditions.
Climbing out of the tree line and seeing a layer of cloud below us kicked started the days views and they seemed to progressively get bigger and better. Pass the snow line the going got slippy with most of the snow mushing up horribly in the warm sun and it's still meant to be winter! From the 1748m summit the views were spectacular, seeing as far as your eye could see with views of Queenstown, The Remarkable, mount Earnslaw, Aspiring and Fiordland.
This was also the first summit for the Whitby lucky duck Paul and Jo give us, which will hopefully be the first of many.
