At just over three thousand metres, it is the highest peak in New Zealand outside the Aoraki Mount Cook region, and its steep faces and hanging glaciers attract mountaineers from around the world. It sits in the national park, among beech forest, river flats and high basins, a landscape that few people ever see.
The part of the country that a rider can reach lies to the south, at the head of Lake Wakatipu, near Glenorchy. From there, the road runs north through the Rees valley toward Paradise, a stretch of about twenty kilometres of gravel through farmland and beech forest, with the mountains standing around like a wall. The area was used as a film location for The Lord of the Rings, and the landscape does look like Middle-earth. The gravel is generally good, though loose in places, and the fords can be deep after rain.
The lake is the other theme. Lake Wakatipu is shaped like a lightning bolt, and its water level rises and falls by a few centimetres every half hour, a phenomenon that locals explain with a legend about a giant whose heart beats beneath the water. Scientists have a less romantic answer, but the legend is more fun. The water is cold, around ten degrees even in summer, and a swim is for the brave, but the stony beaches at the head of the lake are beautiful.
Fuel is not available at the head of the lake, so fill the tank in Queenstown before the run to Glenorchy, which is about forty-five kilometres. A cafe in Glenorchy serves coffee and pies, and the village has a small general store. Be careful on the gravel, and check river levels before crossing fords. Autumn brings golden poplars and clear light, and winter brings snow on the peaks.