Mt Dewar – Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown NZ

Excellent views of the Wakatipu Basin, Richardson Mountains and Skippers backcountry on this loop over Mt Dewar & back via Skippers Road.

Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown

I had first visited Mt Dewar on the Devils Creek Circuit some years ago, and wasn’t so impressed by the views on that day. Well, what a difference some good lighting makes! This time the views were awesome, including south over the Wakatipu Basin, and north over the Skippers Backcountry and Richardson Mountains. So I can in fact recommend either of these two walks 🙂

This route involves a section of road walking to complete a loop, but the climb back up the infamous Skippers Road has some interesting features on it, so we didn’t mind too much. Note that part of this walk as described is on private land so see my track notes for access details.

Track notes at the end.

Mt Dewar – Skippers Road Loop: The Scenery

Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
Fox gloves and interesting cloud over the Remarkables.
Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
Impressive speargrass.
Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
The Devils Creek Track in the foreground. It drops down to the left and then climbs back up to Coronet Peak Road.
Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
Skippers backcountry.
Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
Wakatipu Panorama from Mt Dewar (1310m).
Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
Devils Creek and Bowen Peak centre right, and Cecil peak on the other side of Lake Wakatipu.

Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown

Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
Backcountry scenes.
Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
We had just a few very light showers to contend with.

Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown

Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
One of the money shots from the day – such good lighting.

Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown

Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
Big Bend in Skippers Road. The track joins the road from the right.
Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
The Lighthouse on the right. You can see a tour bus bottom centre approaching a hairpin ben in Skippers Road.

Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown

Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
Devils Gate: vehicles pass through a gap in the rocks that you can see on the far right.
Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
The Wakatipu Basin viewed from back at the car park on Coronet Peak Road.

Track Notes

Mt Dewar - Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown
The walk is on vehicle tracks and then Skippers Road. The section from the right turn over the saddle at 958m to Skippers Road is on private land – contact mountain@treespace.co.nz for permission to access. They sound very accommodating.

You can park in a small car park at Skippers Saddle right at the start of the track. We didn’t realise and parked in a large chain fitting area on Coronet Peak Road, and walked a few hundred metres up Skippers Road to the start of the track. This might be a bit more secure but then might not be best during the ski season. 

The walk is on vehicle tracks all the way over Mt Dewar, and back to Skippers Road near Big Bend. From there you walk up the road back to the saddle. This was a bit hot and dusty for us but it is an interesting road with a few rocky features along the way such as Castle Rock (over the road at Big Bend), The Lighthouse and Hells Gate. 

The section from when you turn right off Atleys Track to pass over the saddle at 958m and continue on to Skippers Road is on private land. Please Contact Treespace at mountain@treespace.co.nz to ask permission for access. This is mainly to ensure safety as they sometimes have hunters in the area. (I’ll sheepishly admit that I rushed my prep for this walk and thought this would be a DOC track. We ended up walking this section without permission, but I did my homework afterwards and it sounds like getting access is no problem. Sorry!).

Interestingly, this land is part of a privately funded project to restore beech forest to the slopes of the mountain. They’ll build a housing estate somewhere. Have a look at https://treespace.co.nz/.    

This walk is at the easier end of moderate, although it will take maybe 4+ hours so not a walk in the park. See the Wakatipu Walks DOC brochure for more info on walks in the area. 

Author: Edward Hathway

I'm a clinical psychologist and keen hiker.

4 thoughts on “Mt Dewar – Skippers Road Loop, Queenstown NZ”

    1. Hi Fiona. There was excellent lighting for this walk. But yeah, it’s hard to beat NZ for hiking opportunities. Sydney is very good for a big city though. National parks on every side.

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