Queens Drive (part) & Lake Alta, The Remarkables, Queenstown NZ
Three walks high up in the Remarkables Range near Queenstown: tracks to Lake Alta and Shadow Basin Lookout, and for something a little more hair raising, the Queens Drive track. Alpine scenes and spectacular views abound.
Three walks in one here: a straightforward walk up to beautiful Lake Alta from the Remarkables ski fields car park, a shortish climb to wide open views at Shadow Basin Lookout, and the somewhat hair raising Queens Drive track, that runs along a poor excuse for a ledge high up (about 2000m) on the west face of the Remarkables. Seriously spectacular views on the Queens Drive track, but if you don’t have a head for heights then you can just check out the views from Shadow Basin Lookout, which is on the way.
The Remarkables viewed from Remarkables Park car park. Queens Drive can be seen marked by a thin red line at the top. We walked from left to right, then back again.
Track Notes
Firstly, the shortest variation is to take the marked track straight up to Lake Alta, but we did a loop via Shadow Basin Lookout and returned along that track. This route is on a vehicle track until near Shadow Basin Lookout. There’s then a track through a small boulder field. If you are not continuing on to the Queens Drive then back track from the lookout and cross a boulder field to the ridge, then find a spot to drop steeply to Lake Alta, where you can join the marked track back to the car park.
We used the guide book Day Walks of New Zealand: Central Otago and Queenstown for track notes. We intended to do a loop: climbing from the ski fields car park to Shadow Basin Lookout, south along Queens Drive, then on to the head of Wye Creek, and follow the Wye Creek Route north to Lake Alta, then descend along the Lake Alta Track back to the car park. Unfortunately we met one snow drift too many on Queens Drive and turned back. (We would complete the Queens Drive – Wye Creek loop in January 2019, and realised then we had gone only about halfway along the Queens Drive on this occasion). Instead we walked back to the start of Queens Drive, then over to a spur north of Lake Alta, had lunch, and then descended steeply from there to the lake, and back to the car park along the Lake Alta Track. On our first trip to Queenstown in 2008 we walked up to Lake Alta and back from the car park, and I’ve included a few pics from this day also.
Queens Drive (part) & Lake Alta: The Scenery
A couple of shots from the drive up.
Even the drive up feels a bit intrepid (March 2008). The view over the Kawarau River, taken on the drive up to the Remarkables ski fields (March 2008).
Walking up to Shadow Basin Lookout.
Looking back at tarns on the track to Shadow Basin Lookout. Shadow Basin Lookout: A panorama of Lake Wakatipu and the Queenstown/ Frankton area. Shadow Basin Lookout: The Queenstown area viewed from Shadow Basin Lookout. Shadow Basin Lookout: Cecil Peak (1978m) and Lake Wakatipu. Shadow Basin Lookout: Steep.
Queens Drive starts just to the left (south) of Shadow Basin Lookout. It’s not that obvious.
The Queens Drive track to the left. Sophia bottom left. Rocks on the west face of the Remarkables. This is the face viewable from all around the Queenstown area. Sophia bottom left. The Queens Drive track. Snow was covering much of the track, which was steep in places, making things harder for us. Sophia checking out the view from the Queens Drive track. Big snow drifts were making it hard to negotiate the track. Queens Drive Track. The slopes just dropped away. Returning back along the Queens Drive track. Sophia on the Queens Drive track. Lake Wakatipu, Cecile Peak and Bayonet Peaks behind. Looking back towards Frankton and Queenstown. I took this shot in a fairly precarious spot on the Queens Drive track. The Southern Alps in the distance.
And walking over to Lake Alta…
Looking back down to the track we took at the start. The Southern Alps in the background. Lake Alta. This was our consolation for returning back along the Queens Drive Track. We had lunch here and descended steeply from this rocky spur to the shores of Lake Alta. Lake Alta Lake Alta backed by Single Cone and Double Cone. A colourful Lake Alta with Single Cone and Double Cone behind (March 2008). Single Cone and Double Cone (2319m; March 2008). Single Cone and Double Cone (March 2008). Single Cone and Double Cone (March 2008). Single Cone and Double Cone (2319m of elevation). Walking down the road from the Lake Alta Track back to the ski fields car park.
