The content on this website is published in English. I cannot guarantee the quality of the translated text generated by the plugin of this website. The machine-translated “names” and “terminology” are often inconsistent and/or incorrect. If it looks confusing, please switch back to the English version.
Disclaimer: Information such as the locations or the trails shown on the maps of this website might be inaccurate, misleading or out-of-date. They are only the simple illustration for the ranges of the hiking trails or the points of interest. Please prepare your own navigation device, apps, topo maps, and GPX files for hiking.
Sourced from Topo50 Map CC11 Queenstown. Crown Copyright Reserved
About Ben Lomond
The Difficulty Rating: ★★★☆☆
Ben Lomond is prominent mountain standing at the northwestern side of Queenstown. The top of the summit at the elevation 1748 m is the best place to overlook the town, Lake Wakatipu and the imposing range of The Remarkables on the opposite side of the lake. All you need to pay is the time and sweat.
For visitors of this world-famous town, there are so many things to do, the big day hike to Ben Lomond is probably not a priority for most people. The shorter and easier walk to Queenstown Hill might be a more popular choice for someone with a tight schedule.
I hiked to Ben Lomond in September 2016. (I stayed at Twelve Mile Delta Campsite before the hike, a budget but nice location near the luxurious Queenstown for a lone traveler.) I remembered my hike started from One Mile Car Park where is next to a small roundabout. However, this is probably not the main access to Ben Lomond Track. Please follow the advice by DOC.
The trail is well-formed and signed, but it intersects mountain bike tracks a few times. It is important to stay on walker’s track by following the signs, not going into bike tracks. The walk to the summit of Ben Lomond was straightforward without anything technical even some snow still remained on the track in the early spring. Even this mountain is not a popular travel destination in Queenstown, this track was relatively busy compared to many other ones in South Island, of course, much quieter than the crowded town below. After taking several photos at the peak, I descended to Ben Lomond Saddle where I spent three hours until it was dark.
During that period of time I took time-lapse videos with a GoPro, but it is not built for this job, particularly under the low light condition. The quality of the image is not up to my standard, and sadly maybe none of the time-lapse clips from that GoPro will be published in the future.
Overall, the hike to Ben Lomond was not difficult but it requires a level of endurance. The net elevation gain from the town to the peak is over 1400 m which can be extreme for novice hikers especially when the day is too hot, too cold or too windy. The presence of snow / ice on the track can make this hike risky as well. Please check DOC web page again before the hike. I would recommend bringing a headlamp in case you can not finish this long day hike before it is dark for some reason.
