A Remarkable Display

It’s probably a good thing the early settlers to Queenstown were of refined European extraction and not Australian. If the early pioneers of this beautiful patch on Earth had come from our shores the powerful alps that surround the city could have been called the “Stuff a Duck” mountains or the “Jeez, cop an eyeful of that will ya” alps.

Apparently the mountains were named by an early Welsh settler who came out from his cottage one crisp autumn morning and viewed the snow dusted mountains staring at him from the other side of Lake Wakatipu.

“That is truly a remarkable view” he exclaimed in circumspection as he closed his dressing gown against the bracing cold.

And so the Remarkables were named. Or so the story goes.

But whether the naming of the mountains is fact or folklore, one fact remains undisputed. The mountains are remarkable by name and nature.

And nature is what makes them particularly remarkable.

From the bars and café’s, hotels and shops in the developed but classy city of Queenstown, the views in every direction are dominated by massive alps.

Rising high to the frozen sky, they stretch along the shores of Lake Wakatipu and form a crown linking earth to sky. Their sheer beauty and dominance provide a constant show of nature’s creativity.

A wall of impenetrable rock, spliced and grooved by glacial flows, the Remarkables are an example of geological mille fuille. At the shore line, struggling vegetation competes against the elements and harsh soil. Above the water level another layer gives birth to a brilliant display of autumn colour in a bursting skirt of reds and yellows which surrounds the girth of this huge form.

As the walls rise skyward in structured layers, steep, grassed slopes give way to a series of jagged peaks of unscaleable challenge.

The drama of the mountains rises to a crescendo as they surge skyward in a massive display of power and might. Dribbles of past snowmelts scar the sides of the slopes from top to bottom and form solid, stationary rivers of silt heading towards the deep blue lake below. Vertical layering is crisscrossed with sharp ridges and shards of rock connecting the lofty peaks with ground level.

As the sun shines on the colours of the rock faces, the mountains appear dynamic. Passing clouds cast ephemeral shadows and move across the slopes in a gentle light show of subtle change. As one patch of colour is highlighted, another moves into soft fade out, like actors in a stage. Across the face of the mountains, the drama of nature’s beauty unfolds in a series of unrehearsed acts.

At the pleasure of the unpredictable and harsh elements that is the environment of the Remarkables, each day tells a different alpine story. The autumn sun of Tuesday stands aside for the heavy, snow-laden clouds of Wednesday and in the space of one cold, dark and quiet night, the mountains have transformed from a dark green essay to an arrangement of grey and white.

Light snow dusts the peaks as a chef would dust a clever dessert with icing sugar. Against turbulent clouds, they appear borderless as mountain becomes sky. Swirling snow clouds dump their grey payload on every ridge, peak and groove highlighting each structural feature.

As autumn quickly gives way to winter the snow continues to fall lowering the white level and dramatically altering the landscape. Breaks in the cloud allow the sun to beam piercing light onto the snow. Grey turns to dazzling white as patches of fresh white powder bask in the temporary windows of sunshine.

But within minutes, a wall of thick cloud sweeps in across the lake and swallows the giant mountains. The Remarkables have become the Invisibles.

Whether you can see the Queenstown mountains or not, whether their face is white, grey or green, or whether their craggy complexion reflects in the deep water of Lake Wakatipu, they are, truly remarkable by name and nature.

But mostly by nature.

by Kevin Moloney