St. Bathans Range

May was not a particularly good month, weather wise, for flying. The unusual frontal pattern produced a lot of low cloud and frequent rain showers. However, ERW was in the air for 26 hrs. The main pilots were Greg Foster, Dave Burke, Aaron Simpson, Russell Anderson (towing), Nick Taylor (instructing), and myself.

On todays flight, I am heading north to the Lindis Pass. After flying in challenging conditions during May, today was just awesome. And I’m not alone, there were already a couple of aircraft preparing to take to the air by the time I arrived at the Airport.

After departing on 32, it was a steady climb up to my cruising level of 7500ft. From that height I could see the Remarkables to the west, Mt. Aspiring in the distance off to the left and Mt Cook reaching up in the distance off the nose of the aircraft. The day was just magic. Calm, clear and a dream world all around me.
To the right of the valley is the Hawdun Range. What impressed me about the Hawdun Range was the flat surface on top. Reaching well over 6000ft, this plateau is snow covered for most of the winter.


Lindis Pass

Hawdun Range

Crossing over the ridge at the end of the valley brings me onto the Lindis Pass. I could see a steady flow of traffic heading away for their holiday weekend. This is an interesting area to fly around, but it is also a busy corridor between Wanaka and the north. So a position report and a listening watch is important.

Finally, I am along side the St. Bathans Range. What is unusual about these ranges is the steep uniform slope on the western side. When covered with a layer of snow, the range is clearly visible from the Cromwell Basin. Up close however, it doesn’t show it’s sharp contrast and tends to merge into the other mountains surrounding it.

St.Bathans Range