A few times a year, I go on an adventure.
Marta was keen to have a go at the Craigieburn round, Canterbury Big Sunday Runs equivalent to Wellingtons Tararua S-K.
I was keen to go on a remote adventure after the crowds of Everest Base Camp
We were all looking forward to a few solid days in the hills, where all you need to do is move, eat and drink.


The Craigieburn Round circumnavigates the Castle Hill Basin via the high alpine ridgelines, traversing the Torlesse & Craigieburn Ranges.

The Round is a significant alpine ultra-running challenge that brings together the very best elements of Canterbury’s open alpine ridgeline landscapes.

It covers 105 km with 7800 m of vertical gain.

Every good adventure has a level of uncertain outcome.
We had booked flights, so we had 2 full days to complete the route.
The weather forecast lined up for half of our window, the second half looked pretty dodge, high winds that make the ridgelines dangerous places to travel.
Hopefully, the forecast would be wrong or we could escape off the ridge to complete the round.

We planned to stop after 11 hours for a meal and a short sleep, lake Lyndon had water and a place to biv. We dropped our night gear on the way to the road end.

It is always special to start an adventure, it takes alot to get to the start, research, planning, travel and then all there is to do is move and soak up the experience of being in the mountains with a small pack on your back.

It was a beautiful afternoon, clear skies and a nice breeze on the tops to keep you cool. We could see the whole Basin as we moved along the alpine ridgeline towards the GAP, a spectacular cut in the ridge. We found a few pockets of snow to top up our water bottles and cleared the GAP before nightfall.

The magic hour put on a beautiful show for us and the lights from the village glittered in the distance. The sky filled with shining stars helping us navigate the ridgeline. We arrived at the lake at 1 a.m, where holidaymakers were enjoying a relaxing evening around the fire. After a quick meal, we climbed into our sleeping bags on the concrete pad at the entrance to the lodge.

Marta cracked the wip after 3 hours of cold napping. Soon, we were climbing the next ridgeline on a magic clear morning.

To our surprise, a lone adventurer was heading towards us on the remote ridge, Richard looked like he had been working hard. He had been on the move for 16 hours including a full night along the Craigieburn ridge. He was looking forward to his food stash at the lake before hoping to continue if the wind played ball.

The route takes a crawl twist climbing up Red Hill and dropping straight to Coleridge saddle before the monster climb up the scree scope to Porters. Some times you have strong days in the mountains, some days you don’t and I was having a tough day, I couldn’t get out of first gear on the tough climbs, I was feeling it when I finally arrived at the top where Paul and Marta were waiting.

The big question for the day, how strong was the wind going to blow? We took shelter in the ski field building to have quick Hui. We decided we would try to continue and montier as we went, Porters was the last bailout for a few hours.

Within half an hour Marta had been blown over by a gust and we were heading down the ski field to a cold beer and hot chips at the lodge.

Our adventure had been cut short but we had experienced a magic taste of the Craigieburn round.

A huge thank you to Sean for driving from Castle Hill after his great run in the Valley Ultra. We were treated to some great hospitality by friends and had a fancy brunch followed by a few laps of the Christchurch bike park before heading home.

Information about the round https://bsrcanterbury.wordpress.com/the-craigieburn-round/