Key Summit Track

The track up to Key Summit is the most popular substantial day-walk in Fiordland, and justifiably so. The first half of the walk is on the famed Routeburn Track, beginning at “The Divide” carpark. After about 30 minutes (2.5km) on the Routeburn you’ll branch off for a switchbacked ascent up to Key Summit’s head-swiveling viewpoint. The track is so well-made that there are no steps—just a gradual easy-walking ascent. Popping above the bushline onto Key Summit’s ridge, mountains and valleys literally stretch in every direction. A plaque points out all the visible skyline peaks and valleys, surprisingly with altitudes in feet instead of meters (NZ switched to metric in 1976...quite an old plaque). Key Summit is so-named because it’s situated at the head of three different valleys, each river flowing to a different coast: the Hollyford flows north to the west coast, the Eglinton to the south coast, and the Greenstone to Queenstown’s Lake Wakatipu and further the east coast. At the summit there’s a short loop track touring photogenic alpine tarns and a short spur track up to a viewpoint of Lake Marian (nestled under towering 2,474m Mt Christina).

For most folks the Marian Lake viewpoint is the turn-back point. But, if it’s a nice day and you want to explore this alpine Fiordland terrain a bit more to find an even better unheralded viewpoint, then find the unsigned track behind the Marian Lake viewpoint benches. This unpublicized track continues along the ridge heading south after quickly crossing a bog boardwalk. If you walk another 20- 25 minutes the payoff is more than worth the extra effort. The first bit is boggy, but then the path leaves the dense bush in favor of open ridge sweeping viewscape—think “Riders of Rohan” gorgeous...wow! Chances are that even if there are 30 people milling about atop Key Summit, only one or two may know to venture onto this path. You’ll soon pass a view of Lake Gunn down in the Eglinton Valley and continue to a rocky knob (1,100m) which finally allows a view of Lake McKellar tucked down in the Greenstone Valley. From this knob you’ll be able to see three different lakes as well as the three different valleys. This is where an avid NZ Frenzier wants to be! The path continues to points unknown, but a good turn-back point is this high-point knob overlooking Lake McKellar.