Single Cone is a good alpine day trip for a beginner wanting to experience moving quickly over easy ground. The rock is good, the access is easy, the views are spectacular and the climbing is challenging without being too taxing.

I’d heard The Remarkable's Single Cone–Double Cone traverse described as the best alpine day trip in the country. Pretty tall billing, I thought, so when Marina and I were planning her farewell-to-NZ climbing trip, it was high on the list.

Single Cone (left) and Double Cone (right). The North Ridge is on the left, running towards the camera. The descent route took the East Ridge (the left skyline ridge).

After a quick stop for petrol and coffee in Queenstown, we reach The Remarkables car park just before 9am. The day is crisp and clear, though the wind makes it pretty chilly in the shade. Hiking up the track to Lake Alta, we're soon warming up. It’s not until you hit Lake Alta that you really get to see the mountain for the first time. Single Cone is straight ahead, with its slightly lower neighbour, Double Cone, to the right. A long steep ridge heads west from Double Cone to the transmitter towers, before swinging north and down to the ski field. Our objective is to climb the North Ridge of Single Cone, traverse over Double Cone and head back down to the ski field.

(Top) The lower slabs, (middle) Marina and Craig ascending the North Ridge, (bottom) the roped section.

From Lake Alta we swing left up a few hundred metres of scree to gain a broad ledge beneath the start of the North Ridge. The plan to climb as much of the ridge as possible unroped looks feasible. The first few hundred metres involve hopping over large boulders to gain the ridge proper. Once on the ridge, the rock is solid and a joy to climb. The ridge drops sharply on the western side, giving a great sense of exposure, especially with the wind blowing up that side. The ridge steepens up now and then, sometimes we climb the steep bit because it looks fun, other times we traverse left just onto the face before angling back onto the ridge. An enjoyable hour and a half passes as we move quickly up the ridge.

The steep upper section. The protruding rock looked pretty dodgy to us and we avoided it. However, we had no problems with rock fall.

Toward the top we come to a steep section. Looking for a belay, we come across two bolts, so figure this is the official get-the-rope-out spot. Earlier, we’d made a plan that I’d deal with the uphill and Marina would look after any downclimbing (she loves it – I hate it), so it's my turn to tie in to the sharp end.

A short vertical step leads to the steepest section of the climb yet – a smooth, exposed slab. The climbing is straightforward but I can see why people often rope up for this bit, a fall here would be a one stop trip. I place a bomber cam in a vertical crack splitting the slab and run it out another 10–15m before reaching another set of bolts soon after the slab leans back again. This looks like the official take-the-rope-off spot, so I clip in and bring Marina up. She has a huge grin on her face, enjoying the exposure with the security of the rope. The rope goes back in the pack and 15 minutes of scrambling sees us on top, taking the brunt of the westerly wind. It's midday and our ascent has taken 3 hours from the car park. We're pretty happy!

After the summit photos, we find a sheltered spot just off the top and discuss our options. The ridge to Double Cone looks awesome, but we are concerned by the wind and the thought of needing to use the rope from here, which will slow our progress. We want to be in Glenorchy this evening to start the highlight of our trip–Mt Earnslaw–so we decide to cut our losses and head down the East Ridge.

Single Cone summit.

The East Ridge descends slowly at first but quickly becomes bluffed in all directions. Off to our right is a belay chain, but to get to it requires crossing a steep, nasty-looking gully. While we ponder this option, Marina notices a series of cairns leading away to the left, down a series of ledges. These look like a much better option so Marina leads off. The next hour is spent delicately downclimbing short vertical steps onto ledges, grovelling down a couple of corners, lowering the packs on steeper bits and generally hoping the cairns actually lead somewhere. They eventually do, but to a large unclimbable drop about 15m high.

While we're figuring out how to get ourselves out of this, I notice a belay chain about 5m above us, just round a corner. As the rope is in my pack, I climb up, clip the anchor, thread the rope and throw it down, relieved when it reaches the base of the cliff. I abseil off and swing the rope over to Marina, who quickly joins me.

That is the last of the difficulties. From here, the ridge descends at a low angle on a series of slabs before merging with the broad shelf at the base of the North Ridge. An hour later we're back at the car, the whole trip having taken about 5.5 hours. This allows plenty of time for essential post trip activity: drinking coffee on the Queenstown waterfront while sitting in the sun, looking up at The Remarkables with big grins on our faces. Pretty much the perfect end to any alpine day trip.

Double Cone from Single Cone.

Abseiling off the East Ridge.

Craig writes:
The Double Cone traverse would be suitable for more intermediate level climbers wanting to extend themselves, or skilled alpinists looking for a fun day. You could do the whole traverse in a day if you started a bit earlier than we did. Probably leave the car park at 7am, not 9am.

Regarding gear: For Single Cone, take just a few midsized cams and a few slings. For the Double Cone traverse, I'd take a bit more.