Re: Re: Mountains in Dragon Pass - the NZ option

From: Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_...>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:32:24 +0000 (GMT)

> In New Zealand our mountains are really tall AND really dangerous
> because they are largely made of gravel. And they are still being
> pushed up by a plate interaction (a subjugation I think, but I'm not
> an expert).
>
> (Sorry I could not resist "National Mountain-Off 2009" :))

> FWIW, Dave Pearton, Ray Chopping and Colin Philips have all suggested that the mountains of NZ
> are an excellent inspiration for the mountains of Dragon Pass.

I have no idea what their background is, but let's go and have another happy few hours playing with maps and pictures of mountains (I can give them up any time I like, honest, and going for a virtual walk is a nice change from being stuck lying down all day). I bet the nice Lord of the Rings film ones won't fit, even assuming they weren't CGI :( At the extreme southern end of the northern island, we have a little range. Between 10-20 miles wide. Good start! Highest peaks I'm finding are 1400-1450m, so over 4000ft. From a base of... that's pretty near sea level. There's a camp site called "Otaki Forks" that's in them Pics? http://www.ttc.org.nz/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TripReports/2007-11-15MiddleCrossing That's a description of a walking trip in the area, with pics. Looks about as rugged as Snowdonia to me, and that bit higher. But, I bet that wasn't what people had in mind, and the southern island of NZ seems to have much bigger mountains. It's also got more room for them... Wikipedia kindly gives me a list of the highest mountains in NZ (up to 3,755 m (12,319 ft)!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountains_of_New_Zealand_by_height so off we go to  the Southern Alps, which is a very promising name. They're big.... to find an individual range that's under 20 miles across, it'll have to be one of the spurs that come down from the main range. There's a place called Lilybank that looks promising, and a spur heading south to its east. We have peaks that go over 2000m in the middle, and some lovely wiggly valleys. Base altitude about 800m, so 1200m... again, not the 5000ft suggested, but nice, and pics look good. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10799084
Sadly, as I suspected, the big dramatic stuff is in a much bigger range.

While we're in NZ, though, we have to mention something that only just counts as a mountain, at only just over 1000ft. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu Yes, that's the name. "The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose fluteto his loved one".