Peaks 7 & 8: Hamilton Peak, (Nervous Knob) & Sunny Peak

So something slightly more epic this week; running from Broken River camp ground all the way up to the top of the Craigieburn & Broken River skifields, along the ridge and down again for both the 7th and 8th out of 52 Peaks.

This was a little bit more adventurous, off the trails and purely on scree slopes and rocky ridges.  From the car start at 800m we (myself and Karati, a friend) ventured towards Helicopter Hill and took a sharp (and steep) left up the ridge that leads towards Hamilton Peak.  Within the first 3km we’d climbed over 700m and picked off the first of two unnamed peaks at 1525 and 1550m before a small saddle and huge climb up a scree face littered with jagged rocks.  Climbing to over 1750 in about 500m, this was a steep slog but the end was in sight once the ridge was reached.  Around a km after it levelled off was the final scree ascent to reach Hamilton’s summit – 1922m & Peak 7 of 52!

The run along the ridge past Nervous Knob was thoroughly enjoyable and you were able to stretch your legs.  Passing the top ski-lifts on the way past, and the occasional tramper, Nervous Knob came quicker than expected.  Another km along the top and there it was, Peak 8 – Sunny Peak.

From here Karati was ahead of me, I saw him descending off the side of Mt Wall as I turned the corner past the unnamed 1884m peak – so I decided to head down towards Broken River Ski Field and cut across the steep scree for a fun descent…

Hitting the access road at the bottom and a 6km run out, we met again and jogged back to the car – a great day out – and even better pie on the way home at the Sheffield pie shop.  Job done.

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