The Silverpeaks (sometimes spelt Silver Peaks) is an area of rough

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and tussock and scrub covered hill country inland and to the northwest of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand. The area is largely uninhabited; the main indication of human activity is the

Taieri Gorge Railway Dunedin Railways (formerly the Taieri Gorge Railway) is the trading name of Dunedin Railways Limited, an operator of a railway line and tourist trains based at Dunedin Railway Station in the South Island of New Zealand. The company is a counci ...

, which preserves the route of the former

Otago Central Railway The Otago Central Railway (OCR) or in later years Otago Central Branch Railway, now often referred to as the Taieri Gorge Railway, was a secondary railway line in Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. Construction Construction o ...

that runs along the steep-sided valley of the

Taieri River The Taieri River is the fourth-longest river in New Zealand and is in Otago in the South Island. Rising in the Lammerlaw Range, it initially flows north, then east around the Rock and Pillar range before turning southeast, reaching the sea sou ...

. Much of the area lies within the Silverpeaks Scenic Reserve.

Background

A network of walking tracks crisscross the area. From Pulpit Rock, trampers descend the Devil's Staircase into a lush valley just a short distance from Jubilee Hut. Access to these tracks is mainly via Double Hill Road, a rural road that leaves SH1 close to

Waitati Waitati, from the Māori Waitete, is a small seaside settlement in Otago, New Zealand, within the city limits of Dunedin. It is located close to the tidal mudflats of Blueskin Bay, 19 kilometres north of the Dunedin city centre. The small Waitati ...

, and from several rural roads that leave SH87 between Outram and

Middlemarch ''Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life'' is a novel by the English author Mary Anne Evans, who wrote as George Eliot. It first appeared in eight installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midland town, ...

. Several of the peaks rise to above 600 metres. The highest points in the Silverpeaks include Silver Peak (753 m), known in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

as Huatea,
Place names
'' on Kāti Huirapa Runaka ki Puketeraki website, viewed 2012-01-04 Pulpit Rock (750 m), Mount Allen (705 m), Mount Misery (702 m). Several tributaries of the

have their sources on the slopes of the Silverpeaks to the west, as do several tributaries of the

Waikouaiti River The Waikouaiti River is found to the north of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand. It flows to the Pacific Ocean at Karitane, close to the town of Waikouaiti. The Waikouaiti River is the largest in East Otago East Otago is the name given to that ...

in the east.

Antimony Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb (from la, stibium) and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (Sb2S3). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...

was once mined near Hindon, the largest settlement in the area.

Jubilee hut

The Jubilee Hut is a popular hut for hikers in the Silverpeaks. The hut contains 10 bunks and is four hours walk in from Mountain road. The first Jubilee hut was opened in 1948 with the current Jubilee hut opening in 2007. Between November 2020 and October 2021, 600 bunk nights were booked at the hut.

Tramping fatalities

As the name suggests, the region is often snow-coated in winter, and the weather in the Silverpeaks is notoriously unpredictable. The Department of Conservation considers the hiking in the area to be challenging and the country rugged. Eight international students were rescued in May 2009. They spent several hours in freezing winds and snow flurries before being rescued. They told police they had not tramped in the Silver Peaks before. Five were suffering from hypothermia. Three Logan Park High School students died in the Silver Peaks in 1983. They were walking to the Jubilee hut when they lost their way in fog and were then caught in a blizzard. Another fatality occurred in 1945 during a snow storm in the Silverpeaks.

References

Mountain ranges of Otago {{Otago-geo-stub