Roys Peak is a thin spur of golden tussock that falls away on both sides, with the deep-blue arms of Lake Wanaka wrapped around dark islands far below and the snow-capped Southern Alps filling the skyline behind. Mount Aspiring / Tititea stands among them. The famous viewpoint is not the top of the mountain; it is a lookout on that spur, about thirty minutes short of the true summit at 1,578 metres. The peak rises between Wanaka township and Glendhu Bay, its slopes covered in the tussock grass of Otago's high country and bare of trees from bottom to top. The land is a working sheep station, so the track closes every year from 1 October to 10 November for lambing.
This is a real climb, not a stroll: about 16 kilometres return, five to six hours, and roughly 1,200 metres of ascent up a treeless slope with almost no shade and little to break the wind. The trail zigzags up in long switchbacks, and Lake Wanaka spreads a little wider and bluer with each one. In summer so many walkers set out in the dark that the lookout can hold a queue. Reach the ridge at dawn and the water lies mirror-still while the first light sets the snowfields of Mount Aspiring glowing; this is where most of the crowd turns back. Push on another 1.5 kilometres and the true summit opens a full circle of the Southern Alps, usually with nobody else on it. The weather turns fast here. Hypothermia is a real risk even in summer, and above 1,000 metres winter brings snow, ice and avalanche terrain, so carry water, wind protection and sun cover.