Mount Greenland Mission
On two previous occasions I’ve attempted to ride to the top of Mt Greenland on an adventure bike. The goal was to ride a bike loaded with gear and camp up for the night at the top. Both attempts ended in failure.
The first attempt was on a weekend of wild West Coast weather. The thing to note about Mt Greenland is that it is a tough track in the best conditions, but when the steep clay faces get wet, they are hard to stand up on let alone ride. In the pouring rain, these slippery clay faces were undoubtedly going to end up with one of the riding crew getting hurt so we bowed our heads in defeat.
The second attempt was right after a string of storms had passed through. While we made it up the clay faces and past the mud bog section, the rocky sections were so washed out from the recent storms it simply took too long to make progress. We ended up running out of daylight and were forced to return to the bottom without victory.
Third time’s a charm right? Absolutely. While the recent storm dumping huge volumes of rain that took out bridges near Otira meant the rocky sections were loose and challenging, we made it to the top and over the back to officially tick this challenge off the list!
If you are interested in riding this route, it has been GPS logged and fully documented here: Mt Greenland Track
This is an absolutely brilliant trip if you like a challenge mixed with great scenery. If you are interested in riding this route, it has been GPS logged and fully documented here: Mt Greenland Track