A major new walking track is set to open this week in north Canterbury, capping off a decade of community led work in Ashley Gorge.
Located an hour out of Christchurch, the four-to-five-hour long Skyline Track reaches an altitude of nearly 800m, winding through a rugged terrain high above the Canterbury Plains.
Much of the work has been led by community-led efforts over the past 10 years, with volunteers spending hours cutting and marking the route by hand.
Leading the project since its inception, Ashley Gorge organiser John Burton said the track’s completion marked a milestone moment.
“I was absolutely determined the skyline trail was going to go in before I was too old to get up the hill,” he said.
“And here we are, I’m still up the hill at 75 and the skyline trail is going to be finished today.”
The Ashley Gorge Skyline Track is estimated to take four to five hours to complete and reaches an altitude of nearly 800m. (Source: 1News)
Burton said around 15,000 community hours had gone into preparing the track.
Getting materials to the site proved to be one of the biggest challenges, with supplies initially flown in by a helicopter before being hauled along the track by volunteers.
Once on the ground, crews worked to install steel posts into the difficult and rugged terrain, as well as placing bright orange markers around the track to guide trampers.
Most of the Skyline Trail sits on land managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), aside from a small section which crosses private property.
“We go through once a year and do chainsaw work and that sort of stuff that they can’t do,” said DOC Conservation Department’s Gavin Collis.
Canterbury’s Skyline Track is set to open this weekend and will operate all-year round.
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