Mountain Landscapes Around Queenstown

Queenstown lies beside Lake Whakatipu in Otago on New Zealand’s South Island, surrounded by the mountains of the Southern Alps. The surrounding landscape includes steep ridges, exposed rock, alpine tussock grasslands, river gorges, and valleys shaped by glacial erosion.

Much of the Queenstown area is underlain by schist, a layered metamorphic rock visible in many of the region’s cliffs and outcrops. During repeated glacial periods, ice carved deep valleys and basins that were later occupied by Lake Whakatipu and the region’s rivers. Water, frost, erosion, and landslides continue to reshape the slopes.

Prominent mountains around the lake include Cecil Peak, Walter Peak, Ben Lomond, Queenstown Hill, and the Remarkables. Beyond the lake basin, roads cross exposed mountain terrain and descend into narrow river valleys, including the Shotover River and Skippers Canyon. These photographs, taken in 2015, document the region’s rugged topography, lightly snow-covered slopes, schist formations, mountain roads, and deeply incised waterways.