New Year’s Eve was biting at my heels. Queenstown was the last place I wanted to be on December 31st. The Hills beckoned beyond the tinsel town, so I boarded the Skyline gondola for my escapade. Once past the Skyline Restaurant, punching through the thin veneer of amusement-park bliss and adrenaline junkie heaven, I followed the Ben Lomond Walkway into the shady pine forest. Eventually the sounds of the city were lost to birdsong, and the voices in my head. Beyond the Douglas Firs, the well-worn path sidled through steep terrain above One Mile Creek up to a distant saddle. The trail then switches southwest for the final climb to the top of Ben Lomond (1748m).Short of the saddle, I decided
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