Back Peak

The mountains were bright and clear early this morning, but not for long. The nor'wester gave way to the sou'wester midmorning, but it was already so wintry that it was difficult to notice the difference.

The most exciting thing to happen all day was the hailstorm, and I missed it. I was in the shower when there was a loud clattering. I thought someone, or something had barged into the bathroom. When I looked through the curtains I saw dark shapes hitting the fogged-up window. Later I went out and measured some of the hailstones. None were over 14mm, tiny compared with the whoppers that hit parts of Christchurch last week.

Back Peak is the highest of the three peaks of Mount Torlesse (1977m or 6485ft), but because it stands to the rear it doesn't look so important. It doesn't even have a proper name of its own.