Crystal Battery Track
Track category
Walking track
Time:
1 hr one way
Description
Crystal Hut
Start/finish: Behind Skippers Cemetery
Retrace the miners' daily walk from their homes in Skippers to the Crystal Mine, their workplace in the 1930s and 40s.
A zigzag journey, Crystal Hut passes the Leviathan Mine's remains. Scattered relics of the quartz stamping battery lie in the creek bed and the aerial tramway can be traced 200 metres to the blocked Crystal Mine entrance above you.
Like many mines, Crystal showed early promise but proved disappointing.
Getting there
From Queenstown, travel along Gorge Road to Arthur's Point and take the turn-off to Coronet Peak ski field. Off that road, turn left onto the unsealed road signposted to Skippers. From Skippers Saddle, continue on the narrow and winding 13 kilometre Gorge Road to Skippers Bridge and Mount Aurum Recreation Reserve.
This is a one-and-a-half- to two-hour drive. Only experienced drivers should attempt this journey. Because of its challenges, and precipitous drop-offs, this is not a road on which to learn gravel-driving techniques.
Activities
Dog walking
Dogs are allowed in Mt Aurum Recreation Reserve, but must be on a lead.