Benmore Peak

Benmore Peak is the highest point of the Benmore Range, an island range located in the southern half of the Mackenzie Basin, South Island, New Zealand.

The 28 km (17½ mile) by 16 km (9.9 mi) Benmore Range is aligned approximately north–south and situated between the small town of Twizel at the northern end and the village of Omarama at the south-western end. The Benmore Range is bordered by Lake Benmore to the south and the Haldon Arm of Lake Benmore to the east.

There are more than thirty surveyed peaks above 1,000 m (3,280 ft), with at least twelve of these above 1,500 m (4,920 ft), although only five have official names.

Benmore Peak (1,932 m / 6,338 ft) is near the centre of the range, with Sutherlands Peak (1,846 m / 6,054 ft) and The Cairn (1,464 m / 4,801 ft) to the north and Totara Peak (1,822 m / 5,977 ft) to the south. The Buscot (1,245 m / 4,084 ft) is an attached subpeak on the western side of the main range.

The range mostly consists of greywacke and some schist. Flora includes slim snow tussock (Chionochloa macra) and narrow-leaved snow tussock (Chionochloa rigida) as well as an array of alpineherbs, while fauna include the New Zealand falcon, sky lark, chukar, California quail and the New Zealand pipit, as well as the common skink and common gecko.

Although it is almost entirely New Zealand Crown land and a protected Outstanding Landscape Area, several large farm stations have legally run stock on the Benmore Range for more than a century, including Ben Omar, Benmore, Buscot, Glenbrook, Glencairn, Peak Valley and Totara Peak.

El Observatorio de Benmore Peak (BPO) está ubicado en terrenos privados en la meseta de la cumbre . Las instalaciones cuentan con instrumentos y estructuras para astronomía y meteorología en la cima y hasta los 1830  m (6002  pies) de altitud. Es el observatorio situado a mayor altitud del hemisferio sur, exceptuando la Antártida y los Andes de Sudamérica .

El Departamento de Conservación de Nueva Zelanda adquirió 12 ^km²  ( 1200 hectáreas / 2965 acres ) de terreno entre The Cairn y Sutherlands Peak, pertenecientes a la estación de Glenbrook, y lo ha designado oficialmente como Área de Conservación pública. Esta área incluye una zona de humedales , así como zonas elevadas mucho más secas. Un sendero público es accesible a través de una servidumbre de paso que atraviesa la estación de Glenbrook. ^{[ 1 ]}  

• Lista de montañas de Nueva Zelanda por altura

• Observatorio de Benmore Peak
• Sitio web del Departamento de Conservación de Nueva Zelanda