DOC has advised that Glencreag Track will be closed for lambing from 15 September - 15 October. Kinvara Road and car park remains open and provides alternative access to Big Hut and the Rock and Pillar Conservation Area.
The Rock and Pillars are the easternmost of the Central Otago schist mountain ranges, with Summit Rock being the highest point at 1450 metres. The summit holds snow for 2-3 months over winter, although snow cover is highly variable from year to year. Being only an hour’s drive from Dunedin and the University of Otago, research on the range has played an important role in advancing understanding of New Zealand alpine communities. Pioneering work by Professor Sir Alan Mark and John Child on New Zealand alpine plant communities confirmed that the duration of snow-lie determines the composition and diversity of alpine plant communities. The exposed summit plateau, where snow-lie is shortest, is dominated by alpine cushionfields where ‘shoe-string lichen’ grows thickly. Herbfields form in more sheltered areas where snow lies for longer and the dull-green mountain daisy grows. At lower altitudes, dense stand of tussock grass capture water from passing fog and clouds, sustaining the streams that drain the Rock and Pillars during hot dry summers. Research by Dr. Geoff Patterson and Carey Knox has also revealed a remarkable reptile fauna, which includes Burgan skink, McCann’s skink and Southern Grass skinks. Mountain weta inhabit the rocky tors, often frozen into the ice during winter. The alpine tops of the Rock and Pillar range are readily accessible from Leaning Lodge, allowing easy access to the diverse plant and animal communities of the South Island high country.
Ecology of the Rock and Pillar Range: What You’re Seeing Around You
The Rock and Pillar Range is one of Otago’s most distinctive alpine environments. Rising steeply from the plains and stretching across a broad, windswept plateau, it supports ecosystems found nowhere else in the world. Its climate, vegetation, wildlife, and landforms all reflect the harsh conditions of a high, cold, and exposed mountain system — yet it is full of life, subtle patterns, and remarkable adaptations.
A High, Cold, Wind‑Shaped Landscape
As you climb the range, you move through a dramatic climate gradient. Lower slopes receive around 600 mm of rainfall per year, while the upper slopes receive nearly 1700 mm. Temperatures drop, winds strengthen, and snow lies longer as you gain altitude. These changes create distinct ecological zones stacked one above the other.
On the summit plateau, conditions are extreme: strong winds, thin soils, intense frost, and long periods of snow cover. Plants and animals that live here are specialists — tough, slow‑growing, and finely tuned to the alpine climate.
The Periglacial Tarn
Near the crest of the range sits a small, teardrop‑shaped periglacial tarn, only about 55 cm deep and 18 m long. It formed 2500–3000 years ago and remains one of the most unusual alpine lakes in the Southern Hemisphere. Its shallow basin, schist bed, and surrounding snowbank create a tiny wetland community that has attracted botanists from around the world.
If you visit it, you’re seeing a landform shaped by freeze–thaw cycles, snowmelt, and centuries of slow ecological change.
Photo: Periglacial tarn. Alan F Mark
Alpine Plant Communities
The top of the Rock and Pillars supports four main alpine plant communities, each defined by how long winter snow remains:
Cushionfield:The most exposed sites. Plants grow as tight, rounded cushions to resist wind and frost. Look for species like Thamnolia vermicularis (white “shoe‑string lichen”), which thrives in these harsh conditions.
Herbfield: Slightly sheltered slopes dominated by the dull‑green mountain daisy Celmisia viscosa. These areas have deeper soils and more diverse herbs.
Early Snowbeds: Bright‑green Celmisia prorepens dominates. Snow lies longer here, keeping temperatures stable and moisture high.
Late Snowbeds: The most sheltered depressions, dominated by Celmisia haastii var. tomentosa. These sites stay cool and moist well into summer.
As you walk across the range, you can see these communities shift subtly with slope, exposure, and snow depth. They form a mosaic of colours and textures across the plateau.
Tussock Grasslands and Water Capture
The tall snow tussocks on the mid‑slopes are more than just iconic scenery — they are water‑harvesting machines. Each tussock can capture up to half a litre of fog per hour, even when there is no measurable rain. This moisture feeds the streams and wetlands below, making the tussock zone critical for water yield and soil conservation.
These plants are incredibly long‑lived, but vulnerable to grazing during regrowth. Their survival shapes the hydrology of the entire mountain.
Climate Change in the Alpine Zone
The alpine ecosystems here are highly sensitive to warming. Reduced snow cover exposes plants to frost damage, drought, and temperature extremes. Long-term monitoring shows that shifts in snow duration can change which species survive in each zone.
Even small changes in climate ripple across the plateau, altering plant communities, moisture levels, and habitat for insects and lizards.
Skinks of the Rock and Pillars
Three species of skinks live on the range:
Burgan skink (Oligosoma burganae)** — extremely rare, patchy, and endemic to this area
McCann’s skink (O. maccanni)** — widespread and common
Southern grass skink (O. chionochloescens)** — found in tussock and grassland zones
Photo: Burgan skink, Rock and Pillars - Carey Knox
The Burgan skink is the most distinctive. It favours inter‑tussock shrubland and is sensitive to habitat change. Climate warming, increased fires, and mammalian predators (mice, hedgehogs, cats, stoats) all affect its survival.
Recent surveys show that Burgan skinks still occur near Leaning Lodge Hut, and new populations have been found across the Rock and Pillar and Lammermoor ranges. They remain threatened but more widespread than once believed.
Visitors who see skinks are encouraged to photograph them and submit sightings to DOC (handling skinks is not permitted).
Kelleria and the Alpine Moths
In rocky snowbank margins you may see Kelleria childii, a tiny cushion plant named after naturalist John Child. It forms dense moss‑like mats with small four‑petalled flowers. Kelleria species are essential food for the larvae of Notoreas, the day‑flying alpine moths that flicker low over the vegetation on warm days.
These moths are a signature of the alpine zone — fast, colourful, and perfectly adapted to cold, open landscapes.
Photo: Lycaena Moth - Carey Knox
A Living Laboratory
The Rock and Pillar Range remains one of New Zealand’s most studied alpine environments. Long-term experiments, climate stations, vegetation transplants, and species surveys continue to reveal how this mountain responds to climate, disturbance, and time. For visitors, the range offers a chance to see:
ancient landforms shaped by ice
rare and endemic species
plant communities arranged by snow and wind
tussock systems that harvest water
fragile ecosystems responding to climate
change
It
is a landscape where every slope, cushion plant, tussock, and skink tells part
of the story of New Zealand’s alpine ecology
Photo: Periglacial tarn. Alan F Mark
