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Ormiston Gorge from above
My sister, who I picked up in Alice Springs after she did parts of the Laripinta Walk, climbed this in the darkness so as to experience the sunrise. Mt Sonder is 130 km (81 mi) west of Alice Springs along the MacDonnell Ranges in the West MacDonnell National Park. It marks one end of the celebrated Larapinta trail, which extends 223 kilometres (139 mi) to Alice Springs. The shape of the mountain is a double peak, the relative heights of which are somewhat ambiguous from the summit, although easy to identify from the surrounding plains. The mountain can be seen from the western half of the Larapinta trail, up to Ormiston Pound, which obscures it from then on.
Explorer Ernest Giles named the mountain in honour of German botanist Dr. Otto Wilhelm Sonder.[2]
A clearly defined walking track exists up the western side, taking about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi). Water is available from a water tank 50 metres (160 ft) beyond the carpark, and a direction plate can be found at the summit. This however is not the true summit, which is 750 metres (2,460 ft) away, but has been chosen for safety reasons. The view from the top boasts the taller Mount Zeil to the west, the West MacDonnell Range to the east, Glen Helen, a nearby resort, to the east and Gosses Bluff to the south west on a clear day.
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