Mt Aspiring

Yes, New Zealand is pretty awesome. At least the mountains are! As most of you know, Orin and I made it back to New Zealand and off of Antarctica one week ago, on February 11. We spend a night at the hotel, then picked up our rental car early the next morning. The most valuable piece of advice about New Zealand driving that I got was from the man at the rental company, "Stay left, stay left, stay left!" Indeed, they drive on the left side of the road here! That also means that in our manual shift car the stick goes in your left hand instead of your right. As long as you pay attention, it is not too bad. No problems so far!

We picked up the car, mailed off Orin's extra stuff, checked out a few outdoor shops, then drove out 40 min to my new friend Kate's house. Kate has been extremely friendly and gracious in helping us get oriented and on our way for the trip. Kate is a friend of a friend from Cornell, and had agreed to let Orin and I sleep on her floor for the night. She has a very cute house with an amazing view of the bay. We slept well with bellies full of curry rice.

The next day we drove back to Christchurch and picked up guide books and groceries, then cruised down south to Wanaka, a 6 hour drive. We gave a ride to hitch hikers on two different occasions. We arrived too late to stop by the Department of Conservation (DOC), so we drove up a valley and slept in a field for the night. Why pay for a $15 campsite when you can camp for free?

The next day we were at the DOC by 8:30am to get some information about Mt Aspiring and sign in. You can sign in with trip forms, and then if you don't come back out they will go look for you. Much more formal than anything I have ever worked with. We told them we would be out a full day later than we expected, because we were not planning on needing a rescue!

A beautiful drive up a narrow canyon brought us to the trailhead, and we started hiking by shortly after noon. It drizzeled all day. The lower part of the valley is effectively a temperate rain forest and was filled with thick, lush vegetation. Following the advice of the guide book and the fact that I had a bivy sack but Orin did not, we left the trail and bushwacked through the sopping underbrush for 40 minutes to find Oat's Rock bivy. This was worth it, as we spent the night under the protection of a small rock overhang. I was soaked to the core, but it was warm so I was reasonably comfortable and my pack stayed dry enough.

We woke to a brilliant, sunny day. After a late start we hiked up to the head of the valley then started the scramble towards Bevan Col. It was solidly 4th class up the initial gorge with heavy packs, but we made good progress. After that it backed off to 3rd class scrambling and we climbed to the col by 4:30pm. The climb was about 1300 m of elevation gain, with the col at 1851m. After scouting the approach to Aspiring and eating dinner, we slept.

Up at 3:30am, the stars were amazing! A quick cold breakfast of granola and we were off. We quickly gained the glacier and crossed the Bevan Glacier. There were quite a few clavasses, but we stayed where they were small and easy to cross. We arrived at the base of the South West ridge and left the glacier at 7am. What a fantastic route! We scrambled up some 4th and easy 5th class rock to gain the snow arete. This sharp snow ridge separates the West and steep South faces of the mountain, and rises continuously at 45 to 55 deg for around 400 m. We arrived at the crux of the climb shortly after 10am, placed a solid 2-screw anchor and roped up. The gully which is often filed with ice and snow was dry, so Orin lead a mixed pitch with several fixed pitons for protection. The climbing was not too hard but engaging with plenty of exposure. The climbing was probably 5.6, but in gloves and crampons. I followed the 30m pitch, and we put the rope back in the pack. One more hour of steep snow, and we were on top by 12:30!

Orin on the SW Ridge, in the middle of the snow arete.

Orin above the crux, nearing the summit.

What a spectacular summit! At 3033 m, it is the highest peak in the immediate region. The summit is a sharp snow cone that drops steeply off in all directions. We could see all the way out to the ocean to the West, down to more high peaks to the south, up to Mt Cooke to the North, and out to the planes to the East. Totally spectacular day.

After 1/2 an hour, we began the descent down the North West ridge. This took longer than expected, 3 hours. It was full on very exposed 4th class scrambling with one rappel. By the time we reached the hut at the base of the NW ridge, we were very tired indeed! But not done yet...

Back across the glacier to the Bevan col and our packs we went, arriving at 6pm. We ate some soup and packed up, then headed back down towards the West Matukituki valley. We bivied just above the 4th class gorge in growing clouds and wind.

The next morning we woke up late and it still hadn't rained, much to our glee. After breakfast we downclimbed the gorge, and hiked out, a 7 hour day. I was really tired by the time we arrived at the car! Much more than usual.

Today it is raining a bit and we are resting in Wanaka, re-stocking on groceries, and planning for what is next. We will probably go down to Milford Sound and the Darrens, where there are long rock routes. We probably won't climb any of them though, because the weather report for that part calls for rain for the foreseeable future. Then I would like to head back up north to the Mt Cooke region and try to climb the North Ridge of Mt Sefton, but we'll see what time and the weather have in store for us! 10 more days is NZ...

Keep living your dream!