Mt Aspiring, Southwest Ridge, New Zealand

December 18-20, 2008 / Grade IV, glacier, 60° snow & ice, M4

The weather really deteriorates after we climb Mt Barff. We end up going cragging for a couple of days in Wanaka. On Sunday December 16, after talking to the local guides, we decide to give Mt Aspiring (Tititea) a shot, hopefully up the gorgeous but intimidating SW Ridge. This ridge is one of the most classic routes in New Zealand, and on what is often referred to as the most beautiful mountain in the Southern Alps. The forecast calls for a reasonable weather window starting Wednesday or Thursday, with relatively low freezing levels overnight (down to near 2000 m). Despite the copious rain and warm weather the last few days, this could make for pretty good conditions in the high mountains. The plan is to walk in to French hut the first day, go up the Quarterdeck to a high camp on the Bonar glacier the second day, and climb the SW ridge the third day.

Monday, December 17: we check the forecast again. It appears that our window will only last two days instead of the expected three... we are starting to wonder if flying in by helicopter is not the thing to do.

We call Aspiring Helicopters that morning. They tell us that they may have a party flying up tomorrow… We check the forecasts again late afternoon. Looks like the most probable good weather may be on Wednesday. The forecast for Thursday indicates somewhat unstable conditions and is changing all the time. This would leave only one day to get in position below the ridge. We are not strong enough to do the 11 hour approach in one day, then climb the route the next morning… decision made: we're flying. We call the choppers again. They schedule us to fly around noon but ask us to call them again early morning to make sure the weather is good enough to reach Bevan Col. Frantic gear preparations all afternoon.

Tuesday, December 18: we get up early and immediately go check the forecast once again - it's still supposed to clear up today. Thick, low clouds have been hugging the mountains since we got up though… doesn't look too good for flying. We call the chopper pilot. She confirms the obvious: it is unlikely to become flyable before 2:30 or 3PM. Bummer. We hang around in Wanaka, anxiously waiting to call them back at noon. Things start to clear very slowly. When we call back, they tell us that Bevan Col is clear and we should fly in ASAP. Only, we have at least an hour of driving to get to Raspberry Flats, then need some time to finish getting ready. We ask them to pick us up at the flats at 1:45PM. We leave immediately and drive as fast as possible to the trailhead. Fortunately, they are in the process of grading the dirt road (and have done 80% of it already), so the drive is much faster and more comfortable than when we went to the trailhead to climb Mt Barff, though we loose some time trying to pass several vehicles (days before, this road had the worst washboard we had ever seen). It takes us 50 minutes to reach Raspberry Flat. We're terribly stressed. Once we reach the car park, we immediately start finishing the preparations and changing into mountain clothes. The chopper arrives right on schedule. Feels like a movie!

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Views of the South Face of Mt Aspiring (peak on the right) from the road.
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Mt Aspiring (Tititea) from high on Mt Barff.
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The SW ridge is the obvious sun/shade line leading straight to the summit.
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Waiting for our ride at the trailhead.
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Here it is!

They land right by the carpark in the paddock, and we run to the chopper with our packs. We stuff the packs into the cargo pod and hop in. We are 6 people in all, including the pilot, plus a small dog (!). One guide from Aspiring Guides and his women client, and an independent climber, all planning to climb the much easier NW ridge. Chop-chop-chop-chop… five minutes later we're at Bevan Col... easy enough!

We get to talk to the guide a bit. He mentions a small bivy spot on a rock shoulder above the Bonar Glacier that should be sheltered for SW winds. Sounds good to us. We walk up and around the rocky ridge to go check it out. Half-an-hour later, we find a very small flat on the bluffs overlooking the glacier. We work hard to make a platform large enough for our small Bibler tent. As a bonus, we find a trickle of water off the rocks a short distance away. Using a picket as a short aqueduct, we manage to fill our bottles. We spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing and scoping the route. The ridge looks really daunting from camp. Besides the steep rocky section near the top, there is another rock band that we will need to negociate before getting on the steeper part of the ridge. It all looks mighty steep form camp... we're having doubts. We figure we can at least give it a shot.

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Alex, our pilot, always flies climbers up to Bevan col...
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...accompanied by her little dog.
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Walking toward our camp with stunning views of Tititea.
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Setting up camp.
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Relaxing at camp ...and getting nervous about the climb.

We wake up to clear skies at 2:30AM, after a short night of uneasy sleep… a bit stressed out about the climb. After the usual breakfast of oatmeal and hot chocolate, and getting our gear organized and water bottles refilled, we finally leave camp at 4:15AM. We start with a long descending traverse under the bluffs where we are camped, heading south toward the Breakaway, then make an even longer rising curve (turning east) toward the toe of the ridge, while avoiding most of the larger crevasses to our left. Smooth sailing, but it turns out quite a bit longer than we expected… The snow conditions are excellent however: crisp styrofoam snow. All along, we have been keeping an eye on two headlamps, far in the distance, near the base of Mount French. We expected to find another party of two on the climb, based on the "Intentions Form" we have seen at the DOC (Department of Conservation) office in Wanaka. By the time we are getting near to the toe of the SW ridge, the other two climbers are close behind, and clearly headed for the same route. We finish ascending the wind-deposited crest just left of the rocky toe of the ridge, when they catch up with us. We have a brief chat. Two young Kiwi climbers (Jamie and Vaughn, www.mountainmotion.co.nz) who seem pretty friendly.

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The SW ridge looks pretty steep form camp.
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Leaving camp before dawn.
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Climbing up the snow slopes just left of the rocky toe of the ridge with another team on our tails.
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Views from the ridge at sunrise.
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Negotiating the rocky section that guards the main ridge.

Since they appear to be moving fast, we offer to let them pass. They decline. We start climbing toward the ridge by crossing a narrow bridge across the bergschrund. This puts us on a steep snow traverse that leads directly to the toe of the rock band. We had been looking at this rock buttress from camp, wondering whether it would be passable (it looked very steep from below). As usual though, once at the base of it, it looks considerably friendlier: pretty solid looking rock, reasonably steep but with plenty of small ledges and vertical cracks, including an obvious hand crack right on the arete and up the steepest section. With a bit of care and a few placements, we simul-climb this easily (probably about Australian grade 10).

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More views.
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Scrambling up the rocky section.
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This mountain is the perfect pyramid.
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Breathtaking views.
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Climbing the steeper part of the ridge.

The other party starts right behind us but seems to have some trouble with that section, as it takes them considerably longer. It would become clear later in the day that they are very confident steep snow climbers (faster than we are on that medium), but slower on more technical rock, ice, and mixed terrain. After about 40m of rock, we take a short break at the base of the snow and ice ridge. The first section (30m or so) is a very steep (60°+), narrow ice face with hard dinner-plating ice. We simul-climb this with a couple screws for running pro. Above this is the main mid-section of the ridge, a classic snow arête with tremendous exposure on both sides. We stay just left of the arête, on the wind-swept west side of the ridge, where snow conditions are ideal (styrofoam snow). This leads straight up for about 500m to the cliff band below the summit slopes. We simul-climb the on an extended 60m rope, with running pro on decent snow picket placements. With three pickets, this essentially allows us to run 120m-long pitches. The two Kiwis, more confident on steep snow, solo that section and pass us. We reach the base of the exit couloir and the steep mixed climbing section just as they are roping up again.

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Vaughn - in true NZ style- soloing the snow ridge and passing us.
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We're going a bit slower as we are simul-climbing this section.
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Lucie getting close to the base of the steep couloir.
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Waiting at the base of the couloir for the other team to finish the first pitch.
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Eric starting up the first pitch.

We wait for a while as they make their way up the thin, steep, and verglassed rock. The couloir is not particularly threatening, and even the exposure is not bad. It certainly looks a lot easier from here than from the glacier below. Once the two in front stop for a belay, Eric starts up the pitch. He exits left from the protected belay under a small overhang and climbs up verglassed rock to a fixed KB piton. The next several moves are clearly the crux of the climb in these conditions. The cracks are verglassed and refuse to hold cams, so Eric has to run it out on sketchy dry tooling (we would probably rate it M4) above the piton. It's not that steep but pretty insecure. It doesn't help that we are climbing with only one technical tool, and our ice-axes holstered out of the way. Fortunately, a couple more half-decent placements materialize a little higher up (a good small nut in a slot, then a questionable small cam in the crack between the main wall and a boulder which is hopefully nicely frozen in place…). It does not take long for Eric to reach the end of the (doubled-over) rope and set up an anchor (cordelette around large boulder). I follow as quickly as I can, finding the climbing challenging. Some clouds are starting to form around the mountain.

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The first pitch is the crux: dry-tooling a step of verglassed rock with marginal pro.
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Starting the second pitch and...
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...traversing right to reach the steep ice slopes above...
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...while the other party continues straight up.
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Eric belaying at the end of the rightward traverse just below the final steep slope leading to the summit.

Above this, a steep rock dihedral leads straight above, while lower angle but slabby rock leads up and right toward steep ice slopes. The other two have gone straight up and seem to be having some difficulty. Eric decides to try the more obvious right-hand route. The first few body lengths take him onto water ice (two good screws). Then comes the slabby traverse right toward to ice slopes above. This turns out trickier than expected, and with meager protection. At the end of the traverse and rope (30m), Eric fortunately finds a pretty good anchor on a small nut and a bomber KB piton (Pong, pongg, ponggg, ping, pingg, pinggg, pingggg, ahh!). I follow in no time with the benefit of a top-rope. From here, a rightward traverse across a steep, hard-ice slope to avoid a rounded cornice above, leads to a long steep ice face (about 60°) which leads up with tremendous exposure to the easier final section of ridge toward the summit. We simulclimb this again, unfolding the rope to its full 60m. Eric is able to place two decent ice screws (some digging required), then two OK snow snakes along the summit ridge. He belays me to this point, before continuing another 100m or so to the summit.

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Simul-climbing the summit slopes.
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Summit shot.
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Jamie and Vaughn, our companions of the day.
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More self-indulgence on the summit.
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Looking back toward the SW ridge from the summit.

We have passed the others again; they make up for lost time on the final snow ridge, and we reach the summit almost simultaneously. Congratulations and summit pictures! The clouds are now well formed most of the way around and slightly below us. The top few centimeters of snow on the summit ridge are also softening, making for less secure footing. After maybe ½ hour at the summit, we start carefully downclimbing the summit slopes, headed for the rocky NW ridge below.

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Downclimbing the snow slopes just below the summit to reach the NW ridge.
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Negociating one of the many rocky sections of the NW Ridge.
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Looking back at the summit now engulfed in the clouds.
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Going down the rubble piles of the upper NW ridge.
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The huge bergshrund at the top of the "Ramp".

The clouds have now swallowed us. We take the crampons off for the loose, low-angled NW ridge, all the way to the top of the "Ramp", where we need them again for the short section of snow around the gigantic bergschrund (earlier in the season, before this bergshrund opens up, the "Ramp" provides a quick descent). From here, crampons off again and lots of exposed scrambling more or less on the crest of the ridge, interrupted by a total of 4 single-rope rappels past steeper sections. This brings us to the top of the "Kangooroo", a steep snow slope that drops west off the ridge toward the glacier below. The other alternative is to continue following the ridge all the way to Colin Todd hut. We decide to join the others down the "Kangooroo", at the insistance of Jamie, who wants the two rope teams to stay together, even though the slopes and crevasses below don't look too inviting.

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Taking a break near the top of the "Ramp".
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Rapping one of the steeper rocky sections.
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More downclimbing leads us to the "Kangoroo"...
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...a steep snow slope that drops west off the ridge to the Bonar Glacier.
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Looking back at our tracks through the crevasse maze of the "Kangooroo".

Jamie takes the lead but quickly looses enthusiasm when the tracks he was following turn back toward the ridge. Vaughn, a bit impatient with the whole thing, takes over and charges straight down the very steep slopes below and toward large crevasses. We reluctantly follow. He finds a good, but very exposed, ice bridge across a couple of large crevasses. I've had enough exposure for one day and get really scared of the big open holes. I break down a bit going through this section, but make it just fine. Some more crevasse navigation below this, before we part ways with our companions. They are going back to their bivy site at the foot of Mt French, and want to cut straight across the Bonar. Eric and I feel like we've had enough excitement and decide to head straight down to the flats below Colin Todd's hut before slogging back up to Bevan col, then traverse across the bluffs back to our camp. Easy going, but much longer than it looked from above. The surface snow is now extremely soft. We are exhausted.

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The Colin Todd hut as seen from the flats.
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Icefalls on the Bonnar Glacier on our way to the Bevan Col.
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Nice views of the SW ridge as we are making our way back to the Bevan Col.
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Reaching camp after a long day.
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Having a quick dinner before hitting the sack.

The climb back to Bevan Col takes anything we had left out of us. We finally stumble back into camp at about 8:15PM, 16 hours after leaving this morning. Fortunately, we find no damage from the Keas (alpine parrots only found in NZ, which have the bad habit of playing with everything they can get their beaks on, shredding it in the process). We were concerned about them; our tent was up all day and we saw them flying around. The weather is suddenly turning quickly for the worse. A very cold stiff wind is now blowing from the south, and dark clouds are filling the sky. We have time for two cups of soup before we feel way too cold to continue eating. We retreat to our tent and the relative warmth of our sleeping bags.

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Room with a view.
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More views at dawn from camp.
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The SW ridge at dawn.
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Eric - too tired to come out and watch at the sunrise!
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More views.

The next morning, I wake up first around 6AM, to surprizingly sunny skies again! It's very cold. I snap a couple of pictures while Eric refuses to leave the comfort of his bag. I then get back to sleep and we both finally get up around 8AM. We feel broken. Clearly not an option for us to walk out today. The most we feel like we could do is to move camp across the glacier to near Quarterdeck pass, where we would be better positioned for an early start down the Quarterdeck tomorrow. There is however another, much easier and tempting option… the guide who flew in with us told us that they had scheduled flights to Bevan col every day until Friday. If only we could catch one of those choppers…

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Having breakfast and...
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...packing our gear.
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A last look at the amazing SW ridge before hiking to the Bevan Col.
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Following the bluffs back to Bevan Col.
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Views form the col.

We take our camp down quickly, hoping to make it back to the col before 11AM, an opportune time of the day for chopper-hitch-hiking! We get there on schedule and wait… by noon, we haven't spotted anybody walking back from the hut toward us, so outgoing flights are starting to look unlikely. We are starting to have doubts when Eric hears a faint noise down in the valley. The noise intensifies… it's clearly a chopper… and it seems to be climbing hard. A few seconds later, the helicopter comes into view. It is clearly flying toward us. It is a much smaller machine than the one we used on the way up two days ago. It flies right over our heads, makes a sharp 180-degree turn, and lands right next to us at the col. Relief! No more walking today! Two passengers get dropped at the col; we load our gear and hop in. It's Alex again, our female pilot, and her little dog!

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The upper SW ridge looks daunting from the col.
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Eric trying to spot a chopper.
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Chop, chop, chop... here it is!
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A guided party unloading their equipment.
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Tired but happy!

Five exhilerating minutes later, we land in the grass, 50 m from Boxy (our camper), at the Raspberry Flats, to the amazement of a few tourists. Wow! Sure beats 10 hours of walking, especially for two middle-aged climbers and their creaky knees! We could get used to this!

We spend the next couple of hours unpacking and reorganizing our gear. All on board Boxy and ready to leave. Turn the contact key and… nothing! Aaaarghhh! We got off too easy on this one! The battery is absolutely dead! Somehow, we left the headlights on for the last 3 days. Fu&%!, fu&%!, and mega-fu&%! We are 50 km from town, surrounded by mostly tourists in rental cars and vans (i.e. they don't have jumper cables). We try push starting without success several times, until we run out of potential energy and stop right by the cattle guard at the bottom of the parking area. We are stuck. Eric also tries jumping the starting battery with the house battery, using the steel anchor cable of a snow picket as a conductor… this almost works, but the main battery is just too drained and we only get a couple of useless cranks.

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The 5 minute ride down the valley...
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...toward Raspberry Flats.
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Alex getting ready to take off.
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Reorganizing our gear.
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All ready to leave.

A group of tourists shows some concern for us and offers a ride. After some hesitation, we decide that I will ride with them back to Aspiring Helicopters, 30 km away, while Eric waits here. They have a full repair shop for their choppers, and are very likely to have a set of jumper cables. I would borrow them, and try to catch a ride back to Raspberry Flats. I leave around 4:30PM. Eric stays with Boxy and continues asking everyone who comes around for cables. No luck of course. I eventually arrive back more than 2 hours later. I found cables at the helicopter shop as expected, but then had difficulties getting a ride back (most of the meager traffic is toward town at this time of the day). I eventually caught a ride with a woman to Aspiring Station (a farm, about half way), where the woman's husband agreed to drive me the rest of the way and give us a jump start. Nice guy! Boxy starts easily. We start driving back, trying to be careful not to stall. About 20 km down the road, we stop by the "Mt Aspiring" sign to take a picture and Eric STOPS the engine!!!! Stupid! He immediately realizes his stupidity and tried to start again: dead!!! FUUUUUU&%! Cannot believe it! We try the snow-picket-anchor-cable-jump-trick again, and fortunately, with the main battery now partially recharged, the engine starts! Phew! We drive the rest of the way back into town, and arrive just in time to go buy some fresh food for dinner at New World. Interesting day...