The weather may not have been great for the hills, but it was good enough to make a few outings from Unwin. Mt Edgar Thompson far exceeded my expectations; the ~1700m of elevation gain passed easily enough, but my knees felt half worn through after descending the same again. An overnight trip up the Hoophorn Ridge saw us bivvying in the valley below it rather than up on the Annette Plateau as planned. It was a pleasant bivvy, disturbed only by a couple of watchful Kea's. The ridge the next day was quite loose but provided some fun scrambling up to the plateau, where we were met with some ugly weather and thus hotfooted it down to Mueller Hut, then back to Unwin after some soup.
After a rest day, I joined a trip being run by the Wellington section of the New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC). Rob, Lisa, Andrew, Alex and I flew up to Tasman Saddle Hut hot on the heels of an excellent forecast for the coming week. Despite my preference of avoiding flights, for various reasons, I was quickly reminded that helicopters are just about the darned coolest things getting about.
We were in the hut long enough to throw our stuff on a bunk before we headed back out the door. The weather was just too good to be true, and I quickly dispelled any thoughts of me needing any more rest days after my Unwin outings. We headed over to Aylmer, climbed its short south face, then traversed over Hochstetter Dome.
The next day we were up at 05:00 - what was to be on this trip quite a luxurious time to rise. First up was the East Face of Mt Green, from Divers Col. Conditions were great, though my calves were burning from all the front-pointing. Green was both an aesthetically pleasing peak to climb, and also a nice climb/line in itself, with some lovely ridge climbing to gain Divers Col in the first place. Andrew and I headed back to the hut after Green, while the others went on to climb Mt Walter, a straightforward climb also from Divers Col. The going joke by evening was that this would be the trip of two climbs a day!
The following morning was a much more regular get-up time of 02:30. We were setting off for Mt Elie De Beaumont via the Anna Glacier route. The Anna Glacier has a tendency to break up quite early on in the season and thus become impassable, but luckily for us a party had forged a way through the day before us.We found ourselves in the huge, shearing bergschrund while it was still dark, standing on a floor of broken collapsed snow and ice which had been refrozen where it was. It was not immediately clear which path to take, but it ended up involving climbing a pitch up and another across the lower face of Walter. Back on the glacier it was an easy enough ascent to the summit, which was not lingered on for long thanks to some ~55km/hr winds blowing across it. Back at the schrund well before 11:00, small snow slides were already coming down the face of Walter, and we followed our route-setters example and rapped into the guts of the schrund. Conditions were still cold and the ground reassuringly firm underfoot. It meant that, while still needing to move quickly to get back to safer ground, we could appreciate the place we were in. I felt privileged to be granted safe travel through such a special, dynamic, uninhabitable place. We enjoyed a lazy lunch in the sun, and were back at the hut by 13:30.
The weather the following day, Wednesday, was again fantastic, but I had an enforced rest day while the others made the most of the day. It was nice having a rest day that was sunny, and I typically punctuated my day of reading and cleaning with plenty of eating. It was another early rise on Thursday as Rob, Alex and I set off for the Couloir Route on Mt Annan. It was in better condition than anticipated, and made for a really enjoyable climb. The ridge to Annan was quite loose, so after summiting we down climbed the couloir rather than continue down the ridge. We were back at the hut by 09:00, a perfect time for a second breakfast of pancakes, bacon, banana and golden syrup.
Time we had, and the following morning we set out once again, early, this time for a peak in the Murchison - we'd just about climbed the immediate area out of all sensible options! The conditions, though, were terrible, thanks to rising freezing levels, and after slogging through the snow as far as Tasman Saddle, we decided it wasn't worth pusing on given how soft the snow was. We returned to the hut, slept in to a decent hour, then flew out later in the day. It was a great trip, not only thanks to the incredibly good weather, but also due to it being such an excellent group of people.
After a rest day, I joined a trip being run by the Wellington section of the New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC). Rob, Lisa, Andrew, Alex and I flew up to Tasman Saddle Hut hot on the heels of an excellent forecast for the coming week. Despite my preference of avoiding flights, for various reasons, I was quickly reminded that helicopters are just about the darned coolest things getting about.
We were in the hut long enough to throw our stuff on a bunk before we headed back out the door. The weather was just too good to be true, and I quickly dispelled any thoughts of me needing any more rest days after my Unwin outings. We headed over to Aylmer, climbed its short south face, then traversed over Hochstetter Dome.
The next day we were up at 05:00 - what was to be on this trip quite a luxurious time to rise. First up was the East Face of Mt Green, from Divers Col. Conditions were great, though my calves were burning from all the front-pointing. Green was both an aesthetically pleasing peak to climb, and also a nice climb/line in itself, with some lovely ridge climbing to gain Divers Col in the first place. Andrew and I headed back to the hut after Green, while the others went on to climb Mt Walter, a straightforward climb also from Divers Col. The going joke by evening was that this would be the trip of two climbs a day!
The following morning was a much more regular get-up time of 02:30. We were setting off for Mt Elie De Beaumont via the Anna Glacier route. The Anna Glacier has a tendency to break up quite early on in the season and thus become impassable, but luckily for us a party had forged a way through the day before us.We found ourselves in the huge, shearing bergschrund while it was still dark, standing on a floor of broken collapsed snow and ice which had been refrozen where it was. It was not immediately clear which path to take, but it ended up involving climbing a pitch up and another across the lower face of Walter. Back on the glacier it was an easy enough ascent to the summit, which was not lingered on for long thanks to some ~55km/hr winds blowing across it. Back at the schrund well before 11:00, small snow slides were already coming down the face of Walter, and we followed our route-setters example and rapped into the guts of the schrund. Conditions were still cold and the ground reassuringly firm underfoot. It meant that, while still needing to move quickly to get back to safer ground, we could appreciate the place we were in. I felt privileged to be granted safe travel through such a special, dynamic, uninhabitable place. We enjoyed a lazy lunch in the sun, and were back at the hut by 13:30.
The weather the following day, Wednesday, was again fantastic, but I had an enforced rest day while the others made the most of the day. It was nice having a rest day that was sunny, and I typically punctuated my day of reading and cleaning with plenty of eating. It was another early rise on Thursday as Rob, Alex and I set off for the Couloir Route on Mt Annan. It was in better condition than anticipated, and made for a really enjoyable climb. The ridge to Annan was quite loose, so after summiting we down climbed the couloir rather than continue down the ridge. We were back at the hut by 09:00, a perfect time for a second breakfast of pancakes, bacon, banana and golden syrup.
Time we had, and the following morning we set out once again, early, this time for a peak in the Murchison - we'd just about climbed the immediate area out of all sensible options! The conditions, though, were terrible, thanks to rising freezing levels, and after slogging through the snow as far as Tasman Saddle, we decided it wasn't worth pusing on given how soft the snow was. We returned to the hut, slept in to a decent hour, then flew out later in the day. It was a great trip, not only thanks to the incredibly good weather, but also due to it being such an excellent group of people.
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