anyone familiar with mt cook?

[todd]

i just posted something on "fave routes of all times" and it got me thinking. i asked this question there but since its an old thread, it probably wont be read (i.e. sorry if youre reading this twice). i remember a route on the south face of mt. cook that looked pretty nice, and i remember it had a profane name. i think it was called "the clit", but its been several years since i was there. i also remember someone writing that one of their favorite routes was on cook. can you, or anyone else clear this up for me?

[mattp]

I was there in about 1986 and there were two climbs, "Wet Dream" and "White Dream" on the face at that time. These routes began on a rock face with water ice or mixed climbing followed by more moderately angled alpine ice higher up, joining what must have been the SW Ridge several hundred feet below the south shoulder of the mountain. I believe these two climbs took a line left of center in the photo below, with the starts being partially obscured by a snowy ridge in the foreground.

I don't believe I heard about "The Clit," but I suppose it wouldn't be unlikely that someone would have continued with the theme.

[ 02-04-2002: Message edited by: mattp ]

[ 02-04-2002: Message edited by: mattp ]

[sayjay]

Ummm, you might want to be careful about Mt. Cook climbing beta from the 1980's, seeing as a very large chunk of the summit fell off in Dec., 1991...

[ 02-04-2002: Message edited by: sayjay ]

[mattp]

I believe it was a portion of the summit block that fell off - if I am correct, one pitch is gone but the rest of mountain was not changed by that event. The routes on the south face are some distance away.

Your point about old beta is well taken, however. I believe that the surface level of the lower Tasman Glacier had fallen something like 500 feet in the forty years prior to my visit. Who knows, maybe "The Clit" has come and gone.

[Matt]

quote:

---

Originally posted by mattp:

Who knows, maybe "The Clit" has come and gone.

---

Mattp is the epitome of "old school." Just curious, do you have any interesting beta on climbing Saint Helens pre-May 18, 1980?

[mattp]

I believe there was once a rescue initiated when a pilot reported a group of stranded climbers on the summit -- but they turned out to be elk.

[Dru]

"Clit route"is on the Catherine Face. according to my 1992 Mt Cook and Area Guidebook.

[mattp]

The following is from a website maintained by Jonathan Carr, in New Zealand:

The 2000m South-east Caroline face of Mt Cook. The summit on the left is the low peak, the summit on the right is the middle peak. The high peak lies beyond. The Caroline face is difficult because of its length and the high level of objective danger - ice falls seem to continue throughout the day and night. I'm happy to look at it from a safe distance. The classic East ridge ascends the right skyline ridge to the middle peak. The jaggered south ridge, leading towards us from the low peak, was first climbed by Ed Hillary and his mentor Harry Ayres prior to his ascent of Everest in 1953.

[ 02-05-2002: Message edited by: mattp ]

[todd]

thanks guys, that mustve been it. saw it on the way to the east ridge - looked like a pretty direct and beautiful line on a wild looking face.