New Zealand suggestions

[alpine et]

Anyone have suggestions for moderate glacier and rock routes in the Southern Alps of NZ? Scheming on a ~3 week trip in Dec-Jan time frame and was curious if anyone had suggestions of areas to look into, particular routes, or anything in between. We’ll probably be camping / hutting it for the most part. Considering whether a car is necessary… shuttles seem to do a good job, and we’re more interested in checking out one or two places thoroughly than trying to get to all the areas down there…

 

Thanks!

 

Erik

 

[tvashtarkatena]

Mt. Aspiring and surrounding area. There's a hut up there - chopper up (1 hr) or walk (2 days).

 

Wanaka is a nice town to hang for doing stuff in the Aspiring area. It's a good place to find partners.

[alpine et]

Thanks, looks like a cool area - got one on the list... 5 days for one climb - more than I figured, but scenery looks amazing! Is that common to have long approaches in the range?

[tvashtarkatena]

If you go in on a chopper with 3 other folks it's pretty cheap. I did it the day before we left. You can usually arrange a much cheaper flight out - they like to keep those machines full both directions.

[alpine et]

The walk isn't much of a detractor really, as 2/4 of our group will be mostly trekking and not climbing anyway. Though a helicopter ride does sound like fun...

[tvashtarkatena]

Where do you live? I've got topo maps of the whole area - did a bunch of hiking/climbing in there.

[EastCoastBastard]

I currently live in NZ (have for a long time...) Aspiring would be a good bet as there's quite a few hiking trails in the area for the non-climbers. They could even walk to the edge of the glacier with you if they were keen. In good conditions, 3 days will be plenty of time to get in, up down and out from Aspiring.

 

Mt. Footstool (very close to Mt. Cook Village) would be another good bet for a decent climb than has a short approach from an easily accessible from an area that has other things to do around.

 

However - I would honestly NOT waste your luggage space bringing down mountaineering gear. Bring a sport rack and hiking gear and just pretend that the mountains do not exist.

 

99 times/100 the weather will be shit and you won't end up climbing anything. At least if you're hiking you can still go do something, and there's plenty of decent sport climbing about.

 

Buy or rent a car while you're here - the public transport sucks and you will have trouble getting to most trailheads without one.

 

Hope that helps

[alpine et]

Bummer - we're planning on going from mid-late December through mid-January. Weather is that unpredictable, even during those times? I know how it goes with the Cascades... May and June you're pushing your luck, but by July there are usually ample windows... same go for NZ? When is that sweet spot?

[tvashtarkatena]

Aspiring has significantly dryer weather than the Cook area. You have enough time to make a run at Aspiring proper - WELL worth it. FWIW I had some rainy weather and some great weather during that time period and was able to get a ton of alpine climbing done. Really glad I brought the gear.

 

I had no vehicle at the time but, being based out of Wanaka for weeks, it wasn't much of a problem. That becomes harder with a larger group of course.

 

If you want to splurge Wanaka has a paragliding school.

Edited March 27, 2013 by tvashtarkatena

[EastCoastBastard]

There isn't really a "sweet spot" per se. If you read the old NZAC journals, it was relatively common to get long stretches of good weather back in the day. Now, from personal experience and from the experience of others, getting a long stretch (a week or so) of good weather is relatively rare at any time of year. That's not to say it can't happen, but i certainly wouldn't place any money on it.

 

NZ is such a long, narrow, country with several directions for weather to come from (across the tasman from australia, north from antartica, south from the pacific islands etc...) that weather patterns tend to change more rapidly and be less predictable than when you're on a big continent.

 

Summers have been getting longer and hotter in the past couple years and routes on Cook, in particular, that usually have good snowcover over crevasses and such until late in the season have been becoming impassable much much earlier.

 

The mountains around Wanaka (where Mt. Aspiring is) are a bit drier than the Mt. Cook area, but there's not that much of a difference. There is plenty of good cragging around wanaka (the town) where it will be drier than in the mountains. Pretty common to be cragging in the sun in Wanaka and see Aspiring covered in dark clouds.

 

I'm not trying to shit on your parade, but just warn you not to get too stoked on alpine climbing in NZ. It's so reliably shit here that I've sworn off climbing here until I'm in a position where I can take some time off at a moment's notice and head into the hills when the weather's good. Right now I have to plan my time off in advance and I don't want to waste it sitting in huts waiting for the rain to stop. Although we're actually in a major drought right now - the worst in almost 40 years...

[tvashtarkatena]

Meh. Get stoked. NZ is a whole new environment - crafty mountain parrots, beech forests, tree ferns, and my personal favorite, hook grass. If it rains, don't pout, just go kayaking in Doubtful Sound with these guys:

 

Kayaking the Fjordlands

 

Just do what we do here: Be ready to cherry pick your weather, consider the use of aircraft to save time (OK, that's not what we do here usually) and go for it.

 

Note that NZ topos include covered bivvy (typically boulder caves) locations.

 

My guess is that you'll remember the blackflies a lot more clearly than the rain.

 

BTW, although traffic can be sparse, hitching is pretty easy down there. If you rent a car, don't speed. They take that shit very seriously.

Edited March 28, 2013 by tvashtarkatena

[JasonG]

You must try to climb this (photo stolen from http://www.alpinenz.com):

 

The obviously elegant SW ridge of Aspiring is one of the best and most memorable climbs of my life. It is worth waiting a month for the weather, if you have to. We climbed it on 12/23, so your timing is right. Be prepared for a long day from the French Ridge hut, but it is worth every bit of the slog across the Bonar Gl.

 

Mt. Cook is also a memorable climb by most routes (we climbed Zurbriggen's Ridge), but I can't say it was safe or nearly as enjoyable as Aspiring.

 

If you want a sandfly infested bush bash, you may want to give Mitre Peak a go (you won't forget it). It's another long day, but what a view! No gear needed, except for a strong constitution.

 

On the other end of the alpine spectrum, I think Mt. Owen up by Nelson is worth a visit. Better weather and amazing limestone formations make for a cool outing. Minor scrambling, but mainly a hike.

 

Boulder at Castle Hill too, that place is incredible, and I'm not even a pad person.

 

For a mountaineering oriented tramp, I can also recommend the Copeland track. It crosses the Main Divide to Westland National Park from Mt Cook Village and passes through an amazing cross section of the South Island, with a spectacularly situated hot spring en route.

 

If you get the weather, any of the above will be quite beautiful. That said, you need to expect that the weather will not be stable. Think a warmer version of Patagonia.

 

[alpine et]

Jason thanks for your story and sweet image. Funny you should mention Patagonia, as it's still up in the air if we're going to hit NZ (till now my preference) or Patagonia. We had planned a climb of the NW ridge of Aspiring, as this is more in line with our abilities at the moment, but it seems this SW line on Aspiring and the seemingly difficult lines on Cook (summitpost states the standard route is harder than Liberty Ridge??) might make a climbing trip more fruitful after a few more years kicking it in the Cascades. I'll go to Patagonia now and walk around, because I don't think I'll ever climb anything serious there anyway!?

[JasonG]

You won't be disappointed hiking around Patagonia either!

 

Technically the Linda Gl. on Cook is maybe a bit harder than Liberty Ridge, but not by much. With a heli assist to the Plateau hut, it is shorter, time wise. BUT, the Linda is certainly much, much more dangerous with huge ice cliffs that threaten a significant portion of the route (you descend the same way). We were so worried about it that we climbed Zurbriggen's ridge to avoid going up the Linda (this route isn't threatened by ice cliffs, but it is much steeper and harder than the Linda). Right as we were about to join the Linda at the summit rocks, one of the Gun Barrels let loose and shed a house sized block of ice across the ice shelf (right behind a team).

 

My wife (this was our honeymoon) turned to me and said "Aren't we going down that way?"

 

"Ummmmmmmm. Yeah".

 

By the time we got back to the hut after 17 hours on the go we were shattered, and our feet were thrashed. Talk of climbing the Silverhorn on Tasman vanished. We ended up hiking out from the Plateau hut to save money, but I wouldn't recommend it. That was a whole different adventure!