Four summits in six days: New Zealand’s Southern Alps

“That was f**king hard” yells Duncan over the wind from further up the rocky ridge.

We’re trying to get on to the straightforward east ridge of Mount Dixon by traversing some rock – and Dunc’s just finished some sketchy traverse we couldn’t even view from the belay. Jayd and I look at each other, nod and then I yell “Well… we’re kinda thinking that maybe you should climb back to us. This is going to take us all way too long…” It’s probably helpful we couldn’t hear anything Duncan said next as he began to immediately reverse his hard (and slightly sketchy) pitch.

Discovering the Third

Duncan and I were in New Zealand for two weeks this summer to tick off some classics in the Southern Alps. We certainly hoped for better weather than last year.

At the beginning of 2014, we had ventured over for a shot at Aoraki/Mount Cook. As can so reliably happen, we spent 12 days in some of the worst weather we had ever seen in the mountains. We’d hardly been able to venture out of the hut. However, we did learn some very valuable skills of how to live, survive and operate in pretty bad weather. Being belayed to the toilet in full climbing gear due to 180-kilometre-an-hour winds, and then having to chip the rime ice off the outhouse doors just to get in was a notable ‘skill’ we mastered. We made it ‘fun’, but it wasn’t exactly what we had come over to achieve. So as we flew out of Plateau Hut in 2014, we made a pact to come back and try again the following year.

Fast forward 12 months and our plans to return to Mount Cook were beginning to play out. However, the build up to this trip was a very different one to last year. I had been training hard to complete the Sum8 mission of running the highest peak in every state or territory in the fastest continuous time. My fitness was good. Sadly though, three days before leaving three people had gone missing after attempting Mount Cook. This sparked a bombardment of calls, text and emails from concerned friends and family. It also turned out one of the missing party was an Australian man we had met the year before at the hut, so we had a small personal connection with him. Our thoughts still go out to the families of those lost early this year on Mount Cook.

Understandably, many of our friends started saying, “Do you think it is safe? Are you really sure you need to go?” We reassured friends and family that we would be fine and would see them again soon, but in the back of our minds was the sobering acceptance that we too could have an accident on the mountain. We vowed to take extra care this year.

In a weird turn of events I met another Brisbane lad while running up Mount Barney (in Queensland) only days before leaving, who was also heading to New Zealand. We started to talk and worked out we would be in the same area at the same time and with similar experience. Like that, our party of three – Duncan, Jayd and myself – were off to NZ.

Arriving on different flights, Duncan and I met up with Jayd in Queenstown on the afternoon of Friday the third of January. After the obligatory shop for a 10 day planned stay at Plateau Hut, it was time to sort gear and food ready to drive and then fly in to the hut the next day. We chatted about intentions and we were unanimous in wanting to tick off Mount Cook – and after that anything else was a bonus! We factored in quite a few bad weather days just to be on the safe side. We woke early and hit the road for the drive to Mount Cook Village. Since we’d really just met Jayd, the car trip was great as we all started to learn about each other and how our lives had led us towards climbing Mount Cook.

Driving into Mount Cook the weather was amazing, and we had great views right up the valley. Things were looking good. We quickly did the DOC office thing, said “Hi” to a friend at Alpine Guides for some local info on route conditions and then booked a flight with Glentanner Helis.

Boom! In less than 24 hours from arriving in New Zealand we were on the glacier doing a short recce hike and making tracks towards Mount Cook. Sunday’s weather forecast was great, so we quickly set out making tracks to follow later that night up the Linda Glacier. It turned out we met a Swiss party descending after a successful summit bid, and hence had a great trail to follow.

Mount Cook and Anzacs… What Next?

After packing and wolfing down some dinner, it was off to bed for a wonderfully refreshing four hours of sleep. As is usual, the mixture of excitement and nerves actually meant a crap sleep, and all too soon the alarm sounded and we were crunching away from Plateau Hut. We were pretty psyched as the sky was clear, the stars were sparkling and at that time there was no wind. Climbing Mount Cook had been a long-held dream, so it was gratifying to be heading off with a good chance of success.

We moved quickly through the lower Linda Glacier. We relished the gradual elevation gain, with the ice under our feet produced the most amazing sound as the shimmer of our headlamps made the snow dance like it were alive. We moved fast over firm snow, following the tracks from yesterday afternoon and we soon found ourselves ready to haul arse below the gun barrel. My mind wandered thinking that it was likely here that the three lost climbers had come to rest. Ice and debris in the area was spread far, with some chunks of ice as large as vans. Needless to say we simul climbed hard, moving fast as we made our way to the summit rocks.

We made it to the summit rocks just as the sun peeked over the horizon. What a wonderful view it was. It’s amazing how the warmth of the sun can induce the feeling that everything will be okay. It also became apparent that I had forgotten sunlight on the mountains also heralds wind. At some points on the final stretch up the summit ramp it was so windy that communicating was hard, and if you were mid-step and a huge gust came through, it would push you off balance.

Once we reached the summit we were a mix of elation, tiredness, nervousness and wonder. We therefore felt obliged t0 capture the moment with some bad selfies. We were all stoked to have made it safely to the top of New Zealand and mark another experience off our bucket lists.

I was struck by the ability to see 360-degrees and to see right out to the ocean on the West Coast. My thoughts also returned to the trip that lay in front of us on tired legs. We ate, drank and applied more sunscreen before planning our descent in now softening snow. The walking was becoming slower, but at least it was downhill. Time passed quickly as we descended through the summit rock rappels, and soon after bolted back across the area below the gun barrel.

Before long we were looking across at Plateau Hut with an hour to go before we reached hot food and much-needed water. The final stretch back to the hut allowed me time to reflect with gratitude on everything that had happened in the lead up to us reaching the summit of Mount Cook. Back at the hut we ate the most awesome tasting meal as the light faded on the peaks; it was the perfect end to an awesome day of climbing.

After the following day of rest, Jayd and I ran over to do the Anzacs – a small little mountain hill below Mount Cook, which gave a great view of the east ridge of Cook. On our return to the hut, Mount Dixon stared us in the face, and I felt like there was no chance of avoiding an attempt to climb it while we were still at Plateau Hut.

The following morning (now Wednesday) saw us heading off to climb Mount Dixon’s east ridge. With its reputation to be relatively easy, we didn’t bother to thoroughly check access to the ridge from the Glacier, and in the morning when we actually arrived in darkness, we found a bit of exciting leading would be required to get us to the ridge. Looking for an easier way saw us trek around to the start of the rocky ridge closer to the hut. We thought we’d just scramble along it. That explains the opening paragraph of this story where we had a false start, before then coming back to the now required exciting access to the ridge.

Between Jayd and myself we led up through the steep bergschrund and a dodgy rock corner to gain the ridge. After that it was all too easy and we really enjoyed climbing Dixon with no real time pressure and amazingly clear and stable weather. It meant we could really sit on the summit and enjoy it. We took in the amazing panorama, pointed out future objectives (look out Tasman!) and soaked up the Southern Alps. We all spent some time lost in our thoughts, imagining lines on the myriad peaks in our view.

The Wanaka Hour of Power

With a couple of day’s dodgy weather predicted for the Cook region, we decided to chopper out from Plateau Hut and head to Wanaka for some well-earned R&R. Next on the list was Mount Aspiring’s beautiful southwest ridge to be tackled after a few days rest. However, the NZ weather gods proved once again to be unpredictable, and promptly cut short our chill out plans. Rolling into Wanaka at 4.30pm, we saw the forecast, which told us it was only going to be fine for another one-and-a-half days before a huge bad weather cell started to form. “Looks like we’re off to the mountains this afternoon boys!” said Duncan, and so began our ‘Wanaka Hour of Power’.

Within an hour and a bit we had resupplied, repacked, fixed a broken ice axe and made it out to the helicopter station near Treble Cone. Before we had time to think about what we were doing, we were watching the chopper fly away from us at Bevan Col; our open air accommodation for the night. Less than eight hours after leaving Plateau Hut we were back in the mountains, and on track to tackle a line we had also all dreamt about for a long time.

Our general tiredness at this stage was apparent as our ‘alpine start’ began after sleeping through two alarms, meaning we headed off an hour-and-a-half later than planned. However, we were pretty well oiled by now, so we packed up and got moving quite quickly and were on the lower rocky part of the ridge in very good time. The sunrise was spectacular and cross-lit the beautiful south face of Aspiring as we climbed higher up the ridge. Once again the sun brought wind and this time it was bloody freezing. Yet it also added to the atmosphere of the route as we front pointed up the southwest ridge for what felt like an eternity.

We were moving well, but that crux gully never seemed to get closer, and after front pointing for several hours my feet began to really hurt and my calf muscles began to burn. Yeah, alpine climbing is fun, right?

We finally arrived at the mixed rock and ice crux and were very impressed by Jayd’s level-headed lead through this crazy little section. To my disappointment and the ongoing pain in my feet, the summit still didn’t seem any closer, but in another three pitches we were there!

I was extremely happy to get off my front points for a very well-earned rest. Another summit, a strong team, perfect weather and an amazing finale to our trip. Next followed the relentless feeling descent of the northwest ridge to Colin Todd Hut where we grabbed a snack and a hot drink. Reminiscent of the end of our Mount Cook day, we were ‘almost home’ and slogged out the final hour back to our bivvy on the other side of the Bonar Glacier.

Having arrived back to our five million star accommodation, I was ‘overjoyed’ to find out a damn kea had pecked a hole in my bivvy bag and sleeping mat. So as the other lads drifted off to noddy land, I was digging out my repair kit to glue up my Exped mat before I could go to sleep! We woke up tired, stoked and grateful, and after breakfast we walked out to Raspberry Flat to make our way back to Wanaka.

The hike out gave me time to reflect on our past week, and I thought to myself how lucky we were to summit four great mountains in six days. What a contrast this year’s trip had been to last year’s 12-day mission where Duncan and I hardly left the hut and dealt with screaming boredom instead of barfies. Our party of three were all pretty chuffed, and we most enjoyed some well-earned Wanaka R&R for the next two days.

Among relaxing, eating and sleeping, we made time to cook up some objectives for next year and can’t wait to come back.