Mt. Cook

In New Zealand for 3 weeks for a try on Mount Cook (Aoraki).  At 3752m, its the highest mountain in the country and, depending on how Austral-asia is defined, highest on the continent.  Its located in the Southern Alps of the South Island, a stunning range with giant glaciers and steep cliffs.  Given the fact that i'd be solo, I hired a guide - Marty Schmidt - a very accomplished climber whose guided all over the world, including Everest and K2.  They allow for 6 days since the weather is so variable.  Cold winds come up over the ocean from Antarctica and usually bring snow.  Mt. Cook is only 40 kms from the ocean, so by the time the winds hit they regularly gust up to 150kph. Weather on the mountain was very poor the first couple of days, so we played golf and went rock climbing to some crags on the eastern side of the island.   

Finally the winds calmed and we flew into the Alpine Club hut at 2200m.  The hut is perched on a ridge in the center of the range, and, although we were the only ones there, is the hub for trekking and climbing in the area. We organized our gear and set out Saturday afternoon up the heavily crevassed Linda Glacier on snowshoes.  After 4 hours we set up camp at about 2800m and slept for a few hours before leaving the tent at around 1 am.  Winds were light, and the sky was filled with stars.

After roping up and crossing the rest of the Linda Glacier, we ascended/traversed steep snow slopes to a location called the Shelf.  The first section of technical climbing was up a couloir of maybe 60 degree snow/ice. 3 or 4 pitches of our 60m rope led to the start of a section called the Summit Rocks.  At that point the sun started to rise over the peaks, and i realized just how steep and exposed the route was. The rocky section was 3 or 4 rope lengths of steep mixed rock and ice - again 2 ice axes were necessary.   We rested at the top of the rocks, then head out up the Ice Dome, at first a steep ridge that dropped off 2000m to the east, then finally snow slopes to the main summit at 8 am.  In respecting local Maori beliefs, we did as all climbers and did not stand on the very highest spot.  Weather was great and winds were low - we could easily see out to the Tasman Sea to the west.

A very long descent followed - slow going down the steeps with 10 or 11 rappels.  Picking up the tent on the way, we made it back to the hut at 5 pm, all told a 16 hour day.  We were able to catch a helicopter out just ahead of a fresh storm, and and hour later were settled in the Mountaineers Pub in Mt. Cook Village for steak dinner and celebratory beers. Excellent climb, one of the toughest i've done.