Mt Aspiring

Mt Aspiring, the “Matterhorn of the Southern Alps” is a mountain I know well and it was with some indifference I agreed to climb it again with my Scottish friend Frank Johnstone last February. It had been Frank’s special request and he had travelled half way round the world to do it. Mid February arrived with the promise of several days of fine weather. We left in the evening and drove to Wanaka. On the way I realised I had not brought along any ice screws and later on was told there was ‘green ice” on top so I was concerned by my omission though I sceptical that I would need any technical gear for the climb. In Wanaka I got a text from Simon indicating he was keen to join us. We arranged to meet at Scotts bivi in the upper Matukituki Valley next day.

At Raspberry Flat I was amazed to see so many cars, a far cry from years ago. We set off with heavy packs for Aspiring Hut where we stopped for a spell.

To save weight I took a fly and bivi sac instead of a tent, a decision I was to regret later. It was a gloriously sunny day as we walked on to Shovel and Pearl Flats and up to the upper Matukituki. The bridge across the river at the bushline had been washed away and the ford was straightforward. At Scotts Bivi I set up the fly as the bivi rock was unappealing. Not long afterwards Simon arrived.

We were away early next morning. It was a slow climb up the ‘Gut” with its steep slabs always difficult with heavy packs. From the tussock basin we climbed up a gully and found the line of cairns leading up to Bevan Col. I noted the huge melt of the snow arête in the process of disintegration. I took a poor route up and arrived after Simon and Frank just as a chopper clattered in to disgorge a group of “tourists” heading for Aspiring. We stopped for lunch.

The Bonar Glacier looked terribly crevassed and clearly a lot of ice had melted compared with my previous visit nine years ago. It took us an hour to zigzag our way across and then we had to follow down the glacier beside the Shipowner Ridge well past the hut before we could gain the ridge. Just below the hut was a delightful tarn and bivi spot where we stopped. It was warm and windless with extensive views. We had a swim in the tarn and an early night.

We left early next day. It was a starlit night as we plodded up the Shipowner Ridge. At the top just as it was getting light we set up an abseil to reach the ice 50 feet below. Years ago one used to be able to walk straight onto the snow so obviously there had been a big melt in the interim. Further on we gained the NW Ridge and wandered around huge towers to the big buttress where we moved left on narrow ledges. Higher up below the flat ridge level with the top of the Ice Ramp we put the rope on for a short exposed pitch. From here on it was a plod up rocky slopes to the summit. The top 250 feet were hard ice but not difficult and not requiring any protection at all. The views were superlative.

After a round of photos we descended and noted a lot of cloud now moving in from the Tasman.

We made good time on the descent though we did loose the route for a while getting around the big buttress. I led the rock pitch back onto the Shipowner that was straightforward. Back at our bivi we found the keas had paid our gear a visit and shredded our pack liners and helped themselves to some of our food. I was anxious about the weather so we set off across the Bonar. By now the wind was rising and the weather looked doubtful. Darkness found us on the other side of Bevan Col with Frank stuck on a cliff. Once we got him off that we carried on down in the dark and eventually decided to stop at a flat area by a large cairn. With some difficulty I pitched the fly. The weather grew worse, cloud enveloped us and then at 3.00 am the rain started. No sleep was possible in the storm as we waited for first light.

Dawn saw us packing up in the rain. It was truly miserable. In whiteout it was guesswork getting down to the valley above the gut. In rain and cloud we descended till we struck a track. This led over to the right but the view into the steep gut below Hector Col did not look inviting. So we tried another line that looked even worse so went back to the first one and descended. The valley below so pleasant on the way up no longer looked so inviting in the slanting rain. An attempt to descend the gut failed so we decided to bivi in the wee valley above. So there we stayed, cold, wet and miserable with less than adequate bivi gear and only a remnant of kea salvaged food to sustain us.

By next morning the rain had eased and the creeks were down as we set off. This time I put on my crampons to climb slick slabs and perchanced upon a line of rappel anchors that took us safely down to the West Matukituki. From there it was an easy walk out to the car.

As ascent of Mt Aspiring 14-19 February 2011 by Simon Marwick, Frank Johnstone and Stanley Mulvany

Lady of the Snows

Lady of the Snows ( 1818m) is a remote peak at the head of Green Valley, a tributary of the Arthur Valley. It is rarely climbed no doubt due to the difficulty in gaining the upper valley through difficult Fiordland bush. The indomitable Edgar Williams and JK Martin first climbed it in January 1933. It sounded like a bit of a siege with 3 weeks provisions and 4 days to cut a track up the valley. The ascent was completed in a “driving snowstorm”.

Several years ago I had a crack of climbing it with my Scottish friend Frank Johnstone but we retreated before even getting to grips with it due to bad weather. Frank said he would return for another attempt so I’ve postponed it till now. Peter O’Neill joined me this time. On 9th of February we spent the night at Homer Hut. An early start the next day saw us kayaking over to Sandfly point in the rain. Once Peter was dropped off I headed back for Frank. We hid the kayak in the bush and set off up the track to Dumpling Hut. Near the hut we met a DOC worker who had been up Green Valley and gave us accurate and useful information on the route. At the hut we had a brew up and then it was off across the river to Green Valley.

We crossed the Arthur with no difficulty and then a branch of GV Creek. The bush was quite dense as we made our way up it towards the gorge of GV between two branches. Here we discovered that the creek emerging from the gorge was impassible thundering down a cataract. With no chance of crossing we retreated downwards till the gradient eased off and then crossed. We set off up the other side and climbed up to the 300-meter level through relatively open forest beside a dry washout. Then we sidled at this level for quite a way till we reached a rocky slip in the bush. Here we were south and slightly west of Dumpling Hill. Climbing this to bushline, we got our first view of the summit of LOTS. As the day was well advanced and the flats looked a long way off we elected to camp in an open area in the slip.


Next morning dawned fine as we set off through the forest. A short sidle took us to a steep descent down to the left into a side valley of the main Green Valley. There was an open creekbed and as the far side was exceedingly steep, we walked up this till we could see a way of climbing up to the ridge above. Once gained this ridge was very narrow with a deer trail on the crest leading up to a plateau at 500 meters. From here there was an easy descent to the start of the flats of Green Valley. These were quite delightful especially in the bright sunshine with easy walking up the creek for 1.5 kilometers. Then it was back into the bush though it was easier to just wade up the creek to the base of the spur leading up to the ridge between Mt Edgar and LOTS. It was clearly evident we were not going to make it back to our camp site by dark but I felt the dye had been cast and there was little to loose now.

After a tussle with the scrub guarding the base of the ridge we started up easy open slopes. Higher up there were some slabs to climb but nothing too difficult. Frank was reluctant to keep going because of the likelihood of not making it back to camp and Peter was wavering but Stanley was adamant he would continue. A compromise was reached in that we would go to the ridge at 1300 meters that proved a good choice as the weather was not looking great with cloud covering the tops. Indeed, when we reached the ridge it was looking decidedly grim and I could see the summit was at least 4 hours away. There had been tremendous snowmelt this summer and the snow ridge did not go very far up the slopes before running into steep rock. The summit was largely hidden by wind driven cloud. We took a few photos and started down.

Once on the valley floor we made good time by heading down a dry creek bed till met the river proper and then waded down it to the flats. Instead of climbing up to the aforementioned plateau at 500-meters we followed a deer trail down the true right bank to the start of the gorge and found this abruptly headed up hill. We followed this up to some dense scrub at 500-meters and found the narrow ridge. It was starting to get dark as we entered the side valley. Instead of following this down to our old route we headed up the far side into some awful morainic boulders covered in dense scrub. In pitch dark we floundered our way between deep clefts among giant boulders covered in vines and moss. It was truly awful!! After some discussion we elected to descend back to the creek and try to finds cairns Stanley had fortuitously left behind him on the approach march. But alas it was most confusing in the dark and the lads failed to find them.

At 11PM we decided to bivi in the forest. Pete was the only one with any gear namely his down jacket and a mat. We made a mattress of ferns and got into our pack liners. Luckily I had my jetboil stove so we could at least make a hot drink but that was it. Pete was soon asleep and snoring ( to add insult to injury) while Frank and I shivered all night.

Needless to say next morning it did not take long to find my cairns but the first attempt on the cliffs above repulsed us. But I knew we were close so after beseeching Pete to let me have another try I found the route up the cliffs further to the left. In no time we were back at the tents. After a leisurely breakfast we packed up just as the rain came on and this increased steadily all day. We had a spell at Dumpling hut and a natter with the very pleasant female hut warden. Then it was a grind all the way down the valley to the shelter at Sandfly Point. Frank looked shaken when I proposed we cross immediately to Fisherman’s Wharf as I judged conditions favorable with the tide fully in and little wind though it was pouring down. I took Pete across and then came back for Frank. It was dark as we bad farewell to Milford with unfinished business up the Arthur.

An attempt on Lady of the Snows on 10-12 February 2011 by Frank Johnstone, Peter O’Neill and Dr Stanley.