Ailsa Mountain Traverse

The idea to do a traverse of the Ailsa Mountains was first mooted by Mike Dunn though I’ve vaguely thought of doing it for many years. A few of my friends have visited it in the past including Bill McLeod and Jon Taylor and spoke highly of the area. Oddly enough little is written of this range of alpine peaks though thousands of trampers walk past it every year.

On the weekend 26/27 January 2013 Beth Masser, Ceri Hutchinson, Reece McKenzie and I set off to do a traverse of the Ailsa Mountains. This trip proved to be full of interest and quite challenging. An early start was made from the divide and the party made for McKellar Saddle. From here we struck up onto the range, climbing peak 1449. Further on were two peaks 1665 and 1695 meters that looked loose and uninviting. These were traversed on the Hollyford side and the ridge gained beyond them. Ahead peak 1777 was sidled by a col to the west that took them into a valley above Lake Roberts. An upward climb took us to a broad ridge dotted with tarns and a comfortable bivi site to the north of the aforementioned peak. Ahead peak 1945 meters looked very difficult of access by the south ridge. In the evening 2 chamois were noted to be racing across the summit ice fields of this peak. We had splendid weather and great view especially towards the Darran Range.

Next morning it was decided to make for a breche to the west of peak 1945. Once gained the party found a massive drop off down the gully to the north so after a reconnaissance climbed up about 35 meters onto a ledge curving around to the north and found that an abseil would take us onto a terrace around the corner. Once down it was a straightforward upwards climb to a ridge overlooking Sunny Creek. There was a steep drop off to it however. The packs were left and an easy rock scramble led them to the summit of the highest peak in the Ailsas. There were fantastic views all around. To the north peak 1902 had a glacier running off it to a lake in a corrie to the south.

A quick descent was made back to the packs and 2 abseils down a cliff face took them into a hanging valley above Sunny Creek. An old piton was found half way down the cliffs that someone had obviously used in the past to rappel this route. Later we saw a chamois dashing up the route the team had just descended! Lower down we had difficulty in finding a route into the lower valley due to a wall of cliffs below us. Eventually a way was found off to the right and an easy walk down valley to join the Routeburn Track and a fast walk out to the car.

On Friday evening 5^th April Matt and I drove down to the Divide and walked in to the mouth of Sunny valley in the dark and flogged our way up through the bush to camp above bushline. It was frosty and cool. We started next morning at 8:30 AM following up the deer trail in Sunny Creek. Further up the valley was a large, very large stag slowly making his way up. He stopped and surveyed us for awhile and it was only when in profile we appreciated his huge size. At the top of the valley we moved left up to a col between peak 1620 and 1889. There was fresh snow on the ground, just a light covering. At the col we turned right up easy slopes to a rock band that was easily climbed to boulder slopes to the summit. 

We summited peak 1889 at noon. The traverse to peak 1902 looked desperate "a Mordwand". This peak I've named 'Glacier Peak' as a glacier  ( the Stanley Glacier) drains south to 'Lake Matt'.  We descended the same route back to the col and then tried to traverse along to the plateau under peak 1744 but the route was cut off by a deep ravine over 100 meters deep. Returning back towards the col we descended to valley floor into the bush and dropped about 200 meters onto the track just before MacKenzie Hut. From here it was a fast walk back to the car and drive to Homer.

We still have not finished the complete Ailsa traverse. On the map I’ve marked in blue the route I want to take next summer to complete the full traverse. The Ailsa Mountains offer an excellent high mountain traverse with interesting route finding and some difficult climbing thrown in. I suspect in time it will become a classic mountain traverse.