This is an account of a
paddling/climbing trip in Milford Sound recently. On 30th August 2014 Paula
Macfarlane, Peter O'Neill and Stanley Mulvany from the Southland Section of the
NZ Alpine Club reached the summit of Mitre peak in what may well be the first
winter ascent of the peak. This was our second attempt. They used 2 sea
kayaks from Fishermans Wharf and a packraft to tow the 3rd member
out. On 22 August Paula, Reece and Stanley paddled out to Mitre Peak and
ascended the "Strong Arm Route" directly from the fjord to the saddle
between Footstool and Mitre where they camped. Leaving at 7.00AM next day they
climbed to 1400 meters before being forced to turn back due to lateness of the
day. On the Sunday they descended to the fjord and returned home.
Several days later Paula, Peter (Reece
being unavailable) and Stanley returned on Thursday night 28th to Homer Hut and
early on Friday paddled out to Sinbad Beach. They took the easier option over
Footstool and by evening reached a higher camp at 1000 meters. At 6:45 AM on 30
August they set off and climbed over steep snow slopes to the prominent breech
where again they did an abseil. Paula led up the first steep pitch and then
they soloed on up steep icy slopes. Their previous high point was reached about
10:30 AM. Here Stanley led across an exposed traverse across icy
slopes to 'Chockstone Gully" to reached the ridge above. The party then
soloed on up exposed steep icy slopes that eased to a false summit. Here they
were shocked to find an 80-metre face of steep ice bearing no resemblance to
summer conditions. Stanley led across and then soloed up to a stance where the
rope was pulled out again. Paula led up a steep ice slope that led to the
summit that was gained at 3:30PM. The weather and views were stunning.
The team then started the descent doing
4 abseils down to the traverse ledge where they were overtaken by
nightfall. A ledge was found on the north side covered in snow and
after Peter cleared this they had enough space to sit down for a long nighttime
vigil. This was on a sheer face dropping vertically into darkness. They roped
themselves and their packs onto the ledge to spend a long cold night there. At
false dawn they slowly got going and as they were tired and lacking sustenance decided
to down climb and abseil the icy slopes below. At 3.00PM their camp was reached
and after a snack they descended to a more pleasant camp in the bush at 700
meters. As there was no hope of getting down on Sunday Peter had sent word on
his sat phone to cancel work commitments for Monday. The party crashed early
Sunday night and on Monday returned over Footstool to Sinbad to paddle back to
Milford.
The combination of sea kayaking and
mountain climbing is unparalleled in Fiordland with 2 different sets of
challenges though on this occasion the seas were flat with no dramas.
This is probably the first winter ascent
of Mitre Peak that proved much more challenging than in summer. It is without
doubt the first Gaelic Winter ascent of Mitre (Paula Turley (Ulster), Peter
O'Neill (of the Ui Neill tribe of the Red Hand) and Stanley Mulvany (O Maiol
Mheanna tribe of Niall of the Nine Hostages). The combined ages of the party
169 years!!
Have a look at these 2 YouTube Videos
our Mitre Peak climb
Stanley
1 comment:
Stunning account of your ascent. Really enjoyed reading it and the photos were outstanding. Thanks for posting.
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