Southwest Ridge of Aspiring- Third Time Lucky

Mt Aspiring (Tititea) is New Zealand's largest mountain outside of the Mt Cook region. A real gem of the Southern Alps, it is sometimes called "the Matterhorn of the South." due to its pyramid shape. At 3033m, Aspiring sits above other nearby peaks and welcomes those daring enough to a range of routes.

The Southwest ridge of Aspiring is like a rite of passage for Kiwi mountaineers wanting to progress onto more challenging alpine routes. You start at 400m above sea level, so it is a massive effort to get to the top. The climb follows a long, exposed snow arete, which leads to a steep ice crux and the final snow slope to the summit. And this is New Zealand; of course it involves a big old approach!

My first two trips were unsuccessful. Lousy weather and conditions turned me around before reaching the base of the route. By the time I'd finished my climb, I would have walked around 120 kilometers, gained and lost over 7500 vertical meters, and crossed the same icy rivers about 50 times. You get that on the big jobs.

November 2018, Rasberry Flat, Mt Aspiring National Park.

My climb on Mount Aspiring starts one month before I would actually reach the summit, with a short weather window and two new friends, Jack and Marlin. Riding a pink mountain bike that was far too small for my cumbersome pack and me.

On my first attempt, Jack marlin and I used bikes to get to Aspiring hut, shaving an hour of the approach and back. We left late in the day and arrived at French Ridge hut in the evening. On our way up, we passed two French climbers who turned around because of bad conditions. This, combined with a short weather window, had us stash our climbing gear in the forest and head up on a reconnaissance mission instead.

We made it up to the Quarterdeck the next day before turning around and following down the long track home in cold winds.

Having lunch at Welcome flat hut. - Jack

December 2018

One month later, I was hiking up the Matukituki valley again. With a new partner but the same goal. I'd met Benny through a mutual friend, and we had climbed together in the Remarkables. He hoped to climb the south face, but it was apparent it wouldn't be in condition, so he agreed on the Southwest Ridge.

After carrying heavy packs on our previous trips, we worked out precisely what we would need for two nights in a hut and the climb and left everything but the essentials behind.

We made good time up the valley and onto the ridge, arriving at the hut early in the afternoon. Dark clouds closed in as we got out of our boots, and rain hit the tin roof while we ate our dinner. I climbed into my sleeping bag liner with my down jacket on and set my alarm to 2 am.

Most mornings in the mountains start by looking at the weather. As I stepped outside, I didn't have to study very hard. It was wet, and thick mist hung in the beam of my head torch. The snow around the hut was saturated and heavy.

It was obvious we weren't climbing today. We crept back to our bunks and decided to once again walk out in the morning.

Two days later.

Starving, Benny, and I headed straight to town for food once we got back to Wanaka. We sat at dominos and used their wifi to look at weather maps while waiting for pizza.

With a mixture of excitement and annoyance, we saw that the forecast had improved for the next two days. We made a plan and decided to get a helicopter up to Bevan Col in the morning. I ordered an extra pizza to go and parked up at the Albert Town campsite for the night.

I woke up in my car to clear, blue skies. I gave Aspiring Helicopters a call. We were booked on a flight with a guided party of three at 10 am.

We landed on Bevan Col at around 11 am after waiting for clouds to clear. This was the closest either of us had actually been to the mountain. We walked across the Bonar Glacier to Colin Todd Hut, our legs still tired from the last two walks walking.

The hut was busy with four guided groups attempting the Northwest Ridge in the morning.

Once again, I was outside at 2 am, feeling disappointed looking up at the sky. The cloud cover kept the snow from freezing. By the time we'd broken trail to the climb, my boots had soaked through.

The ridge was a beauty. We made good time along the snow arete, but thick cloud meant we didn't actually know where exactly on the route we were. My altimeter read 2800m, and we were discussing where we should be when we had a sudden clearance. Like an answer from above, the clouds parted the morning sun lit up the rest of the ridge.

The crux of the route is a short ice step. The ice looked fat at first, but we saw it wasn't in great shape as we got closer. Once we reached the base of the pitch, I flaked our rope and tied in. Benny was the more experienced ice climber, but he saw I was eager and was happy to let me give it a nudge.

I knew the ice wasn't going to take screws, so I looked for a placement in the rock instead. I got a solid .5 cam in a crack to the right and took my first swing into the main ice flow. Suddenly, all my nerves were replaced with a methodical, calming rhythm. I made my way up the short but sweet crux, placing two screws I probably wouldn’t trust to hang my coat on.

I let out a hoot at the anchor and brought Benny up. I had just led my first technical pitch on a mountain, I was stoked!

Another easier pitch got us out of the couloir and onto the Northwest ridge.

We unroped and walked ten minutes to the summit.

Thick cloud also made it to the summit with us, but that didn't stop us from enjoying this moment we had worked so hard for. In fact, we enjoyed it so much that even after an hour went by, we were still chatting away on the summit.

All of the guided parties had made it up and left before we moved—each time sharing their stoke and high fives.

We left the summit, passing the groups on our way down. The cloud darkened, and I knew we were about to get wet. I was glad to get off the infamous ramp before it started raining. We post-holed back to the hut and arrived soaking wet at 2 pm - 12 hours after leaving.

After some hot chow and the DOC weather forecast, I was out like a light.

The next day we made it back down to Rasberry Flat by 2:30 pm and hitched a ride back to my car at Aspiring Helicopters.

Wet but good sticks, on the crux. - Benny

Exciting the steeper terrain onto the NW ridge.

Mount Aspiring was never going to let us have it easy. In this early stage of my climbing, that was just what I needed. I learned more on this climb than any other so far, and I'd like to give a big thanks to my partner Benny and Jack & Marlin for the previous attempts.

All the hard work we put in made that summit so much more rewarding.

Topo’s and further reading:

https://alpineteam.co.nz/2015/south-west-ridge-mt-aspiring

https://climbnz.org.nz/nz/si/main-divide-of-the-southern-alps/mt-aspiring

StoriesRyan ColleyDecember 3, 20182 Comments