Alpine Climbing in New Zealand
General info about mountaineering in NZ
Alpine climbing is the base level skill of most mountaineering activities. Alpine climbing implies lightweight forays into mountainous regions, or basing out of an easily accessed camp or hut, and climbing peaks in the area. Alpine climbs usually are of no more than a day in duration, and vary in technicality. Climbing fast and lightweight on technical routes typifies the 'Alpine Style' midset.
The lack of significant mountain ranges in Australia forces the alpine climber to travel to other parts of the world. The closest region to Australia with 'Alpine Scale' peaks is New Zealand. New Zealand is the primary location for AAA mountaineering training activities,
but the Southern Alps stand alone as an area encompassing serious, technical, low altitude climbing with some of the severest alpine terrain and conditions in the world.
These pages contain more information on the climbing areas and possibilities for mountaineering in NZ. Gaining the competancies required to climb here will equip you with the necessary skills to mountaineer just about anywhere in the world.
Fox Glacier Area Brief
Introduction
Fox Glacier is in Westland National Park on the western side of the main divide of the Southern Alps. The Fox Neve is a massive expanse of snow and several minor glaciers at the head of the main Fox Glacier. Surrounding the neve are a plethora of major peaks of the main divide dominated by Mt Tasman, the 2nd highest summit in New Zealand.
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| Dusk on the Fox Glacier, Westland NP, New Zealand |
Getting There
Getting anywhere in the south island is relatively straightforward. From Christchurch, take the main road near the airport to Arthur's Pass and follow the road over the divide. When you hit the West Coast, turn left and keep going until you reach Fox - it's that simple, however pay close attention to the warning signs on the roads over Arthur's Pass. The entire journey takes about 5 hours by car.
Intercity coach lines run regular services to Fox. The Intercity website contains comprehensive information on scheduled services and booking.
Fox Glacier - Main Attractions
The Fox glacier area encompasses a significant number of the high peaks of the main divide. The 3000m Peaks accessible from the Upper Fox Galcier are, from north to south, Glacier Peak (3004m), Douglas Peak (3077m), Mt Haidinger (3070m), triple summit of Haast (3114m), Mt Lendenfeld (3200m), and Mt Tasman (3497m) including Torres Peak and Mt Silberhorn.
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| Mt Lendenfeld (3200m) [left] and Mt Tasman (3497m) from Pioneer Hut |
There are quite a few lower peaks suitable for climbers with limited experience including Grey Peak and Humdinger. The range of grades covers a broad specturm from 1's and 2's through to 5+ with plenty in between.
Classic routes of the area include: the North Shoulder route on Tasman (3+), the West Face of Haidinger (3/3+) and the Left (5-) and Central (5+) couloirs on the south face of Douglas Peak.
Huts and Access
The main Hut used to access most of the peak on the upper Fox is Pioneer Hut. Pioneer is a NZAC hut
which sleeps 16 and is equipped with cooking utensils, pots, pans etc. (no stoves) Pioneer also has a radio linked with the Westland National Park Department of Conservation (DoC) Office in Fox Glacier Township.
Most climbers access Pioneer by Helicopter from Fox Glacier township. Helicopter charters can be organised at the Alpine Guides (Fox Glacier) booking desk in the township. Pioneer can also be accessed by walking in from the township via Chancellor Hut.
Chancellor Hut is an old historic Alpine Hut which is of limited utility as a climbing base, but is spectacularly situated amid lush alpine meadows overlooking the glacier. Chancellor sleeps about 8 - 10 and has cooking utensils. The hut makes a great rest point on the walk in or out of the area.
Signing in your intentions is required before entering the National Park. This can be done at the Fox DoC office where the numbers in the huts can also be checked.
Access to the Fox from Franz Josef Glacier is usually via West Hoe Pass, a journey of about half a day, maybe longer in soft conditions.
Additonal Info
For more information on routes, peaks, huts and access, see the new Mt Cook / Aoraki Guide Book
published by the New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC.)
Mt Cook Area Brief
Introduction
The Mt Cook area encompasses the majority of the major glacial systems in the Southern Alps and generally refers to climbing area east of the main divide. The main areas are:, the Upper Tasman Glacier, the Lower Tasman Glacier, the Grand Plateau, the Hooker Glacier, the Mueller Glacier and the Murchison Glacier. Access to all but one of NZ's 3000 metre peaks can be gain in Mt Cook National Park, the exception being Mt Aspiring. The area is dominated by the high summits of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman towering over the Grand Plateau.
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| The Mt Cook Village Airport, Mt Sefton behind |
Getting There
From Christchurch, take the main road south toward Timaru and turn off right toward Geraldine. From there, follow the signs to Mt Cook Village. The journey takes about 4 - 5 hours by car from Christchurch.
Intercity or Newmans coach lines run regular services to Mt Cook. The Intercity and Newmans websites contain comprehensive information on scheduled services and booking.
Mt Cook - Main Attractions
There is literally an endless supply of climbing in Mt Cook NP. The area also offers peaks and climbs which cater for the very beginner to the very experienced. The following subsections contain more detail on each major climbing area at Mt Cook.
Upper Tasman Glacier
The Upper Tasman Glacier encompasses the broad snow neve at the head of the Tasman Glacier. The area offers moderate climbs and is an ideal training area. There are easy climbs (grade 1) on Hochstetter Dome and Mt Aylmer, progressing to slightly harder (grade 2) on Mt Green, Mt Walter and Mt Elie de Beaumont, as well as some challenging (grade 4-/4) mixed routes on Mt Annan and Mt Darwin. The area's only 3000m peak is Mt Elie de Beaumont, which is a popular target for those seeking their first 3000m summit.
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| The Upper Tasman Neve from Mt Green |
Classic climbs of the area include a traverse of Green, Walter and Elie (2+), and also the SE ridge of Elie de Beaumont (3-)
Upper Tasman Huts and Access
There are two huts on the neve at the head of the glacier, Tasman Saddle Hut and Kelman Hut, which are both DoC managed huts. Both are used extensively as a base to conduct guided mountaineering courses, so they can be busy over the summer. Tasman Saddle Hut
sleeps 14 and Kelman
sleeps 30. Both are equipped with cooking utensils, pots, pans etc. (no stoves). Both Huts also have a radio linked with the Mt Cook National Park Department of Conservation (DoC) Office in Mt Cook Village and are also equipped with direct radio links to Mt Cook skiplanes.
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| Tasman Saddle Hut, Upper Tasman Glacier |
Most climbers access the Upper Tasman by Skiplane or Helicopter from Mt Cook Village. Aircraft charters can be organised at the Mt Cook airport. For the masochistic, the upper Tasman can be accessed on foot by walking up the glacier. This is a serious undertaking in the best of conidtions.
Flying out of the Upper Tasman is often a desirable option, but if the weather's bad and you can't afford to wait you will need to know how to walk out down the Tasman. This is usually an epic trip, and it's best to check the guide book and obtain local knowledge for the latest route information.
Signing in your intentions is required before entering the National Park. This can be done at the Mt Cook DoC office where the numbers in the huts can also be checked.
Lower Tasman Glacier
The lower Tasman Glacier generally refers to the area below the Tasman Neve, from level with the Darwin glacier, and all the way down the valley. There is a diverse yet distinctly different range of climbs then the Upper Tasman, as the lower altitude presents different challenges to the mountaineer. The classic rock peak of Malte Brun can be accessed from the Beetham Valley, and there is a range of easier graded rock climbs and scrambles on this side of the range. The Minarets are also frequently climbed from De la Beche Hut, and for the more hard core there are some difficult and invloved routes on the peaks of the main divide.
Further down the valley, off the Ball Hut road, the Ball Pass track can be accessed which is a good introduction to the Alpine environment. On the other side of the valley, The Nun's Veil is a worthy objective from the village.
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| Lower Tasman Glaicer Morraine |
Lower Tasman Huts and Access
The only hut that effectively services the lower Tasman area is De la Beche Hut (NZAC)
which is precariously perched on the De la Beche ridge. The hut sleeps about 10 and has a radio linked to the DoC network and cooking utensils. This hut is often used as a halfway point when walking out from the Upper Tasman, however, access to the hut is up a difficult morraine wall. Before heading in to De la Beche it would be wise to obtain the latest route information locally. Ball Shelter, at the end of the Ball Hut road is a basic alpine shelter with a radio and room for about five.
There used to be a great hut in the Beetham Valley, which was unfortunately wiped out in a winter avalanche some years ago. There are a few good bivvi sites in the Beetham however, which a lot of climbers use to as a base for Malte Brun.
Access to the Lower Tasman is predominantly on foot, which means navigating through the morraine. Check the guide book, relevant maps, and obtain local knowledge on access routes before proceeding into the glacier.
Hooker Glacier
The Hooker Glacier encompasses the valley and galcier north of Mt Cook Village between the Main Divide and the Mt Cook range. The Hooker Glacier area contains some of the hardest alpine climbing NZ has to offer, including the awesome south face of Mt Hicks, and the intimidating Shelia face of Cook. There are very few 'easy' climbs here and the enlcosed nature of the valley and height of the peaks creates a very intimidating atmosphere. The Hooker is not for the faint hearted. The 3000m peaks that can be accessed from the Hooker are the three summits of Mt Cook, Hicks, Dampier, and La Perouse. Most of the routes on these peaks are hard, committing climbs. The classic routes of the area are, without a doubt, a GT of Mount Cook, or one of a number of routes on the south face of Hicks.
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| The summit ridge of Mt Cook |
Hooker Glacier Huts and Access
There are three huts in the Hooker valley. Hooker Hut, located on the grassy terraces about the lower glacier morraine used to be a popular hut for people wishing to cross the Copeland Pass to the Westcoast. Much of the track has fallen away due to glacial recession, access now only possible by climbing the morraine wall. From a mountaineering point of view, there is little that can be acheived from Hooker Hut.
Gardiner Hut, perched atop 'Pudding Rock' at the base of Mt Cook's west ridge, is a small hut which makes a good halfway point on your way up the glacier. Gardiner sleeps about eight and has some basic cooking utensils.
Empress Hut is at the head of the Hooker Glacier at the base of Earle's ridge and at 2500m, is the highest hut in the park. It is also one of the most spectactularly located, overlooking the main devide and the seracs carving off the Empress shelf. Empress is a large comfortable hut, a welcome relief after a hard day getting there.
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| Empress Hut and the impressive sth face of Hicks |
You cannot fly into the Hooker Glacier, which means the only way to access the area is on foot. Walking up the Hooker presents numerous challenges, including negotiating the Hooker icefall. Local knoweldge and an up to date conditions report are essential before even comtemplating a trip through it. When the icefall is out of condition, or too dangerous to cross, Pudding Rock is usually climbed to acces the upper part of the glacier. Consult the Mt Cook guide book for more detailed information and photos.
Once above the icefall, access is straightforward, but sustained. However, the reward is worth the effort, as the area is spectacular!
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| Walking up the upper Hooker Glacier |
Grand Plateau
Under construction
Mueller Glacier
Under construction
Murchison Glacier
Under construction
Additonal Info
For more information on routes, peaks, huts and access, see the new Mt Cook / Aoraki Guide Book
published by the New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC.)