A Winter Break at Pioneer Hut

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A Winter Break at Pioneer Hut Lisa Lee-Johnson The trip got off to a fine start, as I managed to break the two most important rules of any climbing trip: never: flyinto an alpine hut (a matter off principle), and never be separated from myp pack (particularly when helicopters are involved). But the amazing transformation from green West Coast bush to the spectacular snowand rock ofthe upper Fox névé was enough to break me out of myt funk, and we were soon checking out our accommodation for the next week. Pioneer Hut is a lovely little 12-bunk hut perched spectacularly above a large bluff on the West Coast side of the Main Divide a few kilometres north of Mt Cook. Jeremyl heading towards Marcel Col Lisa Lee-Johnson twas lunchtimel by the time we were safely ensconced stuff descending from thel heavens, so with great relief we in thet hut, and we decided to make the most oft thet fine returned to our pits. It was still snowing when daylight afternoon by an attempt on Mt Alack, a small rock peak eventually filteredi through thel haze. Undeterred, Jeremy not far from thel hut. Ironically, on the only dayin thet trip and I reset our goals to something a little less imposing that we had decent hard snow conditions, Jeremy andl I and set off through the clag. had managed tol leave our crampons behind for the next On Pioneer Pass we switched snowshoes for crampons chopper load. and climbed the short slope onto the top of Grey Peak. We cut up onto the ridge below Alack, which led to Continuing along the ridge to Governor Col, we decided several pitches of scrambling and balancing along a very to have a go at Mt Haidinger. We sidled down off the narrow snow andr rocki ridge. The rest of the party avoided ridge to avoid a steep rock step, traversing around several this bycramponing upas steep slope, which eventually reu- rock ribs before climbing back upa steepsnow: slope onto nited us a few hundred metres below the top of Alack. the ridge. The wind was stronger up on the ridge and we Some of the partywaited on the ridge belowwhileJ Jeremy were running out of day sO we decided to head for home. continued, belayed by Jamie. Loud curses and the occa- Descending to thel Fox névé, Jeremy checked out one of sional volley of rocks werel hurled down at us, and eventu- the crevasses a little more closely than he'd planned. ally the cold wind andl lateness of the day forced a retreat Monday morning revealed I yes, more clag. Much of to thel hut. the day was spent in our pits, emerging occasionally to Jeremy and hadl hoped to start the trip off with a hiss plough a trench out to thel loo. The clag cleared brieflyin and a roar by climbing Mt Tasman. But a quick reccy out- thel late afternoon, and we waded down to a steepi ice wall side at midnight revealed no sign of stars, and much white not far below thel hut for some ice bouldering. Tramping and Mountaineering 1999

Yet another morning of clag and the enthusiasm was starting to wane. The cloud cleared enough to inspire a late morning start and Jeremy and I headed towards Marcel Col andl Lendenfeld Peak. Soon all the cloud blew away andi it promised tol be a glorious day. There was at least a metre of fresh powder snow, and we were very glad tol be on skis. The easiest route up to Marcel Col involved a few hundred metres' climb up a steep slope to avoid a short section oficefall. Stepping off the skis meant disappearing into thigh-deep powder, So we zigzagged carefully backa and forth up the slope on skis. Eventually gaining the gentle slopes below Marcel Col, we were appalled to find cloud building up below us again. Despite pushing on as fast as we could, we arrived on the col tool late to enjoy the view. After the soft snow conditions below, we were surprised to find hardi ice on the col. Leaving skis behind, wet front-pointed up thes steepening ridge ofLendenfeld. Theveryl hardi ice quickly had me tightening up my plastic boots, and the climb provedi tol beu unrelenting frontpointing all the way to the summit. A short way up Jeremy discovered a small crevassel by steppingintoit, and we soon found that the pesky crevasse seemed to be headingi in the same direction that we were. Deciding that our "crevasse" could be a gigantic cornice, we crossed to the downhill side and travelled well below the ridge top the rest of the way. Eventually arriving (very cautiously) on the summit, was horrified to find thati it was already 5pm. The descent seemed to take a longt time, thei ice dinner-plating unpleasantly. Back on the col in thel last of the daylight, we hastily donned skis and started heading back down. Our prayers were answered when the cloudl lifted slightly, revealinga a crescent moonj just bright Pioneer Hut Lisa enough to light up our route off the col. Jeremy did an Lee-Johnson excellent job of navigating back through the crevasses, following rapidly disappearing ski tracks as the weather Jeremy andl I plugged on upt for another zero-vis summit. clagged in again. As I didn't really know how to ski, I Aquick descent and some fastl bum-sliding allowed us to managed to fall over at every possible opportunity on the catch the others up at thel head of the valley. way! back. At about 9pm we finally stumbledi into thel hut Jeremy and headed off the next morning to climb Mt tot find the others alreadyi in bed. Phipps, above the Temple Basin skifield. This proved to be Day! 5 and still thel bad weather continued. Due to the thel best climb off the trip, with excellent front-pointing on continuing lousy forecast and poor snow conditions, we hard snow, and the only good weather we: saw that week. decided to cut our losses and head out for a few days' Our route led up the steep snow gullies directly up to the climbing at Arthur's Pass. A clearance around lunchtime high point, and we descended the same route. After soloing allowed us to call up the cowboy helicopter pilot for a wild upand down the route we, watched a very large party start ridel back down thel Fox. Several café stops and at fewl hours down our route, abseiling the steep sections. They were on the road saw us safely ensconced in the CMCI hut at still very high on the route as we got back down to the Arthur's Pass. road. The others spent the day skiing; from all accounts Thet following day, we set offa at some ungodly hour up they had a good day, except for Jamie who busted a rib the Otira Valley, the mission to climb Mt Rolleston. The falling overl his shoelaces (or something like that). yak route up Rollyis the Otira slide, which is a moderately Our final day was yet another day of clag and deciding easy route and conveniently coset tot the Arthur's Pass road. we'df finally had lenough of the weather Jeremy andl - picked The snow at the lower part of the slide proved to be upMike thel legend snowboarder (who was caretaking at frustratingly: soft, with every second or third step sinking the CMC hut while mending a broken leg), and headed in knee-deep. But some way up low peak, we were re- out to Castle Hill for some rock climbing. The others evenwarded with excellent front-pointing, and yet more spec- tually summitted Mt Temple (above the skifield), in yet tacular views off thei inside ofa a cloud to greet us on topof morel horrible weather. The trip was concludedi with much low peak. We traversed across to the steep section that imbibing at Andrew's mansion near Christchurch, followed leads up onto high peak. Jeremy cramponed up a small by a short wine-trail through Marlborough on the way to snow-covered rocks step that had me bleating for ther rope. the ferry. Tramping and Mountaineering 1999