4 Peaks a Climbing

Text taken from the club newsletter.

4 PEAKS A CLIMBING by MIKE PHETHEAN

What do you do when the weather is fine? Climb, climb, and climb, because tomorrow it will rain. This is probably the mantra of any New Zealand mountaineer. On the days it rains you play 500 and tell tall tales and if you have planned things really well drink some beer. This works well until the weather gods also seem to take Christmas off and forget to order any rain for the period. Climbing everyday tends to weary you....

Brendan and I had picked Queenstown to be our base for post-Christmas adventures giving us far more mountains than time. The Darrans beckoned with their siren call but in the end we chose some of the peaks north of Queenstown.

We met at Queenstown airport and drove to Glenorchy, staying in the backpackers at the back of the pub. That probably doesn’t surprise anyone!

Our first objective was Somnus Peak. On one of those non-climbing days in a few huts I had read the various stories of Otago University Tramping Club members published in ‘Antics’, their well named annual record. The Somnus couloir was one of their favourites. Although avalanche prone in winter it is described as a long climb on moderately steep slopes which may need roping up for.

We headed through the crowds of the Routeburn Valley bumping into Paul and Sharron coming off a good long tramp on the Five Pass Route. We shook off the people by heading up the north branch of the Routeburn Valley. It was an easy day and we had the whole afternoon to read sleep or bathe in the stream. Personally I wish I slept longer and not awakened when Brendan was bathing in the stream!

Starting just before dawn broke we scrambled up over the rocks onto the packed snow of the couloir. The going was relatively good, though we needed both ice tools and crampons. We didn’t need the rope until half way up.

A slot split all the way across the couloir and though the slot bottomed out on the rock it was a fair way down. We roped up and I tried climbing up the middle of the slot across a snow bridge, but the snow was sugary and the tools would not purchase even after I shifted lots of it by bringing a ton down on my head.

We had time so I tried the right hand side. The route involved some bridging between the couloir rock wall and the main snow but it was far more solid. Christmas mince pies meant I had to do a fair bit of ice carving but I managed to curse my way through a gap and onto the upper slopes. A couple of snow stakes went in nicely and I brought Brendan up on belay.

The rest of the slope was indeed moderate and we made good time to the plateau on the top. We roped up as we could see some of the crevasses between us and the

Somnus couloir summit, and knew there might be a few more to find us unexpectedly.

The summit afforded us a great panorama of Aspiring National Park with the Darrans to the south west and our next objective Earnslaw to the north. The descent was reasonably quick though we abseiled over the slot— leaving an old snow stake seemed wise.

As we had made good time we headed down the valley and back to Glenorchy and a soft bed—the Routeburn Valley’s tramping traffic contrasting with the silence of the snow fields. It was a longish day, 13 hours from get- up back to the car. A good meal and a good beer meant we were soon asleep.

Mt Earnslaw is the spectacular mountain you could see from our pub in Glenorchy. I had been up to Earnslaw Biv before but verglass (a thin film of ice on rock from the mist freezing on the rock) meant that we did not go up any further. There was a sense of unfinished business.

We parked at Muddy Creek car park and headed up the 4WD track passing quite a few utes, which made us slightly envious of their driver’s shortened journey. We soon were on the path by the side of the Rees Valley—a nice highway until our turn off. The Rees River was low so crossing was not a problem and after a few paddocks we reached the start of our track.

It was a 1,700 m climb which after the previous day was to make itself felt more than normal. We had relatively heavy packs as we took a rope, climbing gear and a tent as well as the usual crampons ice axe and helmet. Above

Mount Earnslaw the bush line the track is vague until you can pick up old tracks across the snow fields. I remembered most of it from the time before but it still took us 9 hours tramping.

Weariness was upon us as we settled into the cosy Esquilant Biv. We naturally discussed the lack of people meaning the tent did not have to make the journey up with us. The conversation moved on to what we should climb and the weariness led to an easier next day. We opted for getting up late and a climb of only the East Peak of Earnslaw, not doing the traverse over to the West Peak.

Dawn came and went and mist lingered throughout the morning. We followed the scree up through the correct gap in the rock band above Wright Col and then bore west to pick up the cairns which cut through the rock face. From the hut book we knew there were two main routes through the face and we took the one on the left up and the one on the right down. Our way was guided by more cairns and the odd bit of climbing tape on a couple of rock steps.

Above the face the slopes get easier and more importantly the mist lifted a bit allowing us good glimpses but no full panorama. We struck average mountaineering poses on the summit and I gave a wistful glance over to the West Peak, though it did look like there might be some crevasse hopping required getting there.

The descent was straight forward, especially as we had GPS points for the key direction changes. We abseiled down a steepish bit only to realise it was not so bad. I must have been weary as I couldn’t be bothered to go back and get the climbing tape. A few brews filled the gaps in the afternoon between snoozing.

The next morning brought a return to alpine starts and a spring in our step. Taking the now familiar route to Wright Col we then headed up the snow to Luncheon Col skirting round a large crevasse which cut most of the slope. The route then went down the exploded rock slopes to get to Shepherds Pass. We didn’t find the short cut back onto the ridge so spent an hour descending and reascending the snow slopes.

Though we knew time was becoming an issue in the day’s quest to climb Sir William Peak we strangely didn’t mind. We set a turn-around time of 2:30 pm and revelled in the wilderness we were travelling through. We explored route options and picked a good line ignoring the advice of the guide book which would have taken us through a very broken crevasse field.

We dropped to the floor of the Bedford Valley (good camp sites here) and took a mellow gully onto the snow slopes of the Frances Glacier. Above us loomed the North Ridge of Sir William. The good route allowed us to make up time and we got to the ridge at 12:30 pm. A little excitement built as the thought of actually making the top seeped into our minds

From one route description I knew we had to gain the gendarme and then follow the ridge. Unfortunately only when back at the hut would I realise that this meant climbing more of the north face before getting back on the ridge to the large gendarme not the small gendarme to which we headed. We still tried to scramble up the ridge but it was flaky and going to be too slow. We retreated back and had lunch.

Retracing our steps was quicker and I even found the short cut from Shepherds Pass but did not trust my guess enough to take it. The climb back up to Luncheon Col was tough—up a two-steps-up one-slide-down scree. We ended up further up the ridge than the col and as time was good, climbed to the top of Leary Peak.

The snow slopes down were pretty soft and the climb around the large crevasse was made far more nervously than on the way up. Walking towards the biv we spotted people and I thought the long day was playing with my

Sir William mind because two of them looked like Sharron Came and David Jewel who I knew should be on their way over Rabbit Pass.

It turns out I wasn’t that weary and they had changed plans. We all had a good natter into the evening and a good few jokes. There was an awkward moment when Brendan suggested that Sharron was the possessor of mokopuna but it was soon glossed over as we passed on details of the route up Earnslaw.

Staying here was poignant for me as I remembered my good friend Simon Bell whose last adventure was from this biv.

The descent the next day was in blazing sunshine which gave fantastic vistas of Mt Aspiring and a very hot Rees Valley. We jumped in the river for about 15 minutes until the snow melt finally cooled us down.

Queenstown was busy that night and we grabbed a bit more food for climbing and some pizza and beer. We

Mount Brewster were asleep by 9 pm.

A long leisurely morning saw us drive over the hill to Wanaka and then over Haast Pass to our final objective, Mt Brewster. The path up is about 2½ hours so we didn’t start until well into the afternoon. The hut was emptying as we got there and we listened to the advice of those who had ascended.

The weather was finally changing so we knew we had to make a quick ascent as a southerly storm was coming in during the afternoon. We opted for the South West face a harder route, but probably quicker than scrambling along the West Ridge.

An alpine start saw us picking our way along the cairned route to the Brewster Glacier. Thick mist came in and we plodded up wondering how we would find the snow bridge we had spotted the night before. I could lie and say expert navigation got us there but in truth while I knew we were in about the right spot I didn’t think we would just walk up to it.

The bridge was very soft but crossable, the good weather meant the slopes were knee deep and hard work. About 70 vertical meters from the top we stopped—the slope was just too soft for the steepness.

The mist lifted for some good views on the way back but the winds became more and more biting as we reached the hut. A fast pack of our bags and we descended as the rain came in, helping us reach the bush line quickly!

We stayed the night in Makarora following our usual pattern of lots of food, a beer, and early to bed. Maybe next time I will schedule a rest day!