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Crag & Route Beta

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Mt Aspiring from Raspberry Flat. 15-Aug-2014 At 8:38:59 AM Epic Steve

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Hey JJJ

Done Aspiring 11 times and Cook 4 times. The West Matukituki Valley area is awesome. Great first alpine 3000m peak especially via the easier NW Ridge. Conditions are what can turn the route (from Colin Todd Hut) into either an easy 8 - 9 hour alpine bush walk with mostly rock/scree, only roping up for the Iso Saddle area and the final 100m summit ice cap, or a desperate 20+ hour epic with low visibility, verglass, fresh snow cover, wind and darkness all making the ascent/descent more challenging so be prepared for both!!! Access can be either via French Ridge Hut and the Quarterdeck to get you onto the Bonar Glacier (more scenic, better hut but longer and a bit harder with a big pack) or straight up the valley and access via the Bevan Col route. Bivy/camping options if you are carrying a tent. Personally making it a circuit gives you the best of both routes. To keep weight down I just use a half rope as you will be using it mainly for easy glacier walking, you shouldn't have anything steeper than 45 degrees on the summit cap area (we just solo up this if not windy) and a few slings, you might do one short rap on the descent, good headlamp with fresh batteries, a GPS is a lifesaver for nav if you plan to walk out via Bevan Col or the Bonar Glacier and the weather goes to poo but you have waypoints saved on the GPS...so easy!!! There are blankets in the huts (spares) so go light on a big bag. Down jacket for sure. Route finding on the NW Ridge can be an issue on the way down if cloud comes in so some fluro yellow duct tape strategically placed on rocks facing up hill every now and then will keep you from staying too high on the way down. Remove it as you go. If you go too high on the ridge you get forced into rapping the Buttress which can be 4 x raps or more if only on a single skinny rope. Going too low gets you close to a 50m drop down onto the Therma Glacier so stick to terrace ledges in between the two. Have the huts saved on the GPS as well...nothing worse than nearly walking passed the hut at 1:00am in the morning in a snow storm...mind you normally smell the bogger before you even see the hut!!!

Keep alpine hardware basic, November can still be snowy but no freeze so I prefer to have 2 x stakes, no dead man as the are a waste of time, slings, 2 x screws for up on the summit ice cap mainly as a safety to build an anchor for safety/photos/possible rap off the summit if windy. Most gear is for crevasse rescue practice or just in case. The Quarterdeck should have almost no large crevasses on it but you may have to zig zag around a bit to get to the top. The main Bonar Glacier is easy if you keep either way left or way right once you reach the half way point to Colin Todd Hut as the centre hump is crevasse central (close to the bottom of the SW Ridge). The walk over the hard ice from Bevan Col to Colin Todd Hut is a fairly flat and easy plod with a schrund or two and small cracks in the ice so I would still rope up for this. The whole route can be done with just a good solid walking axe but I carry a hammer for anchor building and possible crevasse rescue options.

Take a stack of FHM magazines as they haven't been changed in 10 years!!!

All in all a great climb, beware the Ramp if you decide to go that way as it is a killer so most climb up the Ramp (pitched) and descend the NW Ridge (a lot easier to do if you have been there before or done a recce on the route first...)

Climb safe and watch out for the sand flies and the Keas!!!

Steve