Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Crag & Route Beta

Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
International	(General)	(General)	(General)

Topic Date User

Mt Aspiring difficulty question 9-May-2012 At 4:30:51 PM skink

Message

On 9/05/2012 nmonteith wrote:
>The ramp is almost snowless by January.

You can't state this as fact, it depends a lot on how big a snow season there has been and how warm summer has been to this point - check out http://www.aspiringguides.com/conditions_mt_aspiring_national_park.html to get some idea of conditions. The history on this link gives you an idea of what you may be in for.

>I have only descended the ramp
>(after climbing SW ridge) and it just seemed like really easy angled walking
>on scree for most of it.
You weren't on the ramp then - if it is dry, the bottom is a tricky slab. The ramp is usually avoided for both ascent and descent when snow free.

> Certainly no front pointing or technical stuff.
Descending firm snow or ice on the ramp is not 'technical', but certainly risky if you don't have solid experience on crampons.

>The biggest danger will probably be crossing the glacier from french Ridge
>to get to the hut (unless you cheat by flying in).
Huh? You rope up on the glacier = very little danger. And flying in only gets you to Bevan Col, you still have to cross the glacier from the col to the hut. No landing allowed at the hut.

>I'm not sure where you are located but over winter drag your mate into
>Blue Lake, Bogong or Buller so at least he understands snow. The glacier
>travel bit needs to be practiced on the real thing though.... no glaciers
>in Oz.

You can totally practice glacier rescue procedures off a glacier. The only thing you need the snow for is to practice snow anchors, which aren't rocket science.