Mt Aspiring with my Son
A Friday afternoon helicopter flight, a day practising the route, and an early start gave Tarn and me the chance to climb Mt Aspiring together. Reaching the summit was unforgettable. Getting home meant taking the long way over the Quarterdeck, turning Sunday into a 37 km mountain day that we’re still feeling in our legs.
Read:
4 mins
Location:
Mt Aspiring / Tititea, New Zealand
Date:
Into Colin Todd Hut
On Friday I texted Tarn while he was still at school: “We’re good to go. The helicopter’s booked for four. Get home and let’s start packing.” A delivery of much needed gear from Bivouac Outdoor arrived at about one, and by 1:45 we were on our way. We knew a guide heading up with a client and were able to join their helicopter flight to Bevan Col. From there, we descended and walked for around two hours across the glacier to Colin Todd Hut. It was a beautiful evening. Aspiring looked incredible in the last light, and after getting settled at the hut, we watched the sunset and got some sleep. We weren’t planning to summit on Saturday. Sunday’s climb would begin in the dark, so we used the day to practise rope skills, try some dry tooling and work through the lower part of the route. Getting that terrain into our heads while we could see it made sense. We wanted to recognise the way through when we returned with headtorches. By the time we got back, I was fairly smoked. Tarn’s boots weren’t locking his heels in properly, which made the descent on front points harder than it needed to be. Four other climbers joined us at the hut that afternoon, bringing the number there to eight. We slept for an hour in the early evening, ate, and gave our legs every chance to recover. The days had been hot, but the mornings were freezing well. Recent snow had filled in the glacier, and the firm conditions were making the climbing a pleasure. We knew Sunday would be a big one.
The Kangaroo and the Summit
We woke at around four. Another group was preparing to climb Aspiring too, but we got out of the hut first, just before five. We hoped to walk all the way out that day, so we carried our extra gear a short distance down the glacier and buried it in the snow. It saved us a return trip to the hut later. We knew that if we sat down there again after the climb, leaving would become a much harder decision. The overnight freeze had left the snow firm. We front pointed up the long icy section to the bottom of the Kangaroo, then traversed around the ridge above the Therma Glacier. There were three steeper sections with some dry tooling as rock began to emerge through the snow. We moved without a rope through much of the lower ground, then roped up for the final, trickier section. It took a little more time, but felt like the right call. We reached the ridge around daybreak. It was more exposed than Tarn expected, with rock steps to climb, drops on either side and few comfortable places to stand. Moving across rock in crampons takes concentration, especially after spending the previous hours on ice. Once we were through it, the final stretch came into view: roughly 500 metres of steady, icy climbing to the summit. The wind picked up as we climbed. For a while it was strong enough that I wondered aloud whether we should turn around. We stopped, checked the weather and talked it through before continuing. Then, near the top, everything seemed to clear. We reached the summit at around 8:20. The sky was crystal clear, and we could finally take in the mountains around us. We spent about 20 minutes up there, calling friends, eating something and taking a breath before turning our attention to the descent. I’ve stood on Aspiring before, but sharing that moment with Tarn gave this climb a feeling of its own. We retraced the ridge and rappelled the three steeper sections of the Kangaroo. On one rappel the rope caught around a rock, and I had to climb back up to free it. After that, it was a long front point down the ice to our buried gear. We were back there at about 11, roughly six and a half hours after leaving the hut.
The Long Way Home
The summit was only half the day.
We needed to get out, but Bevan Col was still in concerning avalanche conditions. Another party had come through the previous evening, and what we had heard from guides did not make it sound like a risk worth taking. The Breakaway had its own hazards. So we chose the longer way home: about six kilometres up the Bonar Glacier, another 600 metres of climbing to the Quarterdeck, then down the far side towards French Ridge.
It was around two by the time we crossed the Quarterdeck. Conditions were still good, and lower down we could slide some of the safer slopes before continuing to French Ridge Hut. An older couple we met there made us tea. Tarn managed a full meal while we rested for about 45 minutes, changed into running shoes and repacked. Somehow the packs felt heavier with all the alpine gear inside them.
Then came the long walk down French Ridge. The track kept dropping through roots and uneven ground before we finally reached the valley and continued past Aspiring Hut. By then we had been moving for most of the day. The last nine kilometres to Raspberry Creek were the hardest mentally: a flat walk in the dark when our legs were sore and the summit felt a very long way behind us.
My watch recorded around 37 kilometres for Sunday, with 2,300 metres of climbing, 3,700 metres of descent and 13 hours moving. From leaving the hut to finishing the walk, we were out for about 17 hours. We’re still feeling it in our legs, and despite applying zinc again and again, the glacier sun left us thoroughly burnt.
It was a huge day. We climbed Aspiring in beautiful conditions, made careful decisions when the wind and the route asked us to, and found our own way home through a part of the mountains I love. Sharing all of that with Tarn made it a trip I’ll hold onto.
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