10–11 August 2024. Tom Firth, Tiffany Shih, Dave Chowdhury, Owen Lynch, Stuart Meiklejohn, Martin Sedy.
Our group of six met at our Ohakune accommodation on Friday evening and made tentative plans for the following morning, with the intention and objective of heading up Girdlestone Peak/Peretini. Avalanche risk remained unfavorable with uncertain morning forecasts, though we hoped for conditions to improve.
A claggy and slushy carpark didn’t do much to lift our mood or optimism, but after some obligatory faffing and chat with the ski patrol, soon enough we were warming our way up the track alongside heavily iced chairlifts. After two hours climbing and a café stop, we reached Skyline Ridge.
Faced with challenging conditions and wind slab concerns, Martin, Owen, and Tom chose to explore Mangaehuehu Glacier toward Peretini’s West Ridge while others investigated First Finger waterfall ice.
Although not noted as a route, we figured that if we were to attempt Peretini, the safest and most interesting route was to follow the West Ridge underneath the buttresses and up to the summit. About 20 metres into the ascent, the exposure became a bit more obvious with thick ice beneath a relatively thin layer of snow. Two pitches were roped with ice screw belays before reaching less steep terrain. Post-lunch climbing grew more challenging as terrain steepened, leading to a false summit and a final roped pitch.
We didn’t stick around and although the updated avalanche risk had been downgraded, we took a cautious and slow approach to getting down the western slopes and back across the glacier, making it back to the Giant Café to reunite with the other half of the group and back to the carpark well before sundown — fairly exhausted.