After Xmas, Robert Hawes, Steve Dowall and Reece Geursen spent 8 days in Mt Aspiring National Park, aiming to climb Mt Aspiring. The plan was to spend two days walking in via French Ridge, and six days in Colin Todd hut, hanging out for a weather window. Our main goal was an attempt on the Ramp with the Northwest Ridge as back-up if snow conditions prevented an attempt on the Ramp. The weather forecast for the week wasn’t looking fantastic but there were a couple of potential windows. So we set off in the rain to the grunt up to French Ridge hut for the night. The next day it was up to the quarter deck, which was in pretty good condition, and over the Bonar to Colin Todd hut. On the way we met a couple of parties returning from attempts on the Pope’s Nose, who had been turned back by thick cloud on the peak. We had suspicions that Colin Todd was going to be pretty full and picked up the pace a little when we heard a helicopter. Shortly after that we saw a party heading for the hut but luckily we were able to secure one bunk in the hut giving the other two a bit more room in the tent. There were a few other tents that night, all attempting to shelter from the gale winds. We ended up moving our tent to try and prevent getting blown away, but still spent a noisy night worrying that the tent wouldn’t survive. The next morning the tent was still in one piece, but it was still blowing pretty hard and we made the call that it was too windy to attempt the Ramp. Instead we set off to climb Rolling Pin and traverse across its top. Other parties weren’t so deterred by the wind and about three parties got to the top that day, one pair in the blistering time of 6 hours! On Rolling Pin looking back at Aspiring in the background The success of these parties gave us some extra motivation to at least head out the next day. The weather forecast was for more wind, a freezing level over 3000m, and deteriorating in the afternoon but we were determined to get out and see what it was like. So after a 1:15am wake-up to give us time to hide the tent from Keas, we were off. The snow conditions weren’t great because of the high freezing level, and getting across the shrund at the bottom of the Ramp was a little dicey. But we were soon on the Ramp and making our way up. We were the first party on the Ramp and could see a group of lights following us below. The lights soon disappeared though, and it wasn’t until we got back to the hut that we found out that they had returned after a narrow miss with some falling rocks. Plugging our way up the Ramp was slow going with soft snow conditions so it was a relief to get to the ridge proper. Once past the Ramp however, we were more exposed to the wind and there were a few times when we had to stop to hold on until some of the stronger gusts had passed. But it wasn’t too long before we summitted to great views. On the summit of Aspiring The approaching front could be seen off to the south west so we didn’t hang about on the summit long. We decided to descend via the same route and as we climbed lower, the cloud level lowered with us, staying slightly above us the whole way. The descent was going well until some falling ice made us pick up the pace a bit. Luckily we were able find some sheltered spots and it wasn’t too long before we were through the worst of it and back on the glacier heading for the hut and some long overdue lunch. The following day was a rest day and happily coincided with a rubbish weather forecast. No other parties attempted Aspiring that day and after the morning cloud it turned into a bit of a scorcher. We could see the cloud covering the valley and apparently Wanaka residents had their fires going while we sweated above the cloud. With an okay forecast for the following day we decided to have another attempt, this time up the full NW ridge. Another early start meant that we were the first ones to leave the hut and Robert did a great job finding the route up through the gendarmes and to the top of the main buttress. It was then back to the top section, which had a lot more rock exposed after the heat of the previous day and another night with the freezing level over 3000m. After lingering on the top for a bit of a breather and to soak up the view it was back to the top of the Ramp for some lunch, followed by the job of retracing our steps back down the ridge. Rob’s markers helped a lot and we were soon back at the hut. It was a nice feeling to know that the people who had last summitted before us were also us! The next day we trekked over to Mt French and climbed it via the breakaway ridge - an easy day. By now we’d all managed to get hut bunks, and our last night in Colin Todd was much improved by the leftovers from a departing guided party. We feasted on steak (apart from vegetarian Robert) and fresh home-grown greens for our last evening meal, giving us energy for the next day’s long, hot slog heading down Bevan col and back to the world. Reece Geursen Walk in to French Ridge hut Heading back down the NW Ridge in the background It never rains in sunny Southern Westland Section members Richard Davies, Graham Bussell and Quentin Duthie joined up with Eric Duggan from the CNI section, and free-lancer Ben Clendon, and took advantage of a weeks worth of hot fine weather on the coast. Up the Karangarua, over Howitt and Gladiator, a night at Harpers Rock biv then down the Landsborough to Toetoe flat and out via the Solution Range and the Otoko. Great trip. Raro, Miso and sun-screen were the highest value currency. On the Solution Range, Mt Hooker beyond 2010 National Bouldering Series – Baring Head Rock Hop The 2010 Baring Head Rock Hop was a great day out, with perfect weather – sunny and calm, conditions which are almost unheard of at Baring Head. The results were as follows: EXPERT MALE EXPERT FEMALE PLACING NAME SCORE PLACING NAME SCORE 1st = Pete Allison 1st = Amie Jones 1st = Josh Kerr 1st = Helen Sinclair 3rd
