The last year has been a busy time in the New Zealand mountains! Here are some highlight ascents from the last 12 months, in order of ascent. Nominations for the Macpac NZ Alpinist of the Year for 2022:
Alastair McDowell, Pat Gray – Torres Peak (3160m), Northeast Face – “Southern Traverse” (6, 550m), September 2021. This was the third known ascent of Torres NE face, following a similar line to “God’s Zone” established by Alan Uren and Craig Jefferies in 2004, with a variation on the upper half following a rock buttress to the summit.
Sooji Clarkson, Owen Daniell – Mt Aspiring (3033m), South Face – “Quite Aspirational” (5+, 400m), September 2021. A linkup of several routes, resulting in a direct line on Aspiring’s South Face.
Alastair McDowell, Hamish Fleming – 3000m Peaks Enchainment, November – December 2021. A transalpine journey encompassing the 24 highest peaks above 3000m, including a 3 day bike ride from Aoraki/Mt Cook village to Wanaka to finish on Tititea/Mt Aspiring after 30 days of effort and several storms.
Liam Pyott, Peter Le – Mt Revelation (2716m), Donne Face (22, 600m), Darran Mountains, February 2022. A remote adventure climb in the Central Darrans.
Ruari MacFarlane, Tom Hadley – Pariroa/Castle Mount (2122m), Fiordland – South Rib, February 2022. The first ascent of the South Rib involved 700m/15 pitches of climbing up to grade 17. A real Fiordland adventure climb!
Rose Pearson, Steven Fortune – Kaipo Wall, Darran Mountains – Range Rover Route, February 2022. Rose and Steven followed up the Kaipo Wall ascent with a traverse of Mt Tutoko.
Daniel Joll, Kim Ladiges – integral ascent of “Cascade Notre Dame” into “Dix du Jour” onto the summit of Mont Blanc (4809m) (ED2), April 2022. This was a very long climb starting with 10 ice pitches up to WI6 followed by a long ascent of the SW ridge of Mont Blanc, possibly the first integral ascent of these routes to the summit.
Nominations for Alpinist of the Year 2018 include:
Ben Dare – Solo new route on the South Face of Saber Peak (2162m), Fiordland, NZ The rarely visited South Face of Mt Saber provides some of the best alpine rock in New Zealand. This classic face is on many climber’s wish list. It is remote and hard to access making a solo ascent all the more challenging. After climbing 600m of solid granite between the original and Campbell Howard routes, Ben topped out on the East Ridge. In the process, he also made the first solo ascent of the South Face. After climbing the face, he traversed over Marian and Barrier Peaks to a high bivy on the summit of Barrier Peak before descending back into the Gertrude Valley.
Ben Dare – New route on South Face of Aoraki/Mt Cook (3724m), Remembrance, Grade 6 [M5, WI4] V, 550m, solo first ascent A new ice and mixed route on the right-hand side of the South Face. Climbed in memory of Conor Smith – with whom Ben first attempted the line during their last trip into the mountains together. The descent was made down the South (Hillary) Ridge and upper Caroline Face, via Endeavour Col, to the Noeline Glacier.
Ben Dare – New route on the South Face of Mt Suter (2094m) in the Darran Mountains, solo first ascent, Ben Dare, July 12, 2018. ‘Elysium’ Grade VI, 6 (AI5), 750m. Follows a faint corner system, via a tenuous thread of interlinked ice runnels, which snake up the right-hand edge of the face. A long and committing climb on thin ice of variable quality. Followed by an arduous traverse of the six kilometre long East Ridge before descending back into Falls Creek. This was the first solo, and second overall ascent of the South Face.
Steven Fortune, Daniel Joll – First ascent on the South West Pillar on Lobouche East, 6119m, Nepal This ascent took the climbers 2 days and follows a large granite buttress to the true summit of Lobuche East. The line was conceived by Australian mountaineering legend, Tim Macartney-Snape who pointed it out to the team during the 2017 Remarkables Ice and Mixed Climbing Festival. This was the second route to be completed on the South West Pillar of Lobouche East. The first overall ascent of the pillar was made during the 90’s. Offering challenging snow and ice pitches along with rock climbing difficulties up to grade 17 . Australians Matthew Scholes and Kim Ladiges also climbed this line. The nomination however goes to Dan & Steve as they spent the majority of the route as the lead team.
Matthew Scholes, Kim Ladiges – North Face of Cholatse, 6440m, Nepal The immense 1800m high North Face of Cholatse poses a daunting climb. It is devoid of sun; steep and cold. Over 3 days, the team climbed this steep imposing line. This was the first successful climb of this face by an NZ and Australian group, with a number of expeditions previously failing. Kiwis Daniel Joll and Steven Fortune also climbed this line. The nomination however goes to Matt & Kim as they spent the majority of the route as the lead team.
Jono Clarke, Daniel Joll – one day on-sight ascent of the Lesueur Route, North Face of Les Drus, Chamonix This steep and technical alpine route on a famous North Face provides a classic challenge. With difficulties up to M7 and almost 1000m of climbing, one day on-sight ascents are few and far between – and with good reason.
Rose Pearson, Brette Harrington – New route up the west face of Mount Blane in the Canadian Rockies. Christening this route as ‘Life Compass IV’ 5.10a M4+ 80 degree, TD+, 980m of climbing. The route was named after, and is dedicated to, the memory of Marc-Andre Leclerc, Brette’s partner.
Caleb Jennings, Alastair Mcdowell , Daniel Joll – Punta Herron, Patagonia. This peak is named after a young Kiwi climber, Phil Herron who died at its base in 1977 aged just 19. Punta Herron has been an objective for many Kiwi expeditions over the last 40 odd years. The team climbed Punta Herron as part of an attempt on Torre Egger. It was the first time a Kiwi team has made the summit, and an appropriate tribute to a young Kiwi climber who died far too young.
Honorable Mention Another ascent which did not make the short list due to the use of fixed ropes and bottled oxygen was Guy Cotter’s ascents of Everest and Lohtse on consecutive days. This is an incredibly strong effort by a veteran Kiwi guide and climber, and is well worth recognising.
Nominations for the Alpinist of the Year 2019 include:
Alastair McDowell, Rose Pearson, Caleb Jennings – First Ascent of ‘Moonshadow’, South Face of Mt Hutton. Tucked away at the head of the Cass Valley beyond Tekapo, this unclimbed face saw several attempts over the past years, including Alastair’s first try of the face four years earlier. This past August the 450m route was finally completed and the trio descended under a brightly glowing full moon illuminating all of the Southern Alps, hence the name of the route.
Caleb Jennings & Kim Ladiges – First Ascent of ‘Pilgrim’, Sheila Face, Aoraki/Mt Cook. The direct ice line on the Sheila Face has been one of the last un-climbed lines on Aoraki/Mt Cook for many years, but tricky conditions and a burly crux ice dagger have deterred many recent suitors. Caleb and Kim left Empress hut around midnight on the 5th of September arriving back to Empress 24 hours later having completed the first ascent of the direct line. They named the route “Pilgrim”, which goes at a grade of MC6, WI5, M6, 750M. The crux pitch involved a difficult detached ice pillar, with steep moves pulling over a small roof bulge. Caleb had made several attempts on the line with various partners over the past few years and was very happy to complete this project with Kim.
Rose Pearson, Sam Waetford – First Ascent of ‘The Ministry of Silly Walks’, Sheila Face Aoraki/Mt Cook. Shortly after the first ascent of Pilgrim, Rose & Sam headed into Empress Hut to make the first ascent of another new line just to the left on the Sheila Face, starting just up the Fyfe’s Gut. In a 23 hour round-trip, they ascended the new line which goes at MC5+, M4, WI4, 800m, and descended via the Linda and Dampier-Cook couloir.
Ben Dare – First Ascent (solo), SouthWest Face of Mt Percy Smith. Coined as an enigmatic and mythical beast!” the Southwest Face of Mt Percy Smith is a reclusive and obscure piece of real estate. It is rarely visited, and even less frequently attempted. This southwest face has a reputation for being remote, dark, ugly and dangerous, and has been regarded as one of the last unclimbed problems in the Southern Alps. Ben Dare made the long approach to the face last September and climbed the face by a new line he named ‘The Promise’ Grade VI, 6+ (WI4, M5+, A0), 700m.
Daniel Joll, Alastair McDowell, Chris Warner – Traverse of Les Drus, Aiguille Sans Nom, Aiguille Verte. The Integral ridge spanning the Flames De Pierre to Aiguille Verte should be one of the iconic Chamonix alpine climbs. Over the course of 5 days last September, Daniel Joll, Chris Warner and Alastair McDowell traversed the granite skyline ridge connecting Les Flammes de Pierre, Les Drus, Aiguille Sans Nom and Aiguille Verte, descending via the Moine Ridge to Couvercle Refuge. The 3 days of climbing involved traversing 3 kilometres of complex ridgeline, bagging 4 summits, ascending over 2000 metres of technical terrain, with 2 bivouacs just below the summits of Petit Dru (3700m) and Aiguille Sans Nom (3950m).
Alastair McDowell, Tom Seccombe – Winter Ascent of ‘Allain-Leininger’, North Face of Petit Dru. Les Drus is the most impressive granite monolith overlooking the Chamonix Valley. Often you will catch a glance of the intimidating, dark rock peak from the opposite sunny side of the valley, and its a wonder that this face would be so alluring. Alastair teamed up with British climber Tom Seccombe with the dream of severely blunting their ice tools and crampons on 850m of granite dry tooling up the North Face of the Petit Dru. They approached the face via Grands Montets and climbed until midnight where they reached a bivouac at half height. The second day they climbed to the summit, abseiled the North Couloir, and skiied back to the valley, arriving back at the car 25 hours after leaving the bivouac.
Lionel Clay, Alastair McDowell – Colton-McIntyre, North Face of Grandes Jorasses. Lionel had been dreaming of climbed the Grandes Jorasses North Face since he was a toddler. Now in his fifties, he finally climbed the face via the Colton-McIntyre route this winter with Alastair, at the very end of his 3 month sejour in Chamonix. The face was in horribly dry condition, snowfields replaced by large swaths of blue ice in between the crux ice steps. The slow, hard climbing took its toll, resulting in an uncomfortable bivouac on the face at two-thirds height, but the two topped out happily the following morning and returned to town another day later.
Daniel Joll, Kim Ladiges – Walker Spur, Croz Spur, North Face of Grandes Jorasses. Dan & Kim climbed the Walker Spur on the second day of spring in ‘winter conditions’ – 1000m of rock up to grade 18, mostly climbed in gloves and crampons. Slabby granite in this style was hard & slow going at first, but the pair made up time reaching the summit in 18.5 hours from the bergschrund, for a rare one-day ascent of the buttress. Within the same week, the pair also blasted up the Croz Spur over the course of two days, returning to town for dinner on the second day.
Honourable Mentions
Some climbs completed during the year do not meet the criteria of ‘alpine style’, but still deserve a mention.
Daniel Joll, Kim Ladiges, Alastair McDowell, John Price – First Ascent of ‘King Cobra’, Mt Barrill. This year’s ECC expedition was to the Ruth Gorge in Alaska, where this team of four set their eyes on a big wall ascent of one of the 1000m high east face of Mt Barrill. They free climbed a new variation of the Cobra Pillar route which went at 5.11c/23 for 14 pitches to the top of the Cobra Pillar, including some incredible stretches of splitter offwidth. Beyond, the route joined the original line via a few more 5.11 pitches, but on the summit push the team bailed approximately 200m below the summit, near the end of the difficulties, due to unstable snow slabs threatening the upper part of the route.
The Macpac NZ Alpinist of the Year awards are judged by a panel of veterans of the Kiwi climbing community, Al Uren, Kester Brown, Craig Jefferies and the previous year’s winners Daniel Joll and Jono Clarke.
Nominations for the Alpinist of the Year 2020 are:
For first ascents (team nominations): Ben Dare – South Face Pyramid Peak – ‘Frost Flower’ grade 6-, VI, (1200 m), solo, July 2020 Ruari Macfarlane and George Loomes – ‘Shooting Tahr’ grade 5+, IV (500m), South Face Mt Aspiring, July 2020 Ruari Macfarlane, Maddy Whittaker, Jaz Morris – ‘Antics’ grade 5, III (500m), South Face Mt Joffre, July 2020 Gavin Lang and Ruari Macfarlane – first Torres-Tasman traverse in winter, June 2020 Petrouchka Steiner-Grierson, Bia Boucinhas, Owen Lee, Chris Tipper – ‘Nota14lol’ grade 5, II (300m), Mt Humdinger, June 2020 Gavin Lang and Sooji Clarkson – new route on South Face Mt Aspiring Ruari Macfarlane – solo new route on south face Vampire Gavin Lang and Ruari Macfarlane – new route on Malte Brun
For first ascents (individual nominations): Gavin Lang – for the efforts above Ruari Macfarlane – for the efforts above Ben Dare – for ‘Frost Flower’ on Pyramid
For significant repeats: Alastair McDowell and Ben Mangan – Curver Neo Classic, South Face Mt Hicks, July 2020 Rose Pearson and Alastair McDowell – Aoraki GT in sub-24 hours, Mt Aspiring NW Ridge in sub-12 hours, summer 2020 Reg Measures and Rose Pearson – ‘Pilgrim’ Shiela Face Aoraki / Mt Cook first repeat, September 2019
Other notable climbs considered but not nominated: Merry Schimanski, Daniel Joll, and others – ‘Mile High Club’ 700m, 20p, 24 C2, Milford Sound Airport Wall, and another ground-up new route at Copper Point. Copper Point has also seen a string of good new routes developed by Bruce Dowick, Jon Seddon, Steve Fortune and Llewellyn Murdoch.
In the last year there has been a good amount of local NZ alpinism happening due to the pandemic, so there are a healthy number of NZ based nominations for this year’s Alpinist of the Year award.
For 2021, the nominations are:
Individual Nominations
Don French – completion of the NZ Great 100 Peaks list.
With the ascent of the final peak, Mt Unicorn, Don completes a mission that has taken a lifetime to achieve. He has been working on this project since 1991. The challenge has taken him to some of the country’s remotest regions and has climbed many rarely climbed peaks, as well as the nation’s highest summits. During the process he ascended all of the 3000m peaks, pioneered several new routes and achieved many early ascents. The completion of the challenge has raised the profile of Alpine Climbing in New Zealand and is proving to be an inspiration to future generations of alpinists.
Sooji Clarkson, George Loomes – new route on South Face of D’Archaic – ‘Lust’, WI5 V 5+ 500m, Sep 2020.
D’Archaic is a classic Canterbury Peak, dominant in the headwaters of the Godley and Rangitata. The South Face has been receiving new attention in the last few years, with Ben Ellis & team’s new route ‘Desire’ comes another equally righteous line direct to the summit, ‘Lust’, by Sooji & George. Read their article here.
Ben Mangan, Nick Kowalski, Ed Cromwell, Leonard Brockerhoff – 2x new routes on Newton Peak, Garden of Allah, Jan 2021.
The trip to climb some new routes on the rarely visited Newton Peak North Face involved an epic adventure up the Lyell Glacier and onto the Garden of Allah. Newton peak rises from the glacial plateau sandwiched between Garden of Allah and Garden of Eden. The two new routes climbed were on some great quality alpine greywacke, with the initial route Fruit Salad on an unclimbed eastern buttress. This route comprised of approximately 7 pitches of variable quality before a brief sojourn on a snow field before a final steepening to the summit (crux). The second route Apple Crumble comprised a variation on a previously climbed western buttress on better quality rock, with a beautiful crack providing the crux of the route. Fruit Salad (15). Apple Crumble (18).
Jimmy Finlayson, Olivia Truax, Sam Waetford – new route on Kaipo Kid – Mist Crystals – 400m, Grade 17 Darran Mountains, Feb 2021.
Mist Crystals is an epic line up the side of the Kaipo’s walls outlier peak. While not as large as its bigger brother this wall provides excellent granite face climbing. This ascent was done as part of a multiday circum-navigation of Mount Tutoko.
Rose Pearson, Asher March – first ascent of a new route on Karetai Peak West Face, 17, 250m, Darran Mountains, Feb 2021.
Asher and Rose ascended Karetai Peak via an indistinct corner system up the Western face during a three day traverse through the central Darrans from Cleft Creek to the Donne Valley.
Conor Vaessen, Maddy Whittaker – new route on Pyramid Peak – ‘New Zealand Alpine Kids Go Climbing’, Darran Mountains, grade 19, (1095m), Feb 2021.
The South Face of Pyramid peak has only been climbed once, in winter 2020 by Ben Dare. As of February 2021, no rock routes scaled its immense face. Three days after finishing a 2 month traverse of the Southern Alps, Maddy and Conor took advantage of a brief weather window to try and find a crack system that would lead all the way from the valley floor to the summit, more than 1000 vertical metres above. The route was committing with poor abseiling options and multiple crux pitches going at grade 19. While there was the odd mossy pitch to keep one grounded, superb cracks and slab climbing made for mostly pure joy climbing. The route was climbed in 19 pitches over two days with a bivvy on the face, before the team descended into Falls Creek and walked out in a storm.
Steven Fortune, Ruari Macfarlane, Alastair McDowell – new route on Southwest Face of Mt Crosscut, Darran Mountains – ‘The Itch’, 6, M5+, IV (300m), July 2021.
Staring down at the Milford Road, this corner line had caught Steve’s attention for many years and finally the itch needed to be scratched. Lean snowpack down low in the Darran’s meant not much accessible ice was to be found, despite low freezing levels over the weekend. Crosscut’s SW face was accessed by the Crosscut bluffs route. The route involved 5 technical pitches followed by an easy romp to the summit. Descent via the west ridge and return to Homer via Crosscut bluffs. 17 hours round trip. The route was completed as part of the annual Darran’s Winter Meet held every winter based out of Homer Hut.
Ben Dare (solo) – First Winter Ascent of the East Face of Flat Top Peak, Darran Mountains – ‘Soulfly’, Grade 6+ (M5, AI5+R), VI, (1100m), July 2021.
A line first spied last winter from the South Face of Pyramid Peak. It climbs the centre of the steep wall on the righthand side of the face to top out just right of the summit. Starting out up steep and often thin ice flows through a series of overlaps, it then tackles the upper mixed headwall via a left tending traverse before existing the face via a steep snow gully. The descent was made via a traverse of the peak and down the South Ridge into the head of Mistake Creek.
Other notable mentions
Daniel Joll – first free ascent of Dream Liner, 28, 700m, Milford Sound
A second new route on the newly established, ‘Airport Wall’ in Milford Sound, tirelessly established by Daniel Joll along with numerous dedicated partners including Merry Schimanski, James Hobson, Rachel Clarke, Steven Fortune and others. Read about it here.
Llewellyn Murdoch, Jon Sedon, Bruce Dowrick – first free ascent of ‘Free River’, Copper Point
