Barron Saddle 20 Jan 2012
Comment: After 50cm fresh snow on 15Jan pockets of fresh snow still remain.
Glaciers still covered, descent from Hut towards William broken and can
currently be accessed through ice tunnel under glacier - take care though!
Montgomery, Darby, Jean, Jeannette look good, as does Sealy. Sladden Saddle
well covered, Lower Annette Plateau thin, best done on true left.
Entered by: Thomas Schattovits
Barron Saddle 15 Jan 2012
Comment: Williams glacier in good conditions.Wellchman Glacier good conditions,access to Fyfe Pass around the tru right in of the Wellchman's icefall and after straightforward a little bit on right of a rock ledge for cross a schrund-crevasse and after traverse to left 4 get this rock island and Fyfe Pass.After rock ridge almost all on short rope,no snow,but after this day quiet a lots of new snow Saturday 14 and sunday 15(more of 20 cm) Traverse Barron-Mueller Hut Lower route fast to get out of the ice,but scree morraine long and morraine up to Mueller quiet tricky for the steep morraine terraine and the poor weather conditions( snowing a lot).
Mueller Hut have sunday morning 15 around 20-25 cm snow.
Entered by: aritza monasterio
Barron Saddle 2 Jan 2012
Comment: Snow gullies near start of high route to anette plateau are in the process of melting out exposing some loose rock but still relatively easy passing close under williams glacier. Route down to mueller glacier and up to fyffe pass still looks good. Sladden glacier well covered and sladden saddle route straightforward.
Entered by: Tim
Plateau 28 Dec 2011
Comment: Snow on plateau little bit soft but compacting the shells. Crevasses on plateau still filled almost well for Anzacs Peaks traverse and Dixon schrund can cross on left side underneath the wide colouir which access to East ridge.
Entered by: Aritza
Topic: Cook Linda - 22 Dec 2011
Comment: Linda still crossing,but some bridges will be tricky to cross if keep melting the snow,crevasses quite open in some areas of the glacier before Teichelmans corner and some up of this point. Shelf very good with steps on the snow,colouir good to get in on left of the schrund. Summit rocks good condition. Ice cap good all in the left side till the top.
Entered by: Aritza
Topic: Aoraki Mt Cook Linda 19 Dec 2011
Comment: Lower Linda continues to get trickier and next big rain storm might destroy some key bridges but great conditions from Tiechelman corner upwards. Deep porridge in afternoon on Lower Linda but not too bad across Grand Plateau so doubtful if snow shoes are worth taking.
Entered by: Adrian
Topic: Mueller hut- Mt Sealy 13 Dec 2011
Comment: Metelille and Sladden glaciars well filled in. SW face Mt Sealy in good nick. Rock gear useful for descent if in arvo.
Entered by: Felix
Topic: Aoraki Mt Cook Linda 9 Dec 2011
Comment: Crevasses opening in Lower Linda, its still good now, but not for much longer, will soon need to negotiate more round crevasses and on glacier travel.
Shelf in good condition for short rope, only look for cross the small schrund underneath the gun barrell to start the Shelf traverse.
Good snow up the colouir, this schrund good little bit on left side and summit rocks a little bit dry on some parts but good conditions.
Ice cap good snow for short roping, crossing to right side(west) and also till the summit.
Thanks Aoraki
Entered by: Aritza Monasterio
Topic: Tasman saddle
Comment: Glacier is well filled in and access to Alma and the dome is easy asit gets. Few new routes being played with up there for guided parties - justask mr craddock for any info. Take hand sanitiser and toilet paper as therewas a shortage at Kelman. Cheers
Entered by: Tony Donaldson
Topic: Plateau Hut
Comment: Plateau area - access is firm and good. No difficulty moving toCinerama Col. Anzacs - central gully does not have continuous snowcoverage.
Entered by: Andy Cole
Topic: 1 Dec, 2011 Mueller - Annette Plateau
Comment: Annette Plateau well filled in, and firm after W winds.
Entered by: Felix
Topic: 28 Nov 2011 - Egress from Plateau
Comment: Be advised - walking out from Plateau hut is not recommended at the moment due to a rockfall in the gully on steep bit down past Boys Glacier.
Call Nick Cradock if questions
Entered by: Whitney Thurlow
Topic: Tasman Saddle 28th Nov
Comment: Glaciers full. Firn line near darwin Corner. Good snow coverage on the tops from previous storms giving excellent cramponing conditions. On the flats of the glacier from Tasman saddle hut down a breakable crust made travel difficult for those without snowshoes, but would be fine with a good freeze.
Entered by: Stefan
Topic: Mueller Hut/ Annette Plateau - 24 Nov, 2011
Comment: Climbed Watertank Ridge of Kitchener. Good interesting conditions. Traverse to Annette Plateau still full of snow.
Entered by: Mark Austin
Topic : Hooker Valley Access 25 Oct 2011
The Hooker Valley swing bridge is closed for maintenance which means and extra 4km woalk around Wakefield
Pete James
Topic: Tasman, Franz and Fox : 13-14 Sept 2011
Tasman Glacier is skiable down to De La Beche corner but patches of blue ice are becoming visible.
Approach to De La Beche hut appears relatively straightforward with a good covering of snow on the moraine wall.
Access to Graham Saddle from the east is up narrow snow gullies (up to 60deg, 300-400m) on the true left of the Rudolph Glacier icefall. 2 axes would be nice. Above this, the neve allows easy access on skis to Grahams Saddle.
The route down to (and past) Chancellor Hut has a good covering of snow making it easy and quick.
Generally things up high were looking pretty dry for this time of year, especially in the east.
Entered by: Tim
Topic: Tasman Saddle 25-29th Aug 2011
Comment: Wind affected snow and sastrugi turning to smooth fresh 30cm goodness all over on the night of the 26th.
No natural avalanches observed.
Debris from a previous size 3, evident below the Murchison headwall. Access out the Tasman by ski is still good with snow all the way down the glacier and snow on the ball road to near the carpark.
Hochstetter shoulder is skiing well but blue ice is exposed above this in and around exposed summits.
Entered by: Stefan
Topic: Barren Saddle : 13 August 2011
Comment: As with the mountains around Otago the main divide is having a winter of low snowfall so far. Combined with the very strong winds that followed the last significant storm cycle many areas have been stripped of snow on W aspects leaving exposed rock. Pockets of nice snow to the lee of the W 1/4 and on sunny aspects below 2000m during the heat of the day.
Overall stability was GOOD, with the slight possibility of isolated pockets of FAIR stability on very steep shaded terrain lee to the W 1/4 above 2000m.
Entered by: PJ
Topic: Tasman Saddle : 5 Feb 2011
Comment: Neve is in super good nick, Almer and Hochstetter dome all good and good fun.
Travel down to the white ice and onwards is a piece of cake. Take some hand cleaner into the Tasman Saddle hut if you go. Lots of fuel . Had some horrific wind up there which has moved a bunch of wet large grained snow, should set up with a bit of a freeze but if you are there on the northern slopes in the hot sun then watch out for small pockets of loose slide.
Otherwise its all good in the hood.
cheers Tony
Topic: The Nun's Veil 25 Jan 2011
Comment: Conditions on the Nun's Veil are very dry but still climbable.
On the way up the lower glacier there are sections of steep glacial ice to be negotiated, and two sections of bare rock before the first icefall. The summit ice cap has a thin covering of snow over most of it, and we found it in hard conditions. The rock facilitated our passage past the final schrund on the steep upper slopes.
The first part of the Gorilla Stream Valley way is overgrown. If anyone is going there,...take a machete ;-)
Entered by: stefan
