Iconic images: climbing Mt Aspiring, Aoraki, and Mt Tasman

“OK, Waldemar, say ‘cheese’!” We were on top of Mt Aspiring and this was my first climb with Brazilian alpinist Waldemar Niclevicz, I was discovering that the usual Mt Aspiring summit snap-shots were to be replaced by a veritable photo-shoot. The wind was gusting and the nor’west cloud advancing rapidly, but I diligently persevered with the recording of Waldemar’s first New Zealand summit. Twenty minutes later I handed back his two digital cameras and video cam and stuffed my frozen fingers back into my gloves. Waldemar is a full-time professional climber, and therefore aside from the personal satisfaction gained from achieving a summit he must record the event for posterity and sponsors.

Ice axes eventually took te place of cameras in our hands, and then we carefully cramponed down the exposed summit icecap. The previous night we had stayed at Colin Todd Hut, and earlier that morning dumped our sleeping bags and stove somewhere under the encroaching cloud on the Bonar Glacier one thousand metres below. Our ascent route had been via the South West Ridge of Mt Aspiring, an elegant flute of firm snow separating the West and South Faces of Mt Aspiring. Now we had to descend the Northwest Ridge and Ramp and traverse under the West Face in order to locate our gear stache. We passed teams still intent on making their way up to the summit despite the impending rough weather, and overtook other teams that were engrossed in their own descent. We threaded the crevasses underneath the West Face and moved down beneath the cloud layer. I got out my GPS and honed in on the waypoint that recorded the position of our equipment. Re-united, we completed a hasty pack and snack stop, and then solemnly plugged steps through the gloom and rain to the Quarterdeck and then down to the welcome relief of French Ridge Hut. 

The first part of our three-pronged ‘expedition’ was now complete (bar the interminable descent to the valley floor and road-end!). Waldemar had come to New Zealand with the dream of climbing the three iconic mountains of the Southern Alps: Mt Aspiring, Aoraki/Mt Cook, and Mt Tasman. Waldemar Niclevicz is one of Brazil’s foremost alpine climbers and is an inveterate visitor of high places. As well as having climbed all the so-called ‘seven summits’, he has also succeeded on more technical mountains such as K2 and Trango Tower. In order to satisfy his New Zealand climbing goals Waldemar had turned to our guiding company Aspiring Guides Ltd based in Wanaka. I was the “hired hand” enlisted to provide him with kiwi know-how. Climbing partnerships can be problematic when the roles are ill-defined, and I initially wondered what expectations Waldemar had of his mountain guide. At our first meeting I broached the subject with him. I explained that as s a professional mountain guide I was obligated to remain as leader in the broadest sense throughout our climbs. “Crunch” decisions regarding weather calls, route selection, and equipment choice must necessarily be the domain of the mountain guide. Also, I was responsible for the actual leading of the rope team in its most basic sense – that is, at the sharp end. Waldemar expressed delight with the standard guiding arrangement, and settled back with satisfaction into his new role as (highly skilled) client.

After a couple of days of cake and lattés in Wanaka we drove to Mt Cook Village and geared up with some trepidation for our main feast. The Linda Glacier route on Aoraki had not been climbed for a couple of months. It was “common knowledge” that it was currently ‘impassable” due to major crevasse obstacles. Mt Tasman was even more of an unknown, with no ascents from the Plateau Glacier side that season. We helicoptered to the Grand Plateau Glacier, and took possession of a recently built and completely empty Plateau Hut. The next day brought rain and even snow, and we rattled around by ourselves in the spacious but chilly hut with no questions answered regarding the route-finding that lay ahead. The evening radio weather forecast offered a tight window of hope, and so we organised ourselves for an “alpine start”.

By 3.30 am the following morning under torchlight we were winding the rope through and over the buckled contours of the lower Linda Glacier. For direction I relied on intuition plus a modicum of local knowledge gleaned from a peep out the helicopter window on our flight in. We pushed an aggressive route through the difficulties, confident in our abilities on crampons, and emerged into the cleaner slopes of the upper Linda Glacier. The recent moist storm had overlaid the “summit rocks” region of the route with rime and snow that offered superb purchase on the steeper climbing. By 10 am we balanced precariously on the steeply slanting and narrow summit ridge of Aoraki. Once more in a windy maelstrom I attempted to document the event for Waldemar’s career. I was most tempted to “accidentally” drop the pesky cameras down the steep sastrugi-clustered slopes of the Hooker Face, but was aware of the implications for him of dropping vital evidence that would feed his further adventures. The cloud whipped around us borne by the bitter southwest wind. We descended rapidly to the abseils, and in encroaching white-out slid down the rope until I could begin the guide’s regime of lowering and back-climbing. Our crampon scratches plus GPS waypoints made for a straightforward return trip through the Linda icefall, and by late afternoon we thankfully clumped up the final slope to Plateau Hut and prepared a victory cup of tea.

Gale-force winds over the next three days scuttled further exercise and made for an enforced period of rest. Waldemar’s return flight-date was fast approaching, and with time running out we eventually launched ourselves during a clearing forecast towards the inscrutable slopes of the Syme Ridge of Tasman. The approach into the cwm beneath Engineer Col was “amusing”, requiring convoluted navigation into, through and out of large crevasses, including a short vertical ice wall. We eventually arrived at the north-eastern side of the toe of Syme Ridge. The snow-surface conditions were very firm for cramponing, but still soft enough under the frozen crust to require much time invested in anchor building. Once we gained the ridge we slowly pitched our way along the low-angled crest. We were acutely aware of the seriousness of any fall due to the giant pendulum that would eventuate. The angle eventually steepened and I shortened the rope to allow us to move simultaneously. During the past storm it had rained to very high elevations. The western slopes above the North Shoulder of Tasman were glass-hard and required care, particularly when the ridge narrowed to a shoulder width. We delicately traversed the eastern aspect with surgical precision, highly conscious that the front points of our crampons penetrated only centimetres into the firm but secure snow surface. Our concentrated effort was finally rewarded with the arrival of the final hundred metres of easy summit ridge. A few last steps and we were there.

Waldemar’s happiness at achieving the last of his elusive three summits was reflected by the duration of the resulting photo celebrations. Eventually I lamented that time was passing, and we began the second half of our day’s adventure. The Syme Ridge was not a good option for a lower and back-climb style of descent. Instead I chose to use the broad couloir dropping into the cwm beneath Engineer Col. The passage began with an irreversible abseil off a V-thread anchor, and continued with abundant anchors, lowers, and down-climbing. It was with much relief that we eventually completed the last piece of “trickiness” and were able to tie on rope-coils and gallop away from the ice-cliffs above. Our early-morning convolutions through the labyrinth of crevasses were reversed, and at long last all that was left was the satisfaction of looking over our shoulders at the one that hadn’t got away.

A couple of days later Waldemar was off to Australia for more adventures. Three major mountains in two weeks was a tremendous achievement, and one that I am pleased and proud to have shared with my Brazilian friend.

Marty Beare see photos: Aspiring segment Tasman segment Aoraki(Cook) segment

NB. Marty is a NZMGA/UIAGM mountain guide as well as a keen climber. He lives in the Wanaka region, and can be contacted through his local guiding firm Aspiring Guides Ltd climb@aspiringguides.com.