In the Footsteps of Hillary

First there was Tom Fyfe, the first person (and a New Zealander) to climb Mt. Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand, in 1894…

Then there was Sir Edmund Hillary, who climbed Mt. Ollivier as his very first Mountain, which is adjacent to Mt. Cook, and then within a few years Mt Cook itself in 1948…

And then there was G. Point and her trusty companions who climbed Mt. Albion in November 2011 (we decided against attempting the higher Mt. Cook this time)…

Well the comparisons are inappropriate other than it was a bit of a challenge for us and we were slightly on our edges. After three incredible weeks of back country trips, getting progressively higher into the Southern Alps as we went (more on that later… I am so far behind with the blog that I decided to start in the now and go back over time), we arrived at the mountaineering centre of a country which is very big on mountains and mountaineering —Aroki/Mt. Cook. The only significant overnight tramp we could do in the area without crampons and ice axes was to Mueller Hut, just a few meters in the shadow of Mt. Albion. (when Hillary did it there was not a track in good shape for much of the way).

To start, we awoke in our valley campground to a blustery day of wind, sun and mist. As we started our steep ascent, the wind escalated further. As we went up the steep ridge, so did the wind, and then on the steep snowfield, things got wilder. After four hours of climbing, we crested the ridge and whop, the wind blew us back. We took off our packs and bent forward to crawl around the corner to see what was ahead and if this was doable. Happily, the corner was the worst and we could in fact finish the last 500 meters without turning back. In short order our dear hut showed itself shining in the sunlight amidst more than a meter of snow.

Though unheated, it was very welcome. We found a very friendly and interesting volunteer hut warden inside, who made us welcome. Folks from a mountaineering school and a guided trek turned up for a great sociable evening as we shouted to each other above the howling winds, which were now at 80 km. We grimly read the history of another hut posted on the wall that had blown off a nearby mountain with 4 people inside some years ago. Check out the latches on the door at Mueller Hut— to stop them from blowing off…

Oh, and also check out the washroom facilities, literally, freezing our bums off.

As the evening wore on, snow blew in with the wind, and we all huddled around the short wave radio to hear the nightly shortwave broadcast of the weather with the hut check in from the Valley floor (it felt like old time radio with everyone hanging on every weather word). Would the snow and winds continue? Could we get down through the steep snowfields in the morning? Would the snowfields freeze making a non-crampon descent impossible? The weather prediction was snow and more wind… Yipes. Get to bed…

The alpine guide with another group told us to take his extra climbing pole when he found out that I did not have one for the descent. He and his group started off at 7 am to beat the snow accumulations, and we were only a half hour behind at 7:30, with the benefit of following the little that was left of their footsteps (that is impressive for notorious late starters, but fear is a good motivator). Indeed it had snowed through the night, but it was wet and not accumulating as much as it might have. As we took off, the wind dropped (hurrah) and the snow was still soft for footsteps, though blowing in quickly. Our nerves turned to mirth as we hit the top of the snow field and realized the soft snow was slow enough and perfect for sliding and boot skiing down without getting out of control… Fun was had… a five hour ascent was finished in half that time, though the lower half found us in rain rather than snow. Happily drenched we arrived at the car and shelter, recognizing that we had reached just within the limits of our skills and capabilities in fine style.

And since we hear Nova Scotia is getting snow these days, please smile and know we got our dose of a good winter storm.