We had high aspirations for our spring ski expedition. We’ve been working long hours most days this winter. Getting 3 of us to have 5 days off in a row together was no easy feat; there was a lot of begging andpleading and possibly some tears shed. Initially our goal this season was to climb and ski Mt Aspiring, a classic 3000m peak in the southwest Southern Alps. Our hard work at work however meant we were unable to properly prepare for this objective (none of us were able to practice any ice climbing) and so we set about making alternative plans. One ground rule was set: Regardless of if we went north or south, east or west, up or down it needed to be a challenge. With the weather looking variable leading up to our 5-day window we left the decision making to the last minute. Sitting in Wanaka, car packed up, rain pounding and winds roaring we decided that the forecast looked slightly more favourable on the west coast so off we went. 1.5 days later in Fox Glacier town we finally got a helicopter ride about ½ way up the glacier to Chancellor Hut. Chancellor hut, the oldest alpine hut in New Zealand still on it’s original site was carried in piece by piece then assembled on site. It has plenty of character and was an awesome hut to wait out the weather in. It also has the best view from a toilet in New Zealand! We awoke to a beautiful calm morning after not really sleeping. Gale force winds rumbled through the rafters overnight and made it feel that at any moment the whole hut might blow away. What calmed us down was knowing that the hut had been there since 1931 and surely had seen worse storms. We set off early to hopefully remain in the shade for as long as possible. Heading up from Chancellor hut, we looked for a place where it would be safe to head down the steep mountain walls onto the glacier itself. A slightly tricky down climb with our crampons got us onto the snowy moraine, from where it was smooth sailing to the glacier. We decided we didn’t want to only go uphill on potentially our only fine weather day so we sidetracked to Chancellor dome to bag a mini peak and sneak in a few turns. Here the importance of ski crampons became obvious. The snow was not quite corn; too firm to skin up but too soft to bootpack with regular crampons. Fortunately only one of us didn’t have ski crampons and the delay was minimal but it was a reminder of what useful equipment they are. The view from Chancellor Dome was incredible and well worth the extra effort. There aren't many place in the world where you have jagged peaks and glaciers on one side and ocean on the other. We’re so fortunate to have this amazing area accessible. We roped up for the main traverse across the glacier to Pioneer hut, the route looked safe enough and would typically be this time of year but there were sizable crevasses on either side and this year’s snowpack is lower than average. We arrived just in time for another epic sunset. The weather report at the hut wasn’t sounding positive with another front set to roll in at about 11am. We abandoned plans to ski one of the nearby passes and decided to head straight down to Chancellor and if the weather was still good we’d lap the nearby chutes. We were pretty chuffed with our navigating, finding exactly the right plateau near Chancellor Dome to cut across and therefore avoid any climbing near the moraine. The weather report was spot on and just as we arrived at the chutes above the hut the wind picked up, the clouds rolled in and the snow began to re-freeze. What could have been an epic final ski ended up being very challenging. 50 degrees of sheet ice with exposure below - we were all glad we’d sharpened our edges. We were at Chancellor hut once again, listening to the wind and rain, feeling a little disappointed with our relative lack of adventure so far. We’d discussed with another party at Pioneer hut the possibility of walking out along the glacier rather than fly out. “It’s one of the worst walks I’ve ever done” said one, “heaps of really tough bush bashing and then you’ll have to rappel” said another. “Sounds like and adventure” we thought. We set out for a reconnaissance mission that afternoon without packs or skis to see what we were up against. After an hour of down climbing via tree branches and a few sketchy creek crossings we could see the glacier. “It goes” we thought and made plans to head out on foot the next day. We skied about 10 turns down from the hut before resorting to bootpacking. The down climb was tricky with heavy packs and skis but overall a fun adventure. The much more challenging part came upon arrival at the glacier. We hadn’t quite made it there the day before and we faced with a difficult choice. Traverse the sketchy scree wall with a 20m drop to the ice, or rope up and go through and under the overhanging ice on the glacier's edge. The group voted for the scree traverse. It was very scary, we couldn’t fall but yet there were no decent holds and skis plus heavy packs meant maintaining balance was very challenging. After 50 very slow meters we eventually found a boulder that looked like it wasn’t going to move too easily and rappelled down to the ice. From there things got a bit easier, one more basic rappel and a whole bunch of boulder scrambling under the overhanging ice until we were able to properly climb onto the glacier. Walking on the glacier made everything so far seem worth it. We were able to ice climb up and over ice walls, walk along bright blue creeks, peer down deep ice holes and experience the breath-taking beauty of the icefall close up. The clock was ticking however and we were running out of day light, we had to make it to the next technical section before nightfall. We traversed the glacier to the south side where we had seen from the flight that the descent of the terminal face would be easier. We were hoping for a quick slide down a scree field but ended up in a similar situation to earlier. We traversed too high and once again were forced to set a less than ideal anchor to lower ourselves back down again. We made it to the creek bed right as the sunset and then had to make one more decision. Stay on the south and risk having to cross a very deep and powerful river should we run out of room or cross back north again and risk getting cliffed out having to rely on ropes once more but this time in the dark. The group decided the night time river crossing would be more problematic than a descent with ropes so we crossed the glacier once more. By this time it was pitch black and we could only see as far as our headlamps allowed up. This meant for slow moving through the boulders and scree but also barred us from seeing any cliffs below us which probably resulted in a faster overall pace. 2 more hours along the bank and we finally saw the river, with a walking track not too far away from that. 15 hours later we were finally able to remove our ski boots and walk on a smooth surface back to the car park. We got what we asked for – a challenge! Maybe not exactly the challenge we were looking for but it was an incredible learning experience. We carried heavy packs with skis and walked with our ski boots on for 15 hours. We had to make unanticipated decisions about route choice and the use of ropes, some of which in hindsight weren’t the greatest. We also had to test our rope and navigational skills under pressure and we're now aware of what we need to work on before Kyrgyzstan. Importantly we learnt about one another's strengths and weaknesses. Gabby is very nervous with exposure but excels with rope work, even under pressure. I’m confident with climbing ice and the use of crampons but much less so on rock. In a pinch I struggled to remember some basic knots. Gabby didn’t eat all day. We have some things to improve but one positive was that we were all amazing when communicating as a group and encouraging one another through the difficult situations.
As a side project so that we can offset the carbon footprint from this small expedition I calculated the carbon footprint of portions of the trip: Driving Wanaka to Franz Josef return - 0.11 metric tons 10-minute helicopter Fox Glacier town to Chancellor hut - 0.127 metric tons Staying in a Hostel in Franz Josef - 0.0036 metric tons As you can see by choosing to walking down from Chancellor hut we significantly lowered our carbon footprint! Staying in a hostel is more efficient than staying in a hotel and we figured staying in an alpine hut with no electricity was negligible. We also ate mostly vegetarian meals and sourced them locally.
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AuthorMarian Krogh Archives
August 2019
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