Xmas 2004 we did a trip to Pioneer Hut on the West Coast of New Zealnd where not very much was achived. We had to wait 3 days in Fox township for the weather to clear before flying in for 9 days climbing most of which were occupied by torential rain... In New Zealnd we call the West Coast "the wet coast". However when it's nice - it's magic! I'd spent 3 weeks there in the late 80's and wanted Theresa to share the experiance.
Our West Cost taxi with Theresa exiting and supplies outside Pioneer hut.
First day after we got in we attemped a short walk up Grey Peak (bump just right of Haidinger). The guide book says "short easy ascent", and normally it is. However the West Coast hada a LOT of snow that summer... and I got to extract myself from a crevasse. Not a good day, a guide went in part way as well.
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| Mount Haidinger (right of centre) from Pioneer Hut on a good day, post crevasse, you can see our tracks going out. | The three peaks of Mount Haast from Pioneer Hut. Left to right Pt 2796, Pioneer Pass, Haast, Marcel col. Lendenfield Pk. Engineer col. | The view from inside one man-eating crevasse - self extraction time, over an hour. | The hole from the outside - after extraction. |
Day two we tried for another small peak to warm up on but didn't get very far because we were still jumpy from the close encounter of a hole kind. Day three we tried again and got up a bump next to West Hoe Pass named Triad.
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| Looking towards West Hoe Pass (right) from the hut. Right to left, west ridge of Triad, West Hoe Pass, West Hoe, Newton Pass, Mt Christie, Mt Halcombe. | Theresa after decending from the summit of Triad. |
Another day, another bump on the ridge, Theresa enjoying the last of the good weather on West Hoe, another short climb from West Hoe Pass.
Theresa approaching the summit of West Hoe.
First climbs of the season after a weekend of torential rain. Cable car from Zermatt and then a walk up to the summit of the Breithorm, we decended via the east ridge. This is much more dangerous than it sounds. Mainly because of all the plonkers on the route. Some people in walking boots and no ice axes, not even ski poles!
We put in a high camp just before pollax and did the SW face route of Castor the next day. We didn't do Pollax as it was more than a bit crowded on the way back.
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| Theresa starting the decent of the east ridge, views to Pollex and Caster. | Home sweet home - overnight camp under Pollax. | Looking toward the summit of Castor after climing the SW face. |
Didn't climb this but when in Zermatt... Have tried twice before, once both ended because the mountain decided it was a lightning rod.
Obligatory photo of the worlds most recognised mountain
The plan was to take the first lift of the day and climb the Weissmies then spend the night at the hut and do the Lagginhorn the next day. Only the second stage of the lift wasn't running so we had to walk up to the hut which meant a PLAN B was needed. So we pitched the Via ferrata that leads to the Joderhorn on day one. An interesting if somewhat slow exercise.
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| The Joderhorn from the Weissmies hut, rout start up face to left of the col. | Heading towards the col, summit of Jegihorn in background. |
The part of plan A that actually got done. Lots of snow left from the previous weeks rain. The slabs were a disapointment, we didn't really find them!
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| The Lagginhorn from the Joderhorn, route is up forground ridge. | First sun striking the peaks on the west of the vally, L2R Alphubel, Taschhorn, Dom, Lenzspitze. | At the end of ridge about to start the summit snow slope. |
Attempt number 3 on the Weissmies, this time from a different route and we came in from Saas Almagell and camped on a small alp just above the hut.
A panoramic view of nearby peaks from near the summit can bee seen in Mountain Index.
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| At the start of the triangular snow patch above the Zmischbergenpass around 5 in the morning. | Start of the climbing up the ridge. | Theresa on the traverse from the shoulder to the main summit. | Theresa decending from from the fore summit, at the end of the traverse the mist cleared! |
What do you do oa wet day on a climbing holiday? Climb somthing small! More of a walk than a climb, we did this in walking boots and normal gear used in the hills.
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| Theresa approaching the summit of the Platthorn. | Mike decending from the summit of the Platthorn, weather station behind. |
With the amount of snow around and with the existing weather pattern (E to W) and the Rothorn Hutte getiing 20cm of snow at the same time the Monte Rosa Hut got 4cm. We decided to tackel something in that area. After the Platthorn the legs were a bit tried so we were a bit slower than we'd have liked. Fortunatly the guides have fixed a huge fixed rope down to the Silbersattel wich meant we didn't have to reverse the route.
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| Daylight on the Dufourspitze and we're 1/2 hour behind schedule... | looking back at the summit, we didn't stop but raced on to try and figure out where the guides disapeared to. | Theresa decending the fixed rope down to the Silbersattel. A prussic loop on for safety. |