Ice Axes and NZ Snow - Mt. Armstrong

June 16 was certainly a momentous occasion for me. For it was on that day two weekends ago, that I climbed my first mountain. None of this "Roy's Peak" business from earlier, a piddly 1600m at the summit. No, this one was a proper mountain snow-capped and everything, and at a height of 2174m (7132.5ft), made for both an extremely challenging and incredibly exciting weekend adventure. Read on after the jump for a blow-by-blow account of my battle Mt. Armstrong.


The idea to go out for a weekend tramp came about fairly late in the week, and at the suggestion of one of the more experienced trampers in the Teacher's College program (who also came along to help us on out our first mountaineering experience) we settled on Mt. Armstrong as our destination. A fairly straightforward and simple climb, it was suggested that this would be a good opportunity for a "first exposure" to winter tramping in NZ, not to mention that Armstrong's location in the Southern Alps would provide wonderful views of the area from the summit.

With that decided, Friday afternoon was spent gathering some critical mountaineering equipment: Ice Axes and cramp-ons. As we'd be going through snow and icy conditions for a good portion of the climb, these were essential pieces for the weekend. For those who are not expert mountain-folk, cramp-ons are, more or less, steel cleats that you strap to your boots for extra grip on slippery surfaces. Picture soccer cleats, but if they were meant to maim people (so if you played soccer with cramp-ons, players wouldn't be diving - they'd actually be missing their feet). An ice axe is pretty much exactly that - an axe, for use on the ice.

Cramp-on. Note the death spikes on the toe

Sunrise from Chez Picnic Shelter

So with gear packed and equipment acquired, a group of four (myself, two folks from my program and one of their flatmates) set off Friday night on the 4 hour drive to our camping spot, from where we'd proceed to the starting point of the climb Saturday morning. After stopping for dinner in Alexandra, we arrived at our camp at about 10pm Saturday night: a picnic shelter at the side of the road. Certainly not the fanciest digs, but it was comfortable enough (as comfortable as sleeping on the ground in -5 degree cold can be I guess) and we woke up at dawn ready to start the climb. After a breakfast of canned chocolate rice (yes, that is a thing, and yes, I not only purchased it, I ate it. I had it before my massive bike ride to Moeraki in May, and apparently I had no memory of eating it, because when I had it again, it was TERRIBLE. Actually one of the most disgusting things I've ever eaten. It should be on Fear Factor, but I doubt even Joe Rogan is that heartless.) we drove about 10 minutes down the road to where we'd cross the Haast River and start the climb. For Loyal readers of the blog, you'll remember that I'd crossed the Haast before, unintentionally of course, and wouldn't you know it, we'd be crossing at the same place. It was a little (a lot) colder this time around, but I made it across no problem. From there, we stashed our river-crossing shoes in the bushes and started a roughly eight hour journey upwards.

Across the Haast, on purpose this time

Through the woods, no snow yet though

Above the tree line at 1200m

Brewster Hut

The first 800m or so of the climb (we started at around 400m, and the tree line sits at about 1200m) was over a well formed trail through a surprisingly lush forest, winding ever upwards. We started to see snow at the second plateau, but it wasn't really heavy on the ground until we got out past the tree line. From there, it was another hour and a half or so up to the Brewster Hut (at 1600m or so), our stopping point for lunch as well as where we'd be spending the evening. The snow was a little deeper through here, but certainly nothing a good Canadian boy couldn't handle.
We arrived at the hut before noon, and after a delicious, refreshing lunch, we started off for the summit, out of out view but nearly 600m up from where we were. To this point, the ice axe had been acting as more of a glorified walking stick, and the cramp-ons hadn't been needed yet. That changed rather abruptly as we worked our way up, and about halfway to the top we had to stop to strap our death cleats on. The snow was getting deeper and often had a thin layer of ice along the top, so the cramp-ons came in handy here. There was one particular tricky section involving a vertical snow shelf, but once that was surmounted, it was clear sailing to the top.

On the way to the summit

A tricky patch approaching

I must say, the views from the top were incredible. It's hard to describe it, but being up that high was truly incredible. We could see the Pacific off to the west, Mt. Aspiring to the east and even Mt. Cook was visible far off to the north. Way down the valley below us we could see the Haast and the road running alongside it, and I really felt on top of the world. After about 20 minutes at the top, we started our descent in the quickly failing light. We made it back to the hut minutes before full dark, and the last half hour down to the hut was rather tricky in spots due to the failing light. Nevertheless, we all made it back, had a delicious dinner, and headed off to bed rather early.

Panorama from the summit (with the rest of the crew: Aaron,
Annie and Danilo)

On the way up

Taking a breather after a brief vertical section

More snow and rocks than a Motley Crue after party

The Pacific (Tom Hanks did not EP this photo)

Look at Mt. Brewster and Brewster Glacier

Grocery Stick

Sunset on the way down

We once again woke bright and early Sunday morning, and it was an uneventful trip back down the way we'd came. Coming back to the river crossing, my shoes/socks from the previous day were frozen stiff, but I fought them on, made it back across the Haast and we were on our way back to Dunedin. The drive back was beautiful as well, as took a longer route through Central Otago, and it really does look like Rohan. That got me excited for something I'm planning later in the year, but I'll leave that for another time.

Dave