Mt Cook - Tasman Saddle Trip

By Dave Shanks, November 2001

One thought seems to stick, which was a comment made as we drove off the Ferry on Tuesday night. "We started this trip with rain, and fittingly ended it in rain"

Not to say that rain is all we experienced. Once we were in the South Island, we were blessed with good weather. Even when we arrived in Mt Cook & Unwin Hut, we had only one day’s wait before it looked like we would have the weather on our side.

Maybe we should have taken warning from the fact that an Australian contingent had been already waiting 5 days for the skies to clear! Two of them subsequently became hut-bound like we were, when they managed to fly in to Tasman Saddle Hut immediately after us. The other two Australians were booked on a different aircraft, and didn’t mange to fly in at all.

On the first day at Tasman Saddle, after organising our bunks we decided to put some tracks up towards Mt Aylmer. That way we would have an easier start for tomorrow’s climb. Early on in the piece the weather looked like it might be improving, so we traversed around below Aylmer towards Kelman Hut. When we arrived at Kelman, it was good to get out of the rain that had developed. The hut occupants were busy practising rope work and escaping the belay system, and they were not too happy about seeing us. Something about being stuck indoors and things already a bit on the cosy side before we arrived. Once they realised we weren’t staying, they seemed friendlier. On that note we ate a quick snack, had a drink, and then departed, as it wasn't getting any better outside.

Halfway back and we were dealing with whiteout conditions - GPS and compass work fixed this. While Pete was giving the last direction reading towards Tasman Saddle Hut, he was busy looking at the bearing on his compass. Suddenly, the clouds parted, bringing the hut into our view. Pete's direction, which was right on the nail, got the response from us, “Thanks, we know. We can see it.”

The weather on Day 2 wasn't much different, so we played in a large crevasse. We were practising rescue techniques using Z & C pulleys. Also a bit of ice climbing, if that’s what you could call it. More of a hacking at slush comes to mind. After another quick deterioration in the weather, we headed back to the hut. Adam, who was leading on Pete's rope, managed to walk over a yawning (but hidden) crevasse, before the snow bridge collapsed under him. He became wedged up to his shoulders. After the usual setting of anchors we went about his extraction. Chris (female) seemed to be using an interesting technique as she reached down into the pitch-black crevasse to undo the waist strap on Adam's pack. Her technique seemed to take Adam's sense of immediate peril away from his mind. When Pete saw we couldn't easily haul Adam up with the rope, because we were trying to pull him sideways, he went for the straight lift up by the pack straps as he straddled the slot.

After extracting Adam, it ended up being a virtual reinactment of the day before. Pete was giving us a bearing towards the hut when the visibility suddenly cleared - a confirmation of good navigation.

Needless to say everyone experienced falling into a slot at some point of the trip. One of mine was quite comical - being wedged, with a crampon pushed up against my leg. Chris was pulling on the rope, trying to haul me out. I was yelling over the wind for slack in the rope, and being misunderstood. Then Pete came in to add his might to the hauling attempt, and I was yanking back on the rope like a tug of war. Next time I think I'll try the call GIVE! It works for my friends dog.

Most of the rest of our time included being hut-bound, cleaning up on the literature available. Some of which was missing a few pages; I'll let your imagination explain where they had ended up. A good day was spent with the Great Autoblock Challenge, where we took turns at inventing different methods of setting up a crevasse-extraction rope system. A combined Australian/Scottish team against the four Kiwi's. Unfortunately, NZ did not come out on top of the points. But we all learnt a few different ways to create an autoblock with what climbing equipment was available.

Weather patterns were not looking like improving over the next few days, so discussions about trying to walk out, or waiting for a flight were high on the agenda. One brief attempt at walking was aborted by Fraser and Jerram after the weather turned nasty.

We all ended up taking a shot at walking out the next day. This was not an easy option with all the weight we had, and the poor condition of the glacier. In the end, we decided to split up, with the walking party going light-weight. The other three of us (Pete, Adam & myself) went back to the hut, with all the rest of the gear and waited for a helicopter flight. From the higher ground near the hut, we were able to guide the other group around the visible crevasses via our two-way radios.

After four days of waiting to fly out, we received a radio call offering a back-flight on an incoming AGL (Alpine Guides Ltd) helicopter charter.

After seeing aircraft flights resume after so long, it was cruel torture having to wait at the landing site, with a clearing of blue sky above us punctured by squalls of rain & high wind. We wondered if the weather would hold, as we listened on the hand-held radio to DOC's radio schedule/weather report and heard that it was closing-in for at least another 2 days.

Finally, it was exhilarating to watch the chopper land so close to us. The pilot performed a very skilful sideslip to get even closer. Takeoff, and the flight down the glacier showed how much the rain and high freezing level had opened up the terrain in what I would call Crevasse Central. The views were fantastic.

Some of what you can see in this National Park

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