Mount Aspiring
Trip Start
Nov 09, 2008
1
10
28
Trip End
Dec 22, 2008
Mt Aspiring,
New Zealand
Friday, November 21, 2008
We flew into Bevan Col just above the Bonar Glacier by helicopter on Tuesday, and then hiked about 1.5 hours across the glacier to the Colin Todd Hut.
Wednesday we spent almost the entire day in the hut, because there was a heavy snow storm outside. It only cleared up late in the afternoon, so my climbing guide, Andy "Frog" Taylor, took me on a short hike out on the glacier and we practiced some climbing and rescue techniques.
The weather looked good for Thursday, so all the 14 climbers in the hut decided to try go for the summit that day. We got up at 2am, and started climbing just before 3am. It was a very hard and difficult climb for me, with some really steep technical sections, but the conditions were fairly good, except for the strong wind near the top.
Andy and I made it to the summit (at 3027m) just after 8am, and we were back in the hut by 1pm.
We decided to take the helicopter back out on Friday instead of the 2 day hike out.
