And for we mere mortals and less adventurous and who like to be home for lunch, may I recommend the Hooker Valley track. You will need to be up sometime before noon, walk up to three hours return, cross three swing bridges, have footwear suitable to scale a mole hill and carry food and clothing for a day hike.The tramp terminates at a tarn with a magnificent view of the mountain. Brilliant video guys, thank you. P.S. Utmost respect and thanks to New Zealand Department of Conservation staff for getting this track operational (and ahead of schedule) following the devastating winter damage.
Thanks for the inspiration man! Me and my girlfriend arrived in New Zealand on working holiday visas expecting to get drunk in hostels and backpacker parties. Instead we've been taking advantage of the beautiful hikes. Although we've only summited un-technical mountains, it’s inspired us to become mountaineers. Great insight as to what to expect. Thanks!
Sorry to be so off topic but does anybody know of a trick to log back into an instagram account? I was stupid forgot the account password. I love any tricks you can offer me!
I did the Zurbriggen Ridge back in 1970 - the same season did a South to North Ridge traverse of Mt.Cook with team mate Max Dorfliger. From the North Ridge we continued on over Tasman, Lindenfeld on onto Haidinger - we bivvied on the ridge the entire trip which took ten days. It was a wonderful climb - no curved ice axes in those days - views of both oceans spectacular.. Thanks for the video - brings back many happy memories of my time in New Zealand.
On your south ridge traverse did you summit mt. Nazomi? I am trying to plan a route up Aoraki via the south ridge and couldn't tell if Nazomi was even possible to climb from the south. looking at topographic maps it looks very steep to climb Nazomi and the lower peak of Aoraki from the south. Any insight you could give would help me immensely. I am planning on climbing early March.
@@ThePeakGeek ... Hi Jordan - I guess we must've climbed Nazomi as we kept to the ridge the entire way. Ed Hillary had done Nazomi and that part of the South Ridge some years before, other than that I don't know anybody who has done the traverse that way. The trouble is the mountains have changed so much in the meantime and I'm sure that ridge is no exception. A few years ago I did Copland Pass (also with Max) but the landscape was unrecognisable from almost half-a-century ago. One of the most difficult parts of our traverse was between Cook and Silberhorn, sustrugi ice that we couldn't get our crampons into or even our ice screws. We had tremendous luck with the weather - some wind but lots of sunshine. I'll try and get in touch with Max who lives in NZ still and see if he can be of any help. Would love to know how your climb goes and hope you take a few photos.
@@tonylewis5704 Thank you for the speedy reply! I will be sure to share the footage of my attempt when I get back. Any insight that Max could give me on the route would be greatly appreciated.
This just popped up in my feed, I loved their climb and the video brought back a few memories. I climbed up to Plateau Hut in 1976 with 4 friends, and found the Haast Ridge route exposed and scary in places. There were a few hard-out climbers at the hut who were impressed by our effort and just accepted us into their group and all their climbing anecdotes, which was super cool. We watched them all head out along with 2 of our party at 11pm, and I stayed up the rest of the night watching the little lights inching up the Linda Glacier. They all turned back before daylight because of high winds, so our party walked back out after first crossing the Grand Plateau and climbing the Anzacs - which I also found exposed and scary in places. The descent down the Anzacs was pretty dicey after a massive boulder dislodged and charged down the gully past 3 of our party, and the descent down to the bottom was pretty fraught in places as well, but we did it safely. It was a brilliant trip and I still have vivid memories. I see now that the Haast Ridge route up to the hut is described as a 13 hour challenging ascent that’s dangerous in places (4 fatalities over the years), and our Anzac route down as difficult and rarely used.
I'm in awe of you. I love hiking but i'm terrified of heights. There were sections on the alpine section of the Kepler Track that terrified me. Watching your climbing is amazing. Thank you for making the video!
Incredible. Definitely a dream of mine to climb that someday! After seeing how technical sections of that were I definitely need more winter climbing under my belt before I tackle that. 👍🏻
Such an awesome video!! Thank you for sharing this!!! I love how you positioned the camera so we can almost feel what it's like to climb such a mountain. I love mountains but I'm not an alpinist. Again, thank you. And respect!
I did the Zurbriggen Ridge in 1980. Fun. I found the climb up to the Plateau Hut harder than doing the Zurbriggen's! By flying in you only did half the climb! Great video, brought back some fun memories.
Your video randomly turned up on my youtube feed. I loved watching it. In my younger days I got to the summit rocks and turned back. Your video brought back memories. I now have kids, but I think when they've grown up and self sufficient I'll hire a guide and give it another crack. Will be a lot harder at 60 years old though. Hopefully my knees are still up to it at that age.
Glad you enjoyed it, On the way up its hard on the heart and lungs but it wouldn't that hard on your knees in the summer months on the trip back to the hut is in the softer snow on the glacier. Good luck.
@@YellowMM-dt9bm Beauty is in the eye of the beholder bro! I live in Hastings on the east cost, and I have to say, being sunny 24/7 and having little to no rain gets boring! I love some rain! I'd happily take more rain and beautiful mountains, over no rain and flat land. Chur bro!
My cousins body is somewhere on Mt Cook, him and his friends got trapped in a snowstorm and buried under 2x avalanches. Our family were never able to recover his body, as the glaciers melt we hope he one we might have his body returned 💔
Hi! I came accros to your video while looking for any refference of Mount Cook. And yours is the most defined on showing what to expect. Kuddos! Anw, do you have any information you can share about reserving everything to climb Mount Cook unguided?
Yeah, Malte Brun, Aspiring, Earnslaw would all be good peaks, Mt Dixon too, as you get a good idea of the area. Its a big day on your feet so general fitness is super important.
Thanks for sharing this awesome video. Were your route-finding issues on the Linda just to do with negotiating crevasses? Would you recommend a recce the day prior, up to the start of Zurbriggen? Seems potentially a bit of a mission picking the best line in the dark.
Pete, Route-finding on the Linda was an issue due to the low vis /cloud/snow. We knew there were other teams on the Linda on the day, and the day previous, so we knew there would be a route through the Linda, just a matter of finding the trail. We could actually hear the others on the Linda on the way down they must have only a few hundred metres in front, but we couldn't see them due to the cloud. Personally, I don't think doing a recce was needed, but it only an hour walk over to the base of the Zurbriggens, so you could do it. I don't think its a place to hang out though. You can see it pretty well from the hut. HTH.
Hey Anstead great video, very useful for taking that particular way. Planning a trip up cook in the next year or so taking the same route you did, how many raps did you boys end up doing? i have been studying the ridge and there must of been a heap of them......any down climbing?
Hey Isaac, Good luck for your trip. We downclimbed from the summit to the 'summit rocks' and from there maybe 4 - 6 60m raps. Keep an eye out on the way up for the double bolt anchors. The lowest one is used to rap over the bergschrund. This a good resource: jazmorris.smugmug.com/Mountaineering/Southern-Alps-NZ/Aoraki-Mt-Cook-Linda-Route-2012/i-5hZ74cQ
Thanks, costs are only helicopter in ( but you can walk in), food, and hut fees (payable at Mt Cook visitors centre). There is no climbing fee or alike.
Hi, Just wondering what kind of fitness level do i need . I have climbed Mt Taranaki and have done some climbing in Himalayas as well . Just wanna make sure if i can climb Mt cook. Because i don’t have much experience of snow.
Cook is not a mountain for someone with limit experience in the snow. Take your time and learn on less committing peaks first. Ruapehu in winter is the perfect training ground if you live in the north island.
If you just turn up at the Mt Cook airport, and see what is happening then you'll get the best deal, often they are picking a group up, or if you want to fly out, often they will be people flying in. These are called "back flights". I budget approx $NZ1000 per peak. Sometimes its cheaper and sometimes its a bit more. This includes flights to Christchurch/Queenstown, rental car, food + fuel, and a heli in, and walk out. Hope that helps :)
Not Aoraki. There are several much safer peaks in area where a guiding company will take you for intro to immediate courses. All the routes for the all major summits are not a place to learn on. You need solid ice climbing and rope skills plus avalanche training. Weather changes also are real rapid and you can go from fine clear to white out with gale winds in minutes.
Good job mate . It looks very beautiful there. I gave a question, I want to climb there in November but I don't want to have a leader because the prices are usually very high! How can I find the route to the summit ?
The New Zealand Alpine club sell a guide book that you can read to understand the different routes to climb this mountain. This is not a mountain to wander up without either a number of years of mountaineering experience or a guide.
