I'm not sure how it happened that we ended up heading to Cook, I think we decided that less days off meant we needed a closer target than the slightly more realistic goal of Mount Aspiring, so Cook seemed like a good option .......!!!!!
Not only is it NZ's highest mountain, but it is a particularly daunting and dangerous one, and was a little further down my list in the section "when more experienced". However I could not resist having a "look" and a summit would be excitement beyond belief. So after a botched sick call to work (we were rumbled on this one!) we headed down to Mt Cook village, 5 hours drive away. We (me, Axel, and Steve) drove from Cook Village down a four wheel drive track as far as we could go, and slept the night, rather uncomfortably, in the back of Axel's car. It was gone midnight when we got there, and after a few hours of rest (not sure we got much sleep!) we got up and headed off towards Cook. We had to walk over rough moraine and negotiate scree slopes with heavy packs. I had some nasty falls on the scree and was glad when we crossed Ball Glacier and headed up a rocky gully. We missed our route onto more scree and had to negotiate some steep rocky sections, ending up at the bottom of an ice-fall on Boys Glacier. It was 7pm by this point and we had no idea what lay ahead so we thought it would be safest to set up camp and start again in the morning. The terrain was rocky, but we built a platform for my alpine tent as best we could. We had no sleeping mats so the boys slept on their packs, and I made do with a layer of clothing. I made dinner while Steve got a crash course in glacier travel and self arrest. We had strategically placed our tent behind a rock to protect from the rock and ice fall. However right before bed we all looked up to the sound of cracking ice. Me and Axel ducked behind the rock, and Steve ran the other direction. A huge lump of ice had broken off the ice-fall and crashed over the rock that was protecting our tent! Slightly unnerved by this we all put on our helmets, and slept in them, and built up the rock wall around our tent still further.
A cold and restless night was to come, with three people in my two man alpine tent making sleep elusive! We woke early to get onto the glacier, moving along to the constant sound of rock and ice fall. We had come onto the glacier at the wrong level, so found ourselves trying to find a way around wide open crevasses. We ended up having to ice-climb down into crevasses and out the other side. It was slow progress. We eventually got onto the snow covered part of the glacier, making progress smoother and easier, as the crevasses were all linked by snow bridges. We got to boys col and looked up at the mighty face of Cook. It was so immense, so huge, so exciting! It made me realise that I had a lot of work to do before I was good enough for this!
We wanted to push on further but the route ahead was heavily crevassed, with it being so late in the season, and I'm sure our route up the mountain would have been the same. We did not know the mountain well enough to know if it was worth a shot, as we could not be sure of conditions or safe bivvy spots. The weather also looked like it was closing in, and it was a long way to plateau hut. We made the wise choice to return to the car. It would be a long walk out.
We descended along the correct route, which involved a steep descent on scree, made harder by heavy packs. on the way ac cross a steep scree slope, with a 70ft drop over a lip about twenty meters below me, I was knocked over by a loose rock which came flying down the slope. I couldn't get it off my leg so I was stuck! I was praying that I did not have a broken leg or anything, as that could have been disastrous. Luckily Steve was there and lifted the rock of my leg, it was fine, apart from a few bruises, and an injured knee all was well. It really knocked my confidence on the scree though, and I completely froze after that when crossing scree, something I need to work on, as its an integral part of mountaineering here!
We got back to the car late that evening, walking the last bit in the dark. We had no water, but plenty of beer, so we ate and drank, then slept. The next day we were all a bit sore, but packed our stuff and went and did some rock climbing a Sebastopol Bluffs. It had been an awesome trip, and one of the biggest learning experiences I have had in the mountains. This Trip has been invaluable, and has certainly spurred me on to get fitter and stronger, to carry MUCH less stuff (no more comfy pants ;-)) and to climb more mountains.
I will be back in the spring, for Mt Cook, take two! And one day, the Grand Traverse. Until then, I've got lots of work to do!
