Mount Aspiring Southwest Ridge, Tititea

Mount Aspiring National Park, Otago · New Zealand

Extreme7 daysOceania~£2,900 est.

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Overview

Tititea stands alone at 3,033 metres, a white pyramid that looks like the Matterhorn dropped into beech forest and rain. From Raspberry Creek at the end of the Matukituki road you walk up the valley to Aspiring Hut, then grind over Bevan Col or the Quarterdeck onto the Bonar Glacier and traverse to Colin Todd Hut, perched on rock above a sea of crevasses. Summit day starts in the dark: across the Bonar, up the Ramp and onto the Southwest Ridge itself, a snow arête that steepens near the top and falls away on both sides. It is Alpine Grade 2, which means no real crux and instead sustained exposure, glacier travel and the need to keep moving. The reward is the Southern Alps from Aoraki to the Tasman Sea. The catch is weather. Fronts arrive off the Tasman with little warning and parties routinely lose three days sitting in a hut, so book seven and take a book. Many climbers now fly to Bevan Col by helicopter to save the approach and buy a better window. Wānaka is the base, and a private guided ascent runs around £2,900 for six days. You need crampon, rope and crevasse-rescue competence before you arrive: this is a climb, not a course.