Tititea/ Mt Aspiring South West Ridge

Alec Phillips and team climb the Aspiring alpine classic in perfect conditions

Labour Weekend of October 2023, I made my first visit to the Aspiring National Park along with Will Talbot and Tom Hughes. On day 1 we cycled to Aspiring Hut before ditching our bikes and heading up to French Ridge Hut, arriving just after dark following a whole lot of clambering and pulling on roots and trees to make our way through the steep bush track.

The following day was more relaxed as we plodded our way up to Quarterdeck Pass and across Bonar Glacier to the base of the south west ridge of Tititea/Mt Aspiring.

We dug a nice sheltered bivvy site into the snow slopes at around 2140m and pitched our tent, with plenty of time to melt snow and enjoy a few hours rest in the sunshine before a short reccy to scout our best way up on to the ridge for the following morning.

Camp set up

We went to bed with the sun still up and were woken at 02:50 by multiple phone alarms. Straight away the stoves went on as we made some hot drinks and oats and melted more water ready for the day.

With our well rested legs we quickly gained the ridgeline, gradually ascending to around 2400 m, where it abruptly steepened. Clear skies, stars on full display with the faint wisp of the milky way easily visible, almost no wind and a solid overnight freeze - conditions were set for a perfect day.

We followed up along the narrow ridgeline for another 400m of vertical on a constant 45-55 degree slope. Both ice axes in hand we front pointed the entire way, occasionally stamping out little ledges to rest our burning calf muscles.

As we neared the crux ice pitch at 2800m the sun was beginning to rise and we had the most incredible view across the Aspiring National Park, with the cloud inversions filling the valley floors being lit by an intense purple glow.

The view was overwhelming. Some of the best mountain scenery that I've had in New Zealand so far, especially when combined with the exposure of being on the sharp ridgeline of such an iconic mountain.

Firm conditions heading up the SW ridge of Mt Aspiring

After some faffing to build an anchor I led up the first 40m pitch. The ice had created some slightly erratic formations at the base of the route making the line somewhat unclear and requiring some zig zagging back and forth.

I got pretty pumped pretty quick, but once I had my second ice screw in I felt like I could breathe a sigh of relief knowing I had some half decent protection for the steep swing around the corner. As I made my way up and over the top of the first pitch and on to a steep snow slope I was relieved to find a big patch of ice just a few meters away to build my anchor, especially as I was now down to my last ice screw.

The hot aches set in whilst building my anchor and I spent the next few minutes loudly groaning and hyperventilating through the pain before being able to put Tom and Will on belay for them to climb up.

Heading up the crux pitch

The next two pitches, led first by Tom and then by Will, were on easier ground and went with slightly more composure than the first. At the top of the third pitch we all agreed that the final 200m push to the summit looked easy enough so we put the rope away and continued on, reaching the summit at 10:00 just 6 hours after leaving our tent.

A comfortable broad summit with no wind and clear skies - we were stoked! From the top you could see all the way to Aoraki/Mt Cook nearly 150km away. We sat on top enjoying the views for nearly an hour, soaking in the eerie windless silence.

Team on the summit

The descent was initially easy going, a gentle slope down the NW ridge that we could plod down before turning off down The Ramp, This required us to sidle and descend 200m whilst front pointing almost the entire way. Our calves were on fire through the second half as the snow hardened, but looking around us we saw debris from solar triggered avalanches - and it was gone midday, prime time for it... No time to rest!

We made it to the base of The Ramp and back on to Bonar Glacier, jumping over a small crevasse for a final flurry of excitement before finding shelter out of the avalanche paths where we could take off our thermals and rope up before the hot slog back across the sunny glacier.

By 14:00 we were back at our tents and absolutely buzzing. We fed and watered ourselves and basked in the sunshine for a while before packing everything away and heading back to French Ridge Hut for a comfy night's sleep. We were lucky and got the last 3 beds in a 20 bed hut that slept 30 that night, all with exciting stories and ascents from earlier that day.

The following day we sped back down the ridge and picked up our bikes from Aspiring Hut. The cherry on the cake was cycling the final 8km with a strong tail wind on a slightly down-trending gradient the majority of the way back to the car taking us just 48 minutes.

Epic mission. 10/10.

By Alec Phillips