Great footage of Aspiring Ascent via SW Ridge - Nov 2011

Thanks to Steve Wyatt and his great footage from his successful ascent of Mt Aspiring in November 2011 via SW Ridge with guide Tim Steward, NZMGA.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas 

and Happy New Year from all the team at Aspiring Guides!

2011 has been a fabulous year for Aspiring Guides and we continue to grow with new guiding staff:-  Thomas Schattovits IFMGA, Matt Chessor, NZMGA joining our permanent team and our 2011/12 international crew:  Xavier Fournier IFMGA (Swiss), Aritza Monasterio IFMGA (Peru) and Federico Varengo, IFMGA (Italy) for this summer.    We also have a new face in the office - Rach Cassaidy who will be joining  Robyn in the sales team.   Even better, we've convinced Leslie our summer Operations Manager to stick around for winter next year.   Leslie will be leaving the world of ski-instructing behind to keep everything running like clock-work for the winter. 

There's been some amazing trips despite the infamous NZ spring weather doing it's best to throw a spanner in the works.   A cold and snowy spring has meant that the Ramp on Aspiring and Linda Glacier on Cook have held their condition longer than last year.  


2011 was an exciting year with our first overseas climbing expedition for many years to Peru with Andinista Adventures and  Aritza Monasterio.   We're hoping for an even more successful trip to Peru in 2012.


It's hard to imagine when it's 30C outside, but we're thinking about winter already and we're busy taking bookings for Ice-climbing and Ski Touring! 

Thank you to all our wonderful clients who have climbed, trekked and skied with us in 2011.  It is our pleasure to share our passion for the NZ Southern Alps and now Peru with you.   We hope you will be back with us again in 2012 for more spectacular mountain adventures.


All the best!


Whit and Andy and all the team at @ Aspiring Guides.

Peru 2012 - Want a little less Oxygen in your life?

Aritza IFMGA (Expedition Leader),  MS, John & Laurie on Tocllaraju 6034m - June 2011

Photo taken by Darwin - Assistant Guide

Too much Oxygen in your life?    

Want to test those mountaineering skills 

on 6000+ m peaks?  

There's still a couple of spaces left on our 2012 Peru Expedition! 

18 June - 5 July, 2012  

Andinista Adventures with expedition leader, Artiza Monasterio, IFMGA is again offering the chance for Aspiring Guides clients to climb the superb peaks of the Cordillera Blanca.   Tony Donaldson, NZMGA who has been guiding with Aspiring Guides for over 6 years now and who has also climbed at altitude in the Himalay will also accompanying Aritza and his Peruvian team.

Aritza has been guiding in Peru for the last 18 years and his experience is unparalleled.  He has pioneered many new routes in the Peruvian Alps, Central Andes and Patagonia.  For his full resume take a look at his website.

"The key to success at altitude is allowing enough time to acclimatize" says Aritza.   His 18 day itinerary does not rush the process and allows for a gradual increase in altitude, climbing Inshinca (5530m), Tocllaraju (6034m) and finally Chopicalqui (6354m).

Here's an extract from John about his experiences on the 2011 expedition:-

"The trip went very smoothly, no real problems,infrastructure by Aritza was first class. The food was great, tents brand new -  it was well done by him.  I will return! It is just a wonderful place and I thoroughly enjoyed climbing there.  I can't speak for the other two, but I had a great time and look forward to heading to the hills again (most likely New Zealand in January).   I think you have great asset here with Aritza and Cordillera Blanca and if people want to climb in the heavens then there is no other place like it."

And Laurie : -

The climbing was superb, especially the steeper ice axe front pointing. We did 4-5 rappels down the steeper sections. As for my personal condition, I was concerned to be late on arrival and up to 4250 the next day. I seemed to cope very well with the altitude, something I was apprehensive about. The boys were amazed at my ability to adjust.... Maybe I have found my thing?  

Peru is just  amazing- Aritza is a gem, as are all his team. The people here are delightful, bar the odd taxi driver who I recognise as an Aussie concretor so am up to the task. All good.

You can read more from Laurie here.

***********************

For full information about the 2012 expedition - please go to our website


Aritza is working with us in NZ this summer as he did in 2010 and if this trip is something you've always wanted to do, we can arrange for you to speak with either Aritza or Tony directly.

Mt Cook - Views from the top of NZ

Paul Thomson from Australia on the summit of Mt Cook / Aoraki - 9 Dec, 2011

Mt Cook is still in good condition.  A wet cold spring that has made ascents of Cook tricky has also meant that  the Linda Glacier route is still well filled in.  While mountain conditions can change rapidly, we seem to be ahead of where we were last year at the same time.

Day 1:  A warm up 3 hour climb on the Anzacs.

Day 2: Summit Day.     Paul, promised us he was fit and he certainly was!   Despite a 2 hour stoppage waiting for climbers to clear the Summit Rocks, Paul and Aritza did the summit in  just under 10 hours. 

Aritza Monasterio, IFMGA and our Peruvian Expedition Leader

He comments :  " Mt Cook is a surprisingly technical peak that can be climbed with a clear head!" 

(Aritza is usually climbing in Peru above 4500m)

For more information on our 2012 Peruvian Expedition - check out our website.

OMG. I think this is some of Sam Neal's finest work, certainly more riveting than Jurasic Park. You can only marvel as these daredevils push the "boundary of what is possible on skis". Great memories of a time gone by.http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/flare---a-ski-trip-1977

MOUNT COOK NEWS - FREDDY GETS HIS FIX

*Photo by Marty Schmidt

On Sunday Nov. 27 Aspiring Guides guide Fredrico Varengo made the first ski descent (to our knowledge) of the East Face of Mnt. Cook. Freddy, an  IFMGA qualified guide from Italy, climbed the Linda Glacier on his first trip up Mnt. Cook. The way down included a right turn just below the summit ice cap. His route took him pretty much straight down untill traversing left and joining the Zubriggins Route just above Grand Plateau. This was just a warm up.

The next day skiing off the summit of Mnt. Tasman.  Again a first and what a route down. Unlike Mnt. Cook which was "easy" now Freddy opted to climb the route he intended to ski.  Ascending below Engineer Col to about elev. 3000m he traversed to the other side of Syme Ridge and proceeded up and diagonal to the summit.    It was this improbable route that he skied back down.  Describing the maze of schrunds and ice blocks below engineer Col as "horrible" Freddy was very happy to reach the safety of the Grand Plateau.  I am not an authority on this sort of thing but as far as I know this is the first ski descent of  Tasman. Anyone mad enough to claim this route before?

Photo of Mt Tasman by John Mletschnig   Oct. 2008

Some people never learn! 
Photo by Steve Gottschling returning from 5 amazing days at Pioneer Hut, Fox Glacier Neve
 with his mate Chris Wilson and guide, Simon Howells, NZMGA.  Sadly, this poor climber
didn't make it back to the village for a beer!!



Out with the old, In with the new. Siberia Hut rises from the ashes

Siberia Hut was totally destroyed by fire last season.  While it had many happy memories it was a dark and dirty hut and we are all looking forward to the new replacement.  We passed by unfinished replacement the other day.  Looks great!  

Still deep snow on French Ridge

The snow's still deep

Late spring snow storms continue to make mountaineering "interesting".   

Thanks for the kind press - JetStar Article

Thanks for the kind press!

Charlie Hoare and his girlfriend Natalie Iliffe had a great time hiking and mountaineering in NZ, wrote about it and got published in the recent edition of the JetStar magazine.    Along the way they joined Gavin Lang, NZMGA for a Private Instruction Course from Centennial Hut on the Franz Josef Glacier.  Here's Charlie's article.  Makes good reading.  http://www.jetstarmag.com/story/tramping-camping/1473/1/

Spring Dump!!!

October 19th.  From a dry car park the day before, this photo of the base building in the Pisa Range shows what can happen overnight.  Once the grass turns green everyone quits skiing but this is the best part of the ski season if you ask me.

Frenchies on Top !......but not for long we hope!

Adrien & Marine sur le sommet du Grey Peak 2882m avec leur drapeau français!

With the NZ All Black's preparing to face the French in this weekend's final, there were plenty of private "bets" going on between our intrepid French couple Adrien & Marine and Aspiring Guide, Tony Donaldson earlier this week.    If you want to know the bet that Tony made?   Post a comment or send us an email!

Steep Ice Is Now

The ice is nice as Guide Tim Stewart and Siggy from Melbourne found out last week.  Based out of Pioneer Hut the pair enjoyed some solid ice on Tigger (8 pitches), one of the excellent routes on the South Face of Barnicoat. 

Check out our wide range of climbing and trekking options at  http://www.aspiringguides.com/advanced_courses.html

First Climb : Mt Aspiring - Season 2011/12

What did you do last weekend?

Sam Watts from the Hawkes Bay, was the first to put his footprints on the summit of Mt Aspiring (3033m) for this climbing season.  Threading the "eye of the weather needle", Sam, guided by Stefan Sporli, IFMGA enjoyed perfect sunny winter conditions for his climb. They were also joined by Matt Chessor, NZMGA who has also recently joined the Aspiring Guides Team.   

View of Aspiring from Colin Todd Hut

On the way to the summit

Sam on the Summit, with an enthusiastic Matt Chessor!

For more check out the view from the summit - not bad hey?

East Matukituki Daydreaming



Pickelhaub Camp, Rabbit Pass



Winter is winding down here in Wanaka.  The lake front is crowded with people enjoying the sun and the ski areas close this weekend.  We are planning some pretty exciting trekking and there is no better way to get your feet itching go that to have a look at some photos.  Here are a few reminders of what is in store.  CAN'T WAIT!

The East Face of Mnt. Fastness

River Crossing the east Matukituki



Laksa Dinner - we love to eat



Mount Aspiring with framed between Popes Nose and Mnt. Aeroplane





How would you spend your honeymoon??

How would you spend your honeymoon?  Sun-baking on a deserted tropical island?  Luxuriating in a beautiful European castle?   ...or sharing a snowboard backcountry touring adventure with 3 blokes you've never met before and in a NZ high alpine hut for 5 days with those increasingly smelly compatriots?   Well there's no accounting for taste is there?  

 Here's what our honeymoon couple Emari & AJ from east coast USA said about their recent trip to Tasman Saddle with Aspiring Guides & Stefan Sporli, NZMGA.

AJ summed the experience up pretty nicely....  "Being so new to this type of touring we're not even sure at the onset what we wanted except to ride in an environment away from a resort setting. What we learned was to feel wonderfully small, to ride great snow in an amazing place, to push and challenge ourselves....it was simply amazing. Whatever we expected from our experience it exceeded by a longshot."

Actually, AJ also said that the experience was "better than sex!!! "  but since they were on their honeymoon we didn't feel that we could comment on that part?     After all...what goes on tour stays on tour..right AJ?

Guide Pete James and crew at Baron Saddle Hut, Mnt. Cook National Park

No it is not a discarded soup can, it is the hut at the head of the Mueller Glacier on the east side of the divide.  This is a great area for ski touring and climbing.   A relatively short helicopter flight and the ability to ski out to the village makes this a popular hut to base a trip out of.  This location has an interesting if somewhat frighting history. 

The previous hut was called the Three Johns Hut.  In 1977 four members of a North Island tramping club disappeared, along with the hut!  The were in contact with the Park on the radio and several days later when they had not been heard from, the authorities were horrified to find that high winds had sheared the hut from its footings.  The hut and victims were later located deep in the Dobson Valley where the wind had relocated them.  The Three Johns tragedy lead to a major overhaul of how huts are anchored and in the the ensuing 30 years there has not been another accident of this type.  Knowing that huts are now safe is comforting but late at night when the hut is shaking and the wires are humming it is hard not to spare a thought for the poor people who perished when their hut blew away.

30k Downhill Ski Run !

What does a 30 km ski run look like?  Guide Mark Austin-Cheval and clients just finished a Summit to Sea which took advantage of some great weather on the eastern side of the mountains.  With the snow reaching down to low elevations the group achieved a rare feat, skiing from the very top of the Tasman Glacier to the very end at Blue Lakes.  Flying into the head of the Tasman Glacier they spend two days touring before pointing their skis down.

The group headed down through a huge of variety of terrain - ice falls, avalanches and snow caves were all part of the journey.  Starting at 2640 above sea level the group took off their skis at 740m, a whopping ski run of 1900 m or 6234 ft.

The photo above is looking back up the Tasman at about the half way point.  The Tasman is the Glacier that comes in from the right.

 The Ball Hut road is subject to enormous avalanches and can only be skied when conditions are right. 

The road head at Blue Lakes is the end of a Kiwi ski classic!

Pioneer Blizzard

Our popular Summit to Sea trips can meet with some pretty wild weather.  Here the team tries to dig down to the door of the hut.  Fast digging barely stayed ahead of the snow as it filled in.  The long finespells of weather have meant thin snow and icy conditions at the ski areas but the glaciers there is no shortage of snow!

Ice Dancing sensation Brian Boitano comes out of retirement!

Olympic Champion Brian Boitano  has emerged from retirement to push for recognition of the new sport of VID (Vertical Ice Dancing).  Here Brian performs a very difficult inverted Macarena.  Aspiring Guides is pushing for recognition of Black Peak as the worlds first homologated VID venue.  Click here for more information http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN62PAKoBfE

Black Peak Ice Is On!

Well it was slow coming this year but the cold winter conditions have been great for growing ice.  Here is a shot from july 15th of guide Tim Steward and his team of thrash and danglers.  It is always hard to get a nice sunny photo if ice climbing, our hut at Black Peak is located on the south face, protected from the warming rays of the sun and the perfect climate for cold dry snow and ice.



Epic Storm

Here is a coppy of the forecast map for Sunday July 10.   The 944 at the center of the low is pretty incredible.  Pressure so low that the crome will be sucked of your trailer hitch!

Looks like a good place to stop

People are killed when the ice rolls off the end of the glacier and boulders hit the track on the lower Fox Glacier.  People just don't get it.

Message from Huaraz

A brief summary of events, all good!

 

After Ishinca and Toclluraryu, Aritza, Darwin, manual 2 porters, John and I commenced the Chopicalqui ascent.

We got to the moraine camp fine from the road and had the most glorious view of the horseshoe of 6000m mountains surrounding. Next morning off up to high camp where John and I discussed the high cloud forming. A change was imminent. Went to sleep early with heavy cloud coming in and occasional snow.

 

We arose at midnight and left a 1.15am. It was snowing quite steadily and bitterly cold. After about 4-5 hours of continual snow and fairly intense upward effort we got to a bergshrund for a huddle in very uncomfortable conditions. The decision teetered on returning or carrying on and Aritza took the lead to continue up. On we proceeded for a couple more hours by which time it was partially daylight. The snow continued unabated and the wind increased with altitude. There were sustained steep soft snow & ice pitches welcomed to keep warm.

 

At what must have been about 7.30 am we reached the summit col, with John and Aritza 30m in front of Darwin and I. This is pretty much the spot where the photo of the summit crux is on the website. At this point the snow was stinging coming in horizontal with visibility at times down to less than 10m. The wind was blustery and sharp. A short discussion was had and a shared view being- whats the point? I concurred. Considering the conditions and the somewhat military approach to the ascent, I reckon we climbed the equivalent of a 7000m mountain!

 

For a round trip of 12 hours back to high camp, we rested for a couple of hours and packed up and headed back down to moraine camp, another 2 hours for me.

I had serious issues with the snow balling up on my crampons, a matter <i will have to investigate further. After 3-4 step I was carrying 60mm of snow. Small round ball bearing size snow. Not a very gainly sight was my descent! Darwin was fabulous throughout.

 

The summit would have been good, but I equate mountains to be like fishing- sometimes they are there and sometime not. The climbing was superb, especially the steeper ice axe front pointing. We did 4-5 rappels down the steeper sections. As for my personal condition, I was concerned to be late on arrival and up to 4250 the next day. I seemed to cope very well with the altitude, something i was apprehensive about. The boys were amazed at my ability to adjust. I will do more on my core strength and look forward to 2-3 weeks with you guys in November. Maybe I have found my thing. B and M were great company and a deep mutual respect has evolved rapidly. B especialy as we climbed when mark was sick. I will catch upo with them in Aus and wind them up regurlaryy with pics of the boat! Any opportunity indeed.

 

Peru is just  amazing- Aritza is a gem, as are all his team. The people here are delightful, bar the odd taxi driver who i recognise as an Aussie concretor so am up to the task. All good. Had an extra day in Huaraz and went market walking and out to the hot springs on the local bus. Had a blast. Off up to Cuzco today and Aritza has given me some broad direction and a hotel etc. Even had a Pisco Sour! Ended up in a rowdy bar one night!!

 

 

Cheers

 

L

Please help Wanaka Rock Climbing Club

The Wanaka Rock Climbing Club was started by local climbers who wanted to raise money for maintaining and developing routes in the area.  By selling guide books it has become a tremendous success with over 800 routes in the area.  More importantly the WRCC has been the liaising group with local farmers and land owners who obviously have concerns about people using their land.  The cooperation between land owners and the WRCC has been a model of success, proving that quality climbing and access can be managed in a responsible way.  The income the WRCC gets from guide books allows it to carry on with the development and management of this magnificent climbing area.

Now this model is in danger.

A private company wants to publish a climbing guide to the area.  While they are obviously within their rights to do so (even though ethically it is questionable since it is doing so on the back of the developments accomplished by the the WRCC) they are applying the sell the guide through the New Zealand Alpine Club.  We believe that by selling the guide as a New Zealand Alpine Club Publication the NZAC is undermining a grass roots, non-profit, access providing organization which acts in the best interests of both the Wanaka climbing community and the NZAC members.

What can you do?  Let the NZAC know what you think. Send an email to execofficer@nzac.org.nz.  It doesn't have to be much, just a "Don't stab Wanaka Rock Climbing Club in the back" should get the message across.  Thanks!

West Coast Bush-Tree top view

I came across this little video a client took while lifting into the Fox Glacier.  What can I say, we are pretty lucky to live in such a wild place.  Come check it out for yourself.

Mountain Skills Course 9 crawls back to sea level

Our final Mountain Skills course for the season was recently pinned down at Centenial Hut in high winds and had to spend an extra day before a helicopter could get in to extricate them.  Here are a few quick photos.  While the weather was mixed the crew got some good training with some very realistic crevasse practice! Click here to see photos

Lake Wanaka

Wanaka can be idyllic in the fall.  This year has been one of the best.  If you are looking for a good time to visit, check out the Festival of Colour.  There are films, plays and music and it is a great time to dovetail a trip into the hills with a little Kiwi Culture.


Lake Wanaka from the Aspiring Guides Office



Fear of Falling?

You don’t have to be a hardman climber to appreciate this video from Spain. 

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6346244/cool-rock-climbing-competition-over-a-river

Osaka Climbers Summit!

Five members of the Osaka climbers club recently had impeccable weather for a Mnt. aspiring summit attempt.  Members ranged from 60-70 years old were surprised with the difficulty of the climb.  With 5 climbers and 5 guides this was a large group!  Compounding the challenge Colin Todd Hut was closed for repairs and it was necessary for the group to bivi at the foot of the NW Ridge.  But they make them tough in Osaka and despite new snow requiring crampons on the mostly rock route the Japanese summited at noon.  It was an amazing achievement by the both the clients and the hard working guides.