Mount Cook National Park, December 2021
A rewarding, scenic and big circuit that can be done in a day.
Overall this is an advanced scramble, with the technical difficultly increasing a bit in the last few hundred metres (rated II, 2+ by ClimbNZ). For the time of year we did this, the difficultly is a little less. We took crampons, axe, a rope, harness and some trad gear. Car to car took us around 12 hours.
Topo of our route starting / finishing in Mount Cook Village
We parked in the Mount Cook village, heading up the Red Tarns track before starting the sidle to hit the saddle West of point 1422m.
Beginning our sidle from the Red Tarns Track
Our sidle to meet the ridge getting into rock territory
Once up on the ridge, it’s a nice walk up with great views along the way. Nothing overly technical until the top.
A bite of lunch on Sebastopol Ridge
Higher on the ridge we are back in rock territory
We found it valuable to scout our line to gain the last 150m or so to the plateau. We considered the steep snowfield on the right but opted to stay amongst the buttress / rocks once we got there to gain most of the height. A little before the top there was a steep snow shoot we had to cross – I opted for a belay across that just because of the consequence of a mistake, and the snow was getting quite soft around this point (late morning).
Looking up at the crux. We ascended the buttress – left of the snow field.
Heading up the ridge, good views to Water Tank ridge and Mount Cook
Once we ascended the last steep section we were greeted by a pretty ‘flat’ snow field on top and enjoyed the views to Mount Sealy and around before walking around to Mueller Hut.
Arrival at the top – a nice shelf.
A view to Mount Sealy from Mount Annette
Walking Annette Plateau around to Mueller Hut
Once we got to Mueller Hut we had a much needed water resupply, before heading down Mueller track and back to the car.
A great day out with good views and a little spice to gain Annette Plateau. Recommended.