Climbing in Mt Cook National Park

I headed down to Mt Cook National park for a bit of an adventure. The forecast wasn't perfect the whole time, but there were some good days, so that was great.

Mt Edgar Thomson
Not too far from Unwin hut, at the Northernmost corner of the Ohau range, is Mt Edgar Thomson. The first recorded climb of this peak was in 1915 when Jane Thomson and Conrad Kain climbed it. Climber Jane Thomson named it after her son, Edgar who had tragically died young of a Rugby injury. 

We got a nice early start and headed up the stream bank. 

We started up the stream bank

We found the South ridge and kept climbing and started to get really fantastic views across the park. 

We had terrific weather and the views were amazing

As we climbed up the vegetation started to change from alpine scrub and herb fields, with those interesting little alpine crickets that jump everywhere, to tussock with black alpine butterflies fluttering past, small alpine plants amongst the rocks, and then just rock and snow.

After heading up a steep snow field the ridge evened out and the travel along the summit ridge was straightforward.

From the summit ridge we clambered up to the summit and there were the most terrific views.

From the summit a whole range of panaromas open up - the Dobson Valley, Aoraki Mt Cook, and across the McKenzie Basin.

The weather couldn't have been better and we had a snack near the summit while enjoying the views before heading back down.

Me on the summit of Mt Edgar Thomson

On the way back we had a bit of a bush bash to get to the car as we got slightly off route on the way back, and our ice axes on the outside of our packs got stuck in supple jack at one point which was a bit of a laugh.

Up the Hooker valley
I headed off up the Hooker valley for a bit of an adventure after this. I had entertained plans of heading over Ball pass from this side (the now recommended route due to the erosion of the Tasman glacier). Unfortunately the weather was super bad overnight and the wind blew like crazy and it bucketed with rain. Fortunately my little alpine tent is built to withstand this kind of thing, so it did just fine, although at one point I did have to bail a bit of water which pooled near the entrance of my tent. I decided it was time to retreat so packed up and headed out the way I had arrived, it was still a fun little adventure though, and on the way back there was a super pretty rainbow over the Mueller range at one point.

Definitely no shortage of water

Shelter from the storm