This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
breathtaking panorama now greets us. To the north, extending from Elie de Beaumont’s elegant summit, stretches impenetrable, snowladen spurs, dropping fifteen hundred metres from the Maximillian Range to the Whymper Glacier. Beyond,.a classic West Coast. cloud_mantle reflects. the bright sunlight, while to the north-east, the razorsharp profile of the Main Divide protrudes powerfully from the cloud abutting its western flank. The distant Arrowsmiths and the prominent summit of D’Archiac dominate the eastern skyline, with a glance to the south revealing Malte Brun standing proud. A graceful arc of snow and ice from the Tasman Glacier to the south-west, guarded by the formidable wall of the Divide in the form of Mts Cook, Tasman, Douglas, The Minarets and others. We congratulate ourselves on having no more uphill travel to do for a while and simply stare around us, big cheesy grins betraying our delight at our good fortune to be here. The day had started with an inflamed dawn as Gabriel and I made our way across the head of the Tasman from Kelman Hut, bound for Elie de Beaumont. This was the fifth day of a week-long ski touring trip on the Murchison and Tasman glaciers, and by a stroke of very good luck, a large high pressure system dominated the weather patterns. A crisp ski across crunchy neve with some manoeuvring between crevassed areas brought us below Mt Walter. Of the few other people around, two were just embarking on an impressive ribbon of ice on the mountain’s east
On Hochstetter Dome, looking at Mt Aylmer and Jasman..Saddle
Phil Kendon
face; the odd curse and chunks of ice thudding on the snow below them suggesting that conditions were a little brittle. We quickly switched from skiing to mountaineering mode and began making oour way up through the Anna. Icefall, Once up at the col. between Walter and Elie de Beaumont, we were able to peer over the Divide to the south-west and look out over the broad expanse of _ the snowfields above the Franz Josef Glacier — another area for some outstanding ski touring, no doubt. It was good to be on the Divide proper at this stage. A little higher, unfavourable conditions turned us back. Further progress would have necessitated a less than ideal choice between an exposed, brittle ice pitch and an equally exposed, long traverse on _ steep windslab. A decision to retreat was not a difficult one as the alternative for the rest of the day was an enticing traverse of Hochstetter Dome and Mt Aylmer along the Divide. Back at our skis and with the ice climbers we unroped and made for Lenderfeld Saddle. Skiing in crusty powder here was a little tricky for someone with skills as limited as mine. (Gabriel, having been born on skis fared a lot better!) Once at the saddle, skins were donned and we headed up the western flank of the Dome. Windblasted, packed powder made for an awkward surface; this slope would have been a nightmare to ski down. Despite its name, Hochstetter Dome provides an exciting traverse on a snow ridge, which is certainly narrow in places. You would have to be keen to do it all on skis. In light winds and wall to wall sunshine, big grins all over our faces said it all. Out came the map at lunchtime to pick out some of the surrounding peaks. Later, after a short but sweet climb up the 50-metre south-west face of Mt Ayimer, possibly the best ski-ofthe trip so far was had on untouched packed powder (far less wind-affected than what we had encountered earlier) back to Tasman Saddle and Kelman Hut. This was my first ski touring trip and it provided an outstanding way of getting around in some awesome country. While you need to be a reasonably competent skier, it’s not necessary to be an expert to enjoy it. A big advantage of being in the mountains in the spring is that the slots are filled in (most of them), and the Tasman/Murchison glaciers area provides challenges for all ability levels. Get out there!
Trip members: Phil Kendon, Gabriel Ossenkamp, Will Penney (part of the trip).
Trip Reports Skiing in pristine powder on the Mainwaring Glacier