This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Broken Axe Pinnacles are located in the Tararuas on the ridge between Jumbo Hut and Tarn Ridge Hut, and present a major obstacle to trampers wanting to traverse this route. The most difficult part of this hurdle is the northern most pinnacle which includes a near vertical descent of about 10 metres down a rock face. I only became aware of the pinnacles (and their difficult reputation) a couple of years ago. At the time we were staying the night at Jumbo Hut and decided to go for a stroll up to Jumbo itself in the late afternoon. It was a very clear and still day, and we could easily see the surrounding peaks including the pinnacles. Shortly after reaching our vantage point we met a couple of trampers heading back to the hut after an unsuccessful attempt at negotiating the pinnacles. They advised us that it was simply too steep to descend safely and they were unable to find a suitable sidle route. This surprised me a bit as these people appeared to be reasonably fit and experienced trampers Subsequent to the above incident, I have spoken to a few people about Broken Axe Pinnacles: a couple of fit club members advised that they too had been unable to negotiate this hurdle, and a member of the Alpine Club I met while out tramping said “...any competent climber should be able to negotiate the pinnacles without any problem ...”. Yes, he said climber, not tramper.
Okay, time to fast forward a bit. Earlier this month I did a 6-day tramp in the Tararuas with Hazel Roberts (a club member who now lives in the UK). On our fifth day we were travelling south along the ridge from Tarn Ridge Hut across the 3 Kings. We were having a good tramp and the weather had been kind to us (it was cloudless day with a very slight breeze). Our intention was to go down the spur to Baldy, thus avoiding Broken Axe Pinnacles. However, it occurred to us that we should at least have a close look at the pinnacles, and give them a shot if we could find a suitable route over them. We made a quick call via cell phone to our contact person to advise him of our change of plans.
It didn’t take long to reach the pinnacles after passing the turn off to Baldy. The route straight up the main rock face did indeed appear to be too risky to negotiate with packs on our backs. There was no possibility of sidling on the west side of the ridge, however, we did see a possible route to the east. It involved descending to the base of the peak, sidling about a hundred metres, and then climbing quite steeply. We decided to give this route a shot. We put our packs back on, and clambered down through the Leatherwood and Spaniard to the base of the pinnacle. After sidling a short distance we found a chute up the side that we were unable to see from our vantage point, but looked more promising than our chosen route. After changing course, it became obvious that others had been here before us. The ascent involved quite a grovel, but there were some quite handy bits of tussock and leatherwood to assist in our ascent. I was very pleased to reach the top, and felt a definite sense of achievement.
Here is some advice for anybody who is interested in crossing Broken Axe Pinnacles.
- If possible, cross the pinnacles from north to south. It is much easier to climb than descend.
I recommend using the route described above, but you should go for one you are comfortable with. If you’re scared of heights, you won’t find this pleasant. You should avoid being here after dark, or in really bad weather. A good length of prusick cord may come in handy for lowering packs if going in the south-north direction.
One thing that surprises me about the pinnacles is that, unlike the main range, there is no ladder or fixed wire cable in the most difficult part. Perhaps I should make a recommendation to DOC.
Ray Walker 25 Apr. 06