Date: November 23, 2024
Location: West Wanaka Mountains, West Matukituki, Mount Aspiring National Park, Otago, New Zealand
Total Trip Distance: 12 mi / 19.31 km
Total Elevation Gain: 4,769 ft / 1,453 m
Trip Duration: 7 hours 48 min
Team: Solo
Field Notes: Start at Raspberry Flat and follow the track all the way to the final lookout. Head north following the 820 meter contour until heading uphill in a northwesterly direction, aiming for the small tarn on the map (which has disappeared) at 1,220 meters. From here climb steeply to 1600 meters, sidling steep terrain, until in the basin below the summit. Easy snow slopes lead to a straightforward but exposed scramble along the North Ridge.
Rating: I, 1+
I can’t believe I found myself driving up the West Matukituki again. It’s been the third trip here in the last 5 weeks. However, this time felt different. I didn’t feel recovered from Craigroyston a few days ago.
The last five weeks has seen a lot of hard trips. Specifically, one week ago I put in five thousand meters of climbing, the most I’ve ever done in a week. The following seven days my body has felt exhausted. Since a big injury seven years ago I’ve developed a deeper relationship with my body and am tuned it to what it needs.
We are conditioned to look externally for internal answers. The government, doctors, “science,” God, our parents, our smart watch, teachers, mentors…the list goes on. Everything I mentioned above is a valuable tool and has its place. But Ultimately, there is no wisdom like the wisdom of the body.
The wisdom of the body that has been developed for hundreds of millions of years. Nature has an undeniable rhythm that has been working effectively - forever. And to tune into your body and develop an intimate relationship with is powerful.
Today I broke that practice. I went to bed the night before knowing that I shouldn’t go up the mountain. I should take it easy. But no, the mind has other plans. Typically plans that go against the wisdom of the body.
So at six fifteen in the morning I was off. I crossed the bridge over the Matukituki and headed towards Rob Roy Glacier. It was my first time here and the view was stunning.
As I left the track and followed Rob Roy Stream, a MASSIVE piece of the glacier broke loose above me. When I say massive, it was fucking huge. In that instant I thought, holy shit…what if this runs to the valley? I started wind sprinting uphill. Thankfully, there is a massive shelf at Point 1176 that catches all the debris from the glacier and I laughed out loud.
I continued to move slow and at 1200 meters reached a level area completely filled with size 3 avalanche debris. Whoa. At four hours in I put crampons on. I couldn’t believe how hot it was already. The freezing level was forecasted at 2,000 meters rising to 2,400 meters in the morning. As I climbed higher, the route began to sidle steeper north facing terrain under Point 1917 at roughly 1600 meters.
The snow was already very wet and my foot punched through twice. I took off my cap and wiped a big layer of sweat off my forehead while I looked around. There was avalanche debris everywhere on every aspect. I dug down 50cm in the snowpack to discover that snow was already soaked. The freeze had broken down rapidly.
I still had four hundred meters to the summit and this slope would only get more intense solar radiation as the sun moved from East to West. There’s a good rule I picked up from Cody Townsend: go until it doesn’t make sense anymore.
It didn’t make sense anymore. I also wasn’t having fun either, so I bailed. I don’t think the chances of getting in an avalanche this day was absurdly high, but in that moment I genuinely didn’t want to be on that mountain. My body sent me a strong message before the climb that I ignored. I wasn’t going to do it again.
I felt it was getting risky, for no reason, and emotionally and physically I wasn’t there. So why the fuck would you go on? If you never listen to your intuition you will never know the truth about yourself. You will spend your entire life looking out.
Turning around in the mountains is a skill, not an error. Paul Newman said it best, “sometimes having nothing is a pretty cool hand.” Human beings would be the only animal on the planet that would judge or shame themselves (or another) when walking away from a potentially dangerous situation.
The mountains for me is a sacred place. A place of worship and a place of freedom. It’s where I go to get in touch with reality and what is true. For it to remain that way for me, I need to go when I feel inspired and stay home when unmotivated. Climb higher when there is alignment between body, soul, and mountain and go home when there is division.
Enjoy your life and as always, happy days…
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