Summer 2013 Gazette - The Alpine Club of Canada

New Zealand a trip to Middle Earthby Bibiana CujecThe email came in May, 2012 frommy friend Helen Sovdat, anACMG guide.“Zac Robinson is going to NewZealand in February 2013 to do researchon Otto Frind’s trip there in 1913. He isgoing to do some climbing in the MountCook area. Do you want to come?”I immediately said yes and startedplanning my schedule to have the timeoff work. Ultimately, we were a group ofseven Alpine Club of Canada members:our guide Helen Sovdat, mountain historianand ACC VP for Activities ZacRobinson, Helen’s long-time climbingpartner Marg Saul, Winnipeg geologistLen Chackowsky, Montreal astrophysicistDavid Hanna, Prince George communitymedicine professor Josée Lavoie, and me,a cardiologist from Edmonton. Since itwould be too late in the season to attemptAoraki-Mount Cook, our plan was toclimb Mount Aspiring, a Matterhorn-likepeak that, at 3,027 metres, is the highestin the southern Alps outside of theAoraki-Mount Cook region. We wouldthen trek (or “tramp” as New Zealanderscall it) in the Mount Cook area.On the 14-hour flight from Vancouverto Auckland we were welcomed to“Middle Earth,” compliments of AirNew Zealand, by characters from TheHobbit who appeared in the airline’s veryentertaining safety video. After a rigorouscheck (and washing!) of our boots andtents by officials on arrival, we connectedto Queenstown on the South Island.There we rented a van and Len drove usto our base hotel in Wanaka with Margwatching carefully lest he forget to driveon the “wrong side.” After we shoppedfor food supplies, Zac and Helen visitedthe Department of Conservation (DOC)to register our itinerary and reserve hutspaces. Thanks to our ACC memberships,we received a significant discount—halfprice huts! The DOC, similar in missionto Parks Canada, has the motto“Conservation for Prosperity.”The next day we drove to MountAspiring National Park. The scenery wasidyllic, with tidy farms in a long valleywhere sheep on the road moved awayslowly to allow the van through. We tooka helicopter to Bevan Col (1,851 metres)on the edge of the park and trekkedacross Bonar Glacier to the Colin ToddHut (1,800 metres), a small metal structurenot unlike the ACC’s Balfour Hut,and one of 950 maintained by the NewZealand Alpine Club and the DOC. Atthe hut we were welcomed by Henri, atransplanted German woman with a Kiwiaccent who was traversing the SouthernAlps solo. We also met our first kea, acolourful parrot that, much like Canadianravens, is a clever scavenger and trickster.After a two-hour shakedownA cheeky kea investigates a backpack outsideColin Todd hut. photo by Marg Saulexcursion where we put a track in thesnow/ice ramp from the hut to the beginningof the Aspiring route, we returnedto the hut in time to catch the eveningradio call from the ranger at AspiringHut in the valley. She routinely checkedup on all the people in the nearby huts,asking their plans for the next day anddelivering a weather forecast. Our groupwas soon known as “Zek’s party of sex,”( Josée joined us later). A storm moved inovernight, keeping us in our bunks untilthe following afternoon. The eveningforecast featured “a high pressure systemlies across the land” followed by “weathertomorrow will be fine.” It was time toclimb to Mount Aspiring, also known byits Maori name Tititea—Glistening Peak.Leaving the hut at 4:30 a.m., we followedour glacier track using headlampsto climb the long low-angle northwestrock ridge, then cramponed up steepsnow to the summit under brilliant blueFrom left, Zac Robinson, Helen Sovdat, David Hanna, Bibiana Cujec, Len Chackowsky and Josée Lavoie take a sun-lube break en route to Mount Sealy, MountCook in the background on the right. photo by Marg Saul