First climb of face route

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33740, 13 January 1975, Page 12

First climb of face route

(From Our Own Reporter) TIMARU, Jan. 12. i The right-hand route of ! the north face of Mount ! Hicks (10,443 ft was climbed for the first time , at the week-end, a little more than two years since the direct south face, one of New Zealand’s three most technically difficult ascents, was conquered. The duty ranger at Mount Cook National Park headquarters (Mr D. Massam) said that the rock climb of the right-hand route of the north face, which required a high degree of technical skill, began on Friday. The climbers. Messrs J. Santini (Australia), N. Sisson (Wellington), and M. English (Invercargill), spent the night

near the top of the north I face, a 1500 ft climb, vertical for the first two or three rope (lengths (about 300 ft) with the balance consisting of good i climbing. | The face is made up of [three obvious routes, but the ascent by the right-hand route had not been done before, said Mr Massam. The three men reached the summit on Friday but low cloud • forced them to bivouac below the summit on the des1 cent. The party came out on Saturday into the Hooker ' Valley. 'i Mr Massam said that con- ■ ditions for rock climbing had been good, as had been the •weather, except for low ' cloud which descended in the ' evening. The rain had not' • worried the party unduly. I

The ascent of the face was slow initially because the three men had had to haul their packs up by rope. The actual climb from the bottom of the face to the top had taken nine hours. There have been three ascents on the north face of Mount Hicks but none bv this route. The direct south face was ’climbed in December. 1972,! |by Messrs E. Kummer. W Denz. and P. Gough. Theirs I ;was a variation on the face route, between the two but-1 presses of the face. : An ascent of the Sheila | Face of Mount Cook was also: 'made at the week-end bv Messrs J. Barrett (Christichurch) and Meier. The two 'men also climbed Mount • Hicks by the standard route.