Solo attempt of the South Face of Taranaki

Taranaki, at 2,518m is the second highest mountain in the North Island. It’s also second in another statistic… of all the mountains in New Zealand, Taranaki rates as the second deadliest after Aoraki-Mt Cook. Its proximity to the coast brings with it rapidly changing weather, a reputation for nasty rime ice, and its picturesque conical shape belies the steepness of its upper slopes. Add to this its easy accessibility and you have a potentially dangerous mix. I have made two previous spring attempts on the South Face with neither resulting in the bagging of a summit. On both occasions, day trips from my home in at the time in Wanganui,  the cloud rolled in quickly from the sea and the spring corn snow began to quickly freeze over and with the prospect of absolutely zero view at the summit I turned tail and headed down again.

In October 2014, I headed back again.

I’ve always had a dream of trekking in the Himalayas but until recently hadn’t really thought much about whether doing any serious climbing was a possibility without the expense and time commitment of joining an expedition to one of the more well-known peaks. Earlier this year, I decided that the time had come to put dreams into reality. After a bit of research and talking about the experiences of a work colleague (who was also part of my Oxfam Trailwalker team) who climbed Island Peak / Imja Tse in April I figured out a plan, found an agency and booked myself a trip. So, in late March 2015, I head to Nepal for a three week trek of the Everest Base Camp circuit and finish it off with an attempt on the summit of 6,119m Lobuche East.

Better do some serious training then…

I pencilled in a weekend in October to return to Taranaki. My plan was to set out from Dawson Falls Visitor Centre (900m) on a Friday afternoon and ascend up to Syme Hut atop Fanthams Peak at 1,960m. That would allow plenty of time for a morning attempt on the summit via the South Face before returning to Dawson Falls.

Early in the week a late winter storm cycle blasted up the country and I didn’t commit myself until the day before. This same week, there were daily news articles online on the inquest into the deaths of two climbers caught out by a rapid change in the weather close to the summit. This gave a grim reminder that Taranaki is not a mountain to ever be taken lightly.

With such a relaxed schedule there was no rush to get up the mountain. I treated it like any other workday, getting up at my usual time. Before hitting the road there was time to hit up iconic Wellington eatery Floriditas for some of their amazing bacon and eggs. Just the ticket to fill the stomach before an uneventful four hour drive to Dawson Falls. Not surprisingly, the naming feature of my destination is a waterfall. A very pretty, 18m high drop in the midst of some beautiful native bush.  Very much worth the short walk down, and then back up again for some photos before hitting the trail proper. 

I had been half expecting to arrive to an empty carpark. But with some fairly nice weather on one of the last days of the school holidays, the carpark and visitor centre was a hive of activity. Mostly day-trippers out for picnics though, and as I kitted up my climbing gear attracted questions from curious children and adults alike. Things quickly quietened though.  Stepping into the bush away was like stepping out of civilization. I encountered one person on the track after 10 minutes, but they would be the last person I’d see until the next afternoon.

The climb up from Dawson Falls is a bit of a prick really. It is a constant climb, and some bureaucrat has had the wisdom to basically build steps all the way up to about 1,700m. An annoying feature going up… absolutely hell on the knees coming down!! But the scenery is enough to take the mind of the regulatory nature of how each step must be taken. For the first couple of hundred metres, the track ascends through moist ‘goblin’ forest of native trees shrouded in moss before transitioning to sub-alpine scrub that gets lower and lower until the steps finish and the scoria slopes begin. The best part of the next hour was basically a grovel of one step forwards and half a step backwards on the loose scoria until reaching solid snow and ice and finally the crampons could go on.

The first snow climb up to Fanthams Peak brought back some good feelings. It had been over 12 years since I’d done any serious climbing but my French technique came back to me just like riding a bike. There’d be no front points through clothing or flesh today! I had left late enough in the day that the snow was firm and crisp under foot and as I reached the top of Fanthams Peak, the sun was low in the sky, silhouetting Syme Hut off in the distance quite magically.

I was a little bit relieved that the hut was completely exposed. If visiting for the first time, it pays to know where the door is, as it is often buried under snow or a coating of heavy ice. On my last visit I had to spend a good half hour digging my way into the top half of the split barn style doors. I also had the hut to myself, the first visitor for two weeks according to the hut intention book. Settling in, I boiled up some water in my new Jetboil Flash and sat down to a dinner of delicious Back Country Cuisine roast chicken and mashed potato, washed down with a cold can of Heineken (a straggler that had fallen out of my golf bag at some point and was still rolling around the car boot. Why not I thought… what’s another 400gm to carry up if it means I can enjoy a cold beer with dinner after an afternoon hiking!). 

After dinner it was out with the camera gear to capture the sunset… one of the other reasons I’d planned to spend the night up here instead of making a rushed day visit.

As I turned in for the night I set my alarm for 4:30am reasoning that if I make a nice early alpine start, I should be treated to a spectacular sunrise up on the high slopes too. It does take a bit of effort to extract oneself from a nice warm sleeping bag, especially when the condensation has frozen on the inside of the huts windows. I got myself moving though and set off under headlamp to just the sound of a light wind and crunching of boots on snow.

From Syme Hut, the route descends 60m to Rangitoto Flat before the climb proper begins. I had a choice here to tackle the South Face directly or to sidle a bit to the west to Skeets Ridge. Given that the going was already quite icy I decided that the best option was to stick to the South Face. 

After an hour of climbing the sun began to crack the eastern horizon and I paused for a moment to take in the beautiful pink glow of the mountain below me. This was pretty much the highlight of the morning. From about 2,200m I entered Taranaki’s notorious rime ice garden.

As I ascended higher and higher, the ice beneath my feet became increasing more brittle. With rime ice forming in thin layers, it reached the point where every second or third foot placement would result in the top layer breaking away and my foot slipping an inch or two before the crampon teeth would bite. At around 2,400m, just 100m or so below the crater rim (from which the summit would be easily attainable) I found myself again in a situation of questioning just how badly I wanted to reach the summit. Here I was on a slope of between 45 and 50 degrees steep with exposure that meant a fall would have very serious consequences. Serious injury was a certainty… death a very likely possibility. If I could place protection, the risks would be manageable, but I was climbing solo and light, so I made the decision to bail and head down. It was a shame on such a beautiful morning to be turning around but the mountain will always be here and I will just have to keep returning until the conditions all fall in my favour.

The downclimb was frustratingly slow. With the slope too steep and icy to comfortably walk down  it was face in to the slope and three points of contact at all times back down through the rime garden. At this point I regretted only bringing a single ice axe. Having two tools would have made this section so much quicker. The first 150m of descent took nearly an hour and a half, through which I focused on reaching a small depression in the slope where I could take off my pack and rest for a bit. Below this point I could walk normally again and the next 200m of descent took only 20mins. The last 50m or so back to Rangitoto Flat offered up a safe run-out area so it was down on the bum for a fun and fast little glissade. 

Safely reaching Syme Hut again, I brewed up a coffee and sat in the sun to reflect on the choices that I’d made. I’m happy that they were the right choices for the conditions though.

After packing up all my surplus gear that I’d left in the hut whilst climbing, I set back off for the long descent back to Dawson Falls. No more than 15 minutes after leaving I came across two groups heading up. I’d picked my days right. Friday night I’d had the hut to myself… Saturday night was looking like it was going to be a little crowded.

I encountered another group at the Hooker Shelter just above the bushline. Three middle aged women all laden down with packs that looked like they contained enough provisions for a month. We got to talking and they were headed into Lake Dive Hut for the night. They seemed a little incredulous when they asked where I’d come from and I said Syme Hut after attempting the summit this morning. They were only just sitting down for lunch and I was pretty much done for the day!

I was pretty shattered by the time I made it back down to Dawson Falls. Not much sleep followed by seven hours of good honest physical exertion meant I wasn’t exactly looking forward to another four hours in the car driving back to Wellington. I did feel that I’d earned myself a sneaky feed of McDonalds in Wanganui on the way!

Edit: A short video from the climb...

Mt. Taranaki - October 2014 from Adrian Rumney on Vimeo.

Gear:

Rough gear list for this climb:

Scarpa Mont Blanc GTX boots;

Black Diamond Epic 45 pack

CAMP Ice Rider Fast crampons

Grivel Jorasses ice axe

Black Diamond Couloir harness

Black Diamond Vector Helmet

Mammut Masao shell jacket

Black Diamond Stance Belay Hoody jacket

Marmot Tamarack shell pants

Macpac Solstice sleeping bag

First Aid Kit

Icebreaker merino beanie

Rab Latok Alpine gaiters

Rab Latok gloves

Macpac Stretch gloves

Garmin Etrex 20 gps

Kathmandu headlamp

Black Diamond Orbit lantern

Jetboil Flash (with coffee press!!) cooker

Macpac and Icebreaker thermal underwear (top and bottom)

Black Diamond Deploy 3 snow shovel

Julbo Pipeline L sunglasses

Black Diamond Ultra Distance trekking poles

2 x Macpac 1L water bottle

Jetboil fuel,

Coffee mug

Food – 3 days worth of Back Country cuisine freeze dried, a couple of pork pies, coffee, 1 bar of chocolate and snacks (dried fruit and jetplanes)

Canon 40D camera

Benro carbon tripod

Various filters, spare batteries.