The group reunited in Wanaka and immediately said goodbye to Stephen, Brendon, Matt and Jeffrey. That left Maria, Henry, Jenny and myself for our next adventure over the new year period. We chose Mt Brewster as the objective having received a recommendation from Alistair, and it seemed like a climb within our ability from the route description and grade. We did the shopping and set off.
Mt Brewster is most often accessed from Brewster Hut. There are no other significant peaks to be climbed from Brewster Hut so we carried only three days food. Nevertheless our packs still felt heavy as we ascended the ridgeline from the carpark on Haast Pass Rd.
The following day brought an alpine start and walk across the tussock by torchlight. Jenny had scouted the route the previous afternoon and led the way through some steep grassy slopes below the ridgeline and down to Brewster glacier. We put on crampons and continued across the ice. The previous day we had decided on the West ridge of Brewster because it had the most accessible grade. However, this wasn’t the closest route to the hut and required a glacier traverse.
The further we went the clearer it became that the conditions weren’t ideal. The freezing level had been high during the night so we frequently broke through the thin crust, and being a warm day the snow conditions were only set to get worse.
But we were there so we continued up the West Ridge of Mt Brewster. At first it seemed like the ideal route for our skill level; enough to challenge us but not enough for us to be fearing death every step of the way. Soon it seemed that we were about to get to the summit. False peaks can be heartbreaking, but in this case it was just annoying; as we reached the top we saw that there was in fact a saddle and higher peak to the East.
The nature of the terrain changed considerably at this point. We had been climbing sections of steep snow with safe(ish) runouts on a relatively broad ridge. On the other hand, the ridge across the saddle and up to the higher peak was narrow, mainly loose rock and had a 200m death fall on either side.
We started across this ridge with some apprehension. It was easy ground so we were soloing, but we were moving slowly, being careful with each hand or foot placement on the loose rock. It wasn’t too long before we came to a 10m drop that would require an abseil.
We had a discussion at this point about our potential options. Abseiling and continuing on wasn’t particularly wise due to the lack of a solid anchor, as well as the nature of the ridge itself. We didn’t have rock gear with us and the return journey would therefore require us to prussik back up the rope over very sharp rock – not ideal. The suggestion was also raised that we could potentially abseil the whole way down the face of the mountain from where we were – this was dismissed because it would require going off route to abseil several hundred meters of steep, unknown and loose ground. So the decision was made to turn around and reverse the route. I was happy with this decision as it meant we could leave the mildly perilous ridge between the peaks.
On the return journey, the snow was noticeably softer and by the time we were back at the glacier we were sinking in with every step. This is quite tiring for the person going first so we took it in turns. Somewhat disheartened by our return without a summit, we decided to walk up Mt Topheavy – a lesser, close by peak. It was not difficult to reach, nevertheless it was a hot and tiring task in the soft snow. Once at the top, Jenny impressed us all yet again with her ability to snooze in any conditions. Walking back towards home (or at least the hut), we decided to make a stop at a lake at the bottom of the glacier to cool off. It was a good swim – although somewhat brief – and with varying degrees of enthusiasm about entering the water from the various members of the team. It wasn’t too much longer before we were back at the hut and making dinner. Despite assurances that we’d stay up for midnight and the beginning of 2020, we were all in bed by 9:30 pm.
