At 2000m, the Caroline Face is Aoraki Mount Cook’s biggest, rising mightily to the south east above the Ball Glacier. There are two main routes on the face, of which the Clit Route, rising to Middle Peak, is the most often climbed. It is considered one of the biggest climbing challenges in New Zealand and these days, does not see many ascents. The legendary first ascent, by Peter Gough and John Glasgow in 1970, is part of our climbing folklore.

When word got out that 20-year-old Dave Manning had soloed the Caroline Face this November, the immediate response was a combination of ‘Nice one Dave!’ and ‘Who is he?’ While we can’t tell you about the man, the climb speaks of his perseverance and bravery. Dave shares his experience with Mountainz…

Aoraki Mt Cook with south face on left and Caroline face on right

The Caroline Face had been at the top of my to-do list since climbing Aspiring in July. This would be the third time I’d headed to MCNP with the intention of climbing it. Attempt one was thwarted by boot issues and attempt two was aborted half way up the Ball Glacier as it looked like the ice cliffs were due for a major collapse. Returning two weeks later to see nothing had changed, I assumed this must be how it always looks. Which meant I’d run out of excuses. It looked like there would actually be some climbing this time.

Clit Route with Rockphobic variation

Being a new moon, the rock section didn’t seem like a good idea at 1:30am, and it was also right next to all the ice avalanche action. So access was courtesy of the Caroline Glacier joining back up with the Clit Route just before it flattens off near the ice cliffs at half height. The glacier was a mixture of cautious bridge crossings and fast travel up glacial highways that are avalanche paths, followed by lovely frozen snow threading through cliffs to get back on route. With this came the sun and the most enjoyable part of the day: wandering up a rib of snow, looking down at the shelf, a sea of cloud and, best of all, Ball Pass at 8am.

Sunrise

A snow cone leading into the central ice cliff marked the point Caroline started fighting back. Sticky powder snow was the order of the day and would be the theme for the rest of the face. Ice below this made crampons a necessity and antibots only work if the gap between boot and crampon is not filled with snow. Progress slowed as I slid my way up on two blocks of snow.

Top half of the face

The route sneaks up the side of the major ice cliff at half height and as I approached, things didn’t look that steep. The top half of the face plays a similar trick, managing to hide its true gradient until one is climbing it. As it turned out, I was faced with two 3m vertical steps with epic exposure; the second step was a block of ice that actually overhung the 300m drop to the shelf below. A few overdriven placements later, with the adrenaline pumping and a serious case of the shakes, I was past obstacle number one.

View from below the ice fields with the Ball and Tasman Glaciers far below

Lots more terrible snow, some loose rock and quite a bit later, I reached the top ice fields. One of the problems with soloing is there’s no one to call you a lazy bastard when you stop to admire the scenery every five minutes. On reaching the ice fields, I left the worst snow I’ve ever encountered and met the worst ice. A good few centimeters of excavation was required for a placement and it couldn’t be relied upon to support a crampon. The climbing was nerve-wracking and exhausting but thankfully (and kinda annoyingly) not that steep. Moving between bits of rock to give the calves a rest I gained the ridge under middle peak at 7pm.

Looking up at last section of the face

No great sense of achievement on topping out on the face, I was exhausted and pretty shaken up. The brain had stopped functioning properly many hours before. The original plan had been to head over High Peak and descend to Plateau but it was too late for that so I bivied up top. Which was fantastic - there’s nothing quite like being at altitude when the sun’s coming and going. Another long day took me out via the Hooker. Thank you to whoever put the tracks down that weekend, it made the glacier travel a lot less stressful.

The shadow of Middle Peak