New Zealand's Matterhorn : Classic Routes on Mt Aspiring

Aoraki/Mount Cook might be higher but Aspiring is possibly the most aesthetic mountain in Australasia. Here's how to climb it!

Alpine Climbing, Hiking Moderate, Difficult

Also in Otago, New Zealand

Description

The highest peak in New Zealand outside the Aoraki/Mount Cook range, Mount Aspiring is, by any standards, a beautiful mountain. At first glance it appears impenetrable but upon closer inspection there are amenable ways up the peak and the 2 most popular routes are described here.

Both routes involve long hut approaches and then some serious mountaineering, but this is New Zealand alpinism - there are no gimmes! The most popular route on the mountain is the Shipowner/North West Ridge from the Colin Todd hut and it's described in this guidebook, as is the approach to the hut. If that route sounds a little too easy for you, the other line described here - the South West Ridge - is a much longer and tougher challenge which will test even the strongest of teams.

Whichever route you choose to take, climbing Aspiring is a huge achievement and one which any climber would be proud of. The same can be said of Aoraki/Mount Cook, and we've got a guidebook to that most famous of peaks too!

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