On the upper north-eastern side of Pinnacle Ridge and visible peeking over from the NZAC hut are a number of steep, easily accessible routes that offer interesting and challenging climbing.
Routes
| Reference | Title | Grade | Length | Pro | Quality | Alert | Operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moonage Daydream, 13,M2 | 13,M2 | 45m | |||||
Starts up a corner on The Gnome and leads to a short steep wall (crux 13) and then an easy ridge and a final steep pitch to the summit. There is a straightforward downclimb to the west. |
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| Wave of Phase, 14,M3 | 14,M3 | 60m | |||||
A two-pitch (25m, 35m) mixed route on the South Tower starts from the toe of the tower and ascends trickier-than-it-looks and rather loose rock to a belay on the large ledge in the middle of the face. Pitch 2 continues up the obvious wall on very nice rock (crux 14). The descent involves an abseil (15m) down the north side. |
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| Cosmic Jive, 16,M4 | 16,M4 | 45m | |||||
On the Central Tower, the route starts with a traverse above easy ground to the start of the route, heads up and right around the prow of the buttress and then up a steep wall with sustained moves (crux 16). This leads into a corner system that provides interesting climbing to the summit. The descent is a 20m abseil to the north. |
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| Religiously Unkind, 16 | 16 | 65m |  |
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A two-pitch (40m and 25m) summer rock route up a reasonably safe line to the left of the chimney. Descent was via a 30m abseil to the southwest. |
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| Road to Purgatory, 14,M3 | 14,M3 | 25m | |
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On the North Te Herenga Tower, climb the short offwidth to the first icefield, continue up until and through a short gully and through another icefield to the bottom of a short face. Once this is climbed (crux) another short icefield leads to a horn belay. This route was originally climbed to retrieve ropes stuck after an ascent of Religiously Unkind. Take large cams, wires and sling threads. |
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| Snow White Tan, WI2 | WI2 | 120m | |||||
On the Arrowhead Buttress, start on the left side of the lower buttress and ascend the obvious ice flow. Then follow a broad snow gully tending left into a narrow couloir, where it is necessary to either climb the ice or bridge up the rock walls. The route pops over an adjoining snow ridge and up an easy gully to a very loose summit. The descent continues over the summit. |
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| Tigers on Vaseline, 15,M4 | 15,M4 | 115m | |||||
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This climb on the Arrowhead Buttress is a superb route. The descent is a 25m abseil down the western side from the notch.
Begin on the north side of the lower buttress and climbs through a small overhang (crux 15) and up easier but interesting climbing to the nose of the buttress, where it steepens again (crux 12) to an airy belay.
Continues along the blocky level portion of the ridge across a cheval to a belay on the small saddle at the toe of the upper buttress.
Climb directly up from the saddle on steep ice / mixed ground to the left of the rock buttress, leading to easier ground. The climb then finishes up a short ice gully with a loose rock wall at its head. The summit is very loose and exposed, and it requires some work to hook axes over the top and peer over before retreating to a better belay stance at the notch to the north of the summit. |
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| Leper Messiah, WI3 | WI3 | 100m | |||||
A two pitch climb on The Shield, destined to become a classic. From the centre of the face, tend left toward the snow arête and up 50 degree ice to a belay. Pitch 2 heads up a short steep ice wall (crux) then tends right across the ice shield. Above this, the terrain relents from 60 to 50 degrees. The final part of the climb is up a 60 degree gully to the summit. Descend via either a 10 m abseil down the west side or a steepish down climb also to the west from the south end of the summit block. |
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