North Buttress

Pleasantly exposed and varied mixed climbing. Start on the edge of the East Face, up to some interesting slabs to reach the ridge proper. A short steep section on the ridge, then straightforward climbing. The difficulties can be avoided by beginning up a snow couloir east of the initial tower. “I have used this route to introduce North Island climbing partners to conditions other than steep snow and ice slopes. I recently climbed it with a friend to ‘approximate’ conditions on the summit rocks of Mt Cook. It’s not a great substitute, but it is probably as good as one can get up here, and certainly the rock is as bad as anything at Cook.” – Bruce van Brunt