Skip to main content

West Ridge

Grade
V,4+,12
Length
0m
0
Quality
1.02
First ascent
Laurence Earle, Freda Du Faur, Peter Graham, January 1910
Located on
Topo ref
5.97

A very long climb, recently made slightly more difficult due to rockfall. The lower ridge is straightforward, but some parties have opted to avoid it by sidling on scree on the north side of the ridge, climbing back up to regain the ridge at a col at 2250m. From there, follow the ridge on good rock. At one point, a large chunk of the ridge has fallen off, leaving a notch with a very steep, smooth pillar of rock on the uphill (eastern) side. From the notch, traverse horizontally on the left (north) side – about grade 12, but very exposed – to bypass the difficult rock, then climb up to regain the ridge. The ridge has some sustained sections of climbing before it eases off. Cross the cheval and continue another 200m higher to the summit.


  • P1
  • 12
  • Alpine (Commitment) V
  • Alpine (Technical) 4+

Comments
Mountainmanjacob

In the new unreleased Mt.Cook guidebook the route description for the full West ridge describes a "staunch 18 pitch." I recently climbed Malte via the full West ridge (gained at 1700m) and did not feel like we ever came a cross a pitch of 18 let alone a staunch one.

Tue, 06/03/2018 - 00:46 Permalink
UUID
 
0b96866a-dc9c-4726-b1a6-faf02177123a