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Couloir Pk

Type
Altitude
2642m

After Hugh Wright and Jim Murphy abandoned their attempt in 1912, to make the first ascent of Mt Arrowsmith, Couloir wasn’t climbed until 1934. There are several options from Lawrence River. The Couloir is the classic route to the summit of Couloir Peak, pioneered by the redoubtable Stan Conway and Tom Newth and the scene of their legendary 2500-foot fall during a storm on the descent. After their successful climb, an avalanche knocked Tom off his feet, he collided with Stan and they tumbled down the couloir in a long series of arcs, alternately airborne, then pounding into the ice as the rope between them became taught and reined in their flight. Eventually the rope coiled around Tom and the arcing stopped. One last flight saw them clear rocks at the bottom of the couloir before hitting the névé and rolling to a stop millimetres from the edge of a crevasse. Both were injured, with Stan having to be evacuated by horse. Despite this, Tom was able to show up for work the next day and the incident was glossed over – although it was more than 20 years before the route was repeated.

Image
Lat/lon
POINT (170.989752 -43.341222)
Topo50
BW18 371 993
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Routes

Reference Title Grade Length Pro Quality Operations
From Lawrence Valley 2
0
South Gullies 2+
0
SR South Ridge
0
TG The Couloir 3
0
The Big D 16
0

Images

Comments
KevinP

The Big D (10p, 16), first ascent Don French and Kevin Patterson, Feb 2014

Fri, 24/11/2017 - 17:06 Permalink
Attribution
Yvonne Cook and Geoff Spearpoint,
in association with the Canterbury Mountaineering Club
UUID
 
457902e8-122f-445a-9fc4-fd518fa89f09