Mauka Atua
(3 routes)
Place info
Mauka Atua
(3 routes)
The name Mauka Atua means 'to stand apart' - an accurate description for the Ben Ohau Range for travelers passing the southern end of the range. The high point of the Ben Ohau Range was believed (incorrectly), to be still unclimbed as recently as 1968.
I now see that I should have recorded in 1948-49 all that I did as an engineer at Pukaki. At various stages I had working for me, W.McFarlane, A.Cookson, E.Hillary, and others who were not really climbers. With MOW vehicles and able to watch the weather, I traversed most of the Ben Ohau Range from Dun Fiunary to Dark Peak in 1948.
Norman Hardie, 1992.
- 2557m
Altitude
The name Mauka Atua means 'to stand apart' - an accurate description for the Ben Ohau Range for travelers passing the southern end of the range. The high point of the Ben Ohau Range was believed (incorrectly), to be still unclimbed as recently as 1968.
I now see that I should have recorded in 1948-49 all that I did as an engineer at Pukaki. At various stages I had working for me, W.McFarlane, A.Cookson, E.Hillary, and others who were not really climbers. With MOW vehicles and able to watch the weather, I traversed most of the Ben Ohau Range from Dun Fiunary to Dark Peak in 1948.
Norman Hardie, 1992.
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The summit of Mauka Atua is a one km long ribbon of narrow ridge. Follow the south branch of Bush Stream until 1450m altitude is reached and choose a route to the summit. The East Face appears broken and loose but excellent progress can be made up a streambed to reach the ridge 500m north of the summit. First ascent uncertain, but climbed by Ross Cullen, March 1989 |
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Follow the bush clad spur north of the obvious stream opposite Kennedy Hut and through snow tussock basins to join the main Ben Ohau ridge just north of Peak 2515, and south along a narrow and airy ridge to the summit. Hugh Nicholson, January 1996 |
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2
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A 1968 ascent of the mountain began in Whale Stream and required a lengthy scramble across the ridge tops and western slopes, apparently making an ascent of Peak 2466 along the way. However an ascent of Mauka Atua in 1948 by Norman Hardie seems likely to have been the first climb of the mountain. Climb from the south to the col between Mauka Atua and Kai Tarau, and finish with an easy scramble to the top. Norman Hardie, 1948 Richard Brasier, Roger Conroy, Bruce Mason, Ken Mason, February 1968 |
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