2. NZ
  3. South Island
  4. Darrans
  5. Darran Mountains
  6. Mt Patuki
  7. North East Face

North East Face

(6 routes)

The North East Face is above Lake Turner. There is some good rock, especially at the northern end of the wall. There are six routes.
Descent is either by the snow couloir (Original Line), which can get quite broken later in summer, or via the gully at the north end of the wall (requires a couple of abseils).

Type: 
Face (Alpine)
Aspect: 
North East
Reference Title Grade Length Quality Bolts Gone Natural pro Link to edit content
1 Original Line 250m
0
Climb the couloir from the snowfield under the North East Face. The first ascent party accessed the face from the Tutoko Valley via Pakihaukea Pass.
John Findlay, Lindsay Stewart, Roland Rodda, Ian Whitehead, Easter 1940
2 Penney Uren 250m
0
Climb the buttress on the right (north) of the main couloir.
Phil Penney, Alan Uren
3 Short Cut 17,20,18,16,19,19 305m
1.02
 wire representing trad 2
Route climbs mostly red rock 80m left of the “Turner Vass”. Start at low point left of hanging snow patch and left of large right facing corner. Good route over all however pitch 2 is seriously loose and another variation should be done to avoid this.
#EwbankAlpine (Technical)Alpine (Commitment)Alpine (Mt Cook)AidWater IceMixedBoulder (Hueco)LengthBoltsTrad
11750mYes
 

P1: Climb up fist crack and then right facing corner to ledge. Move right to belay in middle of left facing corner.
22060mYes
 

P2: step right of belay and climb easy slabs to red bulge. Climb up left of red rock. Take any gear you find as next wall has lots of loose flakes and rock. Carefully up this to belay at large spike on large boulder. * would recommend doing this pitch differently as loose section is very dangerous. Could climb vegetated but ok looking crack to the left or try hanging groove further right.

31850mYes
 

P3: step right of large chimney and climb steep hanging flake. When this ends drift right into splitter cracks and up them.
41650mYes
 

P4: straight up for gear then step left past block and climb fun cracks to belay.

51950mYes
 

P5: up easy ground to steep crack. Climb up crack to technical bulge, above this climb to top of obvious flake. Drift left and up for 5m to great belay stance on the buttress.
61945mYes
 

P6: climb arete straight up. A little run out but phenomenal climbing. From here a short scramble to the ridge.

Bruce Dowrick, Llewellyn Murdoch, January 2022
4 Turner Vass II 21 300m
2.01
Five pitches. The route starts to the left of an obvious left-slanting chimney crack. After the first pitch, cross the chimney crack on to the steep wall (crux), and continue straight up the red wall, finishing just north of Pt 2223m. Fantastic gear, great outing.
Rich Turner, Dave Vass, February 2001
5 Thomson Turner Vass II 20 300m
1.02
 wire representing trad
Five to six pitches in the centre of the large shield of rock at the north end of the face.
Dave Vass, Rich Turner, Rich Thomson, February 2009
Mainly Tramping 19 250m
0
Climbs the north-east buttress of Mt Pātuki to the outlier sub-peak Pt 2161m. Six pitches. Descend either by scrambling to the summit and then down the Original Route couloir, or down the gully between Pt 2161m and Pt 2223m (requires a couple of abseils).
Ruari Mcfarlane, Tom Riley, Mark Watson, March 2021
Attribution: 
The Darran Mountains (NZAC: 2006) by Craig Jefferies

This place appears in

UUID: 
ec3c704e-c407-4cb7-80f1-cbcb9776c90c