South Face

Follows a vague gully on the left side of the face, finishing a little over half way up Pioneer Ridge.

Where it all began—a classic and highly recommended climb. Follow the narrow couloir that gradually widens and meets the central arête. Continue up, traverse right into the upper Central Gully just above the crux in that line, and on to the summit. The Left Hand Gully is quite a bit easier than the Central Gully, being less steep overall. Remember that in 1968 when the first ascent was made, they still climbed ‘in balance,’ using straight picks so that you had to hold the shaft of the axe out from the ice to prevent the pick popping out. Short ropes, pitons, primitive ice protection—an amazing first ascent.

A creative line that runs up the right-hand front face of the central buttress to the central snow arête and finishes up the upper Left Hand Gully.

A variation to the Central Couloir route that traverses from the right to the left couloir lower than the original line does, hence missing the central couloir, and involving four pitches of new ground to reach route 11.58. Dave and Lynn had decided to put the belay out of the gully on that left wall and were just missed by large rockfall in the RH Gully so they decided to carry on that line. It was previously named Interceptor in 2003 when climbed by Grant Piper, Paul Scaife, Andrew Haugh, Oct 2003 not realising it had been previously climbed.

Follow the lower Right Hand Gully to near the foot of the obvious narrow notch (at two thirds height), and then traverse up and left, below the headwall of the Central Gully, to cross over the central arête, finishing up Route 11.58.

This is one of the great ice climbs of New Zealand—a perfect line on a beautiful face.
Follow Route 11.61 as far as the first section of the leftwards traverse into the Central Gully. Here there are two pitches of steep ice. The first is around 80 degrees and usually forms as water ice. The second pitch gradually relents, and then moderate ground leads to the summit. Abseiling the route has become popular on V threads, which has the added advantage of bringing you back to your skis, but think carefully about whether this is feasible for you on the lower pitches, which can collect a lot of snow. Legend has it that a party, while retreating from just below the crux, dropped both their ropes and had to downclimb the lower pitches.

Climb the gully to an obvious deep notch, which can be ascended or else avoided using a ramp on the left, and then exit via a wide couloir onto the Ayres Ridge. A good route if you like climbing notches.

Follow the rock rib, right of the Right Hand Gully, which joins the Ayres Ridge.

An unrelenting ridge between Mt Haidinger and Douglas Peak, with many rock towers varying in soundness. The final rise to the summit of Douglas is probably the hardest section and can be avoided on the east.
In 1977, Dave McNulty described this as the most technically sustained section of the Elie to Harper Saddle traverse, a view affirmed by Phil Penney and Allan Uren during their 1990 winter traverse.