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South East Face

Type
Face
Part of
Vampire Pk

South East Face of Vampire Peak

Aspect
South East
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Routes

Reference Title Grade Length Pro Quality Alert Operations
1 1Notforustwo, 5 5 0m
1.02
  • P1
  • Alpine (Mt Cook) 5

Vampire’s left fang. The line starts beside a big block, then weaves through to a prominent pillar in a gully, then straight up to the top of the South Peak.

2 2Far From The Madding Crowd, 5- 5- 0m
0
  • P1
  • Alpine (Mt Cook) 5-

Ascend the obvious deep, broad gully to the left of the summit for 12 rope lengths.
3 3Nosferatu, 6- 6- 0m
0
  • P1
  • Alpine (Mt Cook) 6-

Follow the gully which starts on the left side of the lowest rock buttress beneath the summit. The climb eases back after five rope lengths. Further up an obvious snow ramp leads left to gain the main summit gully. Follow this up to exit 30 metres left of the summit. Fifteen rope lengths in all. Descend via the snow ramp NE of Burns.
4 4Bram Stoker, 5- 5- 0m
0
  • P1
  • Alpine (Mt Cook) 5-

An obvious deep cut gully that starts just right of the lowest point of rock beneath Vampire. Well up the face the gully ends, but the route continues tending left. Exit on the ridge just beneath summit tower. Eleven rope lengths.
5 5Swiss Virgins, 4+ 4+ 0m
0
  • P1
  • Alpine (Mt Cook) 4+

Ascend a couloir right of Bram Stoker for six rope lengths to reach the Divide north of the summit.

 Single and Searching, V,6,WI5,M6 V,6,WI5,M6 500m
0

Start up 'Far from the maddening crowd' a few pitches, to where the angle kicks back, then at the first opportunity, break up the right hand wall, aiming for the obvious ice hose spilling down the steep cliffs near the summit. Climb initially thin curtains of ice to easier angle ground. Continue up past another crux (thin pillar), which on the FA was bypassed by tenuous mixed climbing on the right - with a dry tooling traverse back left to rejoin the gully just above the pillar - then continue up good WI2 - 3 to the base of the hanging crux pillar on the headwall. Mixed climbing to M6 for a few metres on the right, then step left onto the pillar and continue up with angle gradually easing to WI4. The first 10m of this pitch were rope soloed on the first ascent (otherwise ropeless). Continue up steep water ice then steep snow slopes to top out shortly SW of the summit. On FA, Descent was by downclimbing snow slopes/gullies on W face vampire, then walking to Bernard Col and downclimbing the couloir and snow slopes back to the base of Vampire. See NZAJ 2020 for details.

  • P1
  • Alpine (Technical) 6
  • Alpine (Commitment) V
  • Water Ice WI5
  • Mixed M6
  • 500m
 Twilight, WI3 WI3 0m
0

7 pitchs to WI3, topping out on the ridge and rapping the route. Sometimes thin ice during the first ascent.

  • P1
  • Water Ice WI3

Images

Comments
Peter Dickson

By the way that corner route marked as #5 in the pic would make an outstanding modern mixed alpine climb.
Most of the corner gets enough ice to climb easily, but the top pitch is overhanging on the right hand side of the corner. The ice there is thin or relatively non-existant. But a modern climber interested in mixed, and hooking on rock, would find this route an absolute delight. The last pitch is the crux. Its probably an Alpine grade 5 depending on conditions.

Wed, 21/09/2011 - 01:26 Permalink
Peter Dickson

Check with Carol Nash or Rob Blackburne but I believe that corner marked on the pic as route 5 is still unclimbed.

Considering it was graded 4+ my best guess is that Swiss Virgins climbs easier ground to the LHS on that upper glacial shelf.

Thu, 15/09/2011 - 18:08 Permalink
UUID
 
12ec2cea-3742-4eb4-b0e2-8b83e33f7dea