The great OUTC Aspiring take over

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Party: Rowan Cox, Lottie Armstrong, Imogen van Pierce, Liam Pyott, Maddy Whittaker, Torea Scott Fyfe, Olivia Truax, Erin Houlihan, Lucas Zeller, Cara Lembo

It had been two days since I'd finished my 1400km walk of the South Island. I'd been back in civilsation for what I decided was two days too many. It started as a casual conversation with Liam. 
Liam: "Want to go climb something?"
Me: "Most definitely....what about Aspiring?"
Liam: "Yeah sounds good."

Somewhere in the two days between that conversation happening and us driving to Rowan's in Wanaka, the trip changed from a two-person climb to a full-scale OUTC cluster. Lottie and Imogen were driving from Christchurch and Erin, Cara, Lucas and Olivia materialised from somewhere. We got up early to drive out to Raspberry Flat in order to avoid the road blocks that we'd been notified would be going up at 6am for the Wanaka Challenge. However, they were up at 4am! We politely removed the road cones and headed for the hills. We were not going to be stopped!

As we started up the Matukituki, Rowan was quick to lay down the ground rules. "If anyone has to stop to tie a bootlace or something, we're leaving them behind." And so began the journey of getting 10 people up the waterfall slabs and to Colin Todd. It was a wonderful time, catching up with everyone after a summer of separate adventures.


Bevan Col waterfall slabs (Imogen van Pierce)

Aspiring (Imogen van Pierce)

Halfway up towards Bevan Col, Lottie and Rowan had a slight disagreement about route choice. Rowan was determind that his way was the way, while Lottie stubbonly insisted hers was better. And so Rowan and Liam took off one way and the rest of us the other. We arrived at Bevan Col hot and sweaty and miles ahead of the boys. With a pool of beautiful snowmelt water and an iceberg to swim laps of, the mass skinny dipping began. Rowan's expression upon arriving to find seven girls sans clothes was something I won't forget for a while.


Torea swimming with an ice berg on Bevan Col (Imogen van Pierce)

The Bonar (Lucas Zeller)
Lottie the mamma duck leading the charge (Rowan Cox)

Cara approaching Colin Todd (Lucas Zeller)

View from Colin Todd (Imogen van Pierce)

Upon arriving at Colin Todd we were delighted to be welcome by Jane Morris and a client. We spun some good yarns about her good ol OUTC days, admired the 80 year old client who'd given the NW Ridge a solid crack and headed to bed. I slept wonderfully.

We'd split into two teams for the climb - Lottie, Torea, Rowan, Imogn, Liam and myself were getting up at 2am to climb so we could walk out the same day. Cara, Olivia, Lucas and Erin were getting up later and were going to walk out the following day.

To be honest my memories of the NW Ridge are that it was pure type one fun. People say the Buttress is the crux, but I didn't even notice navigating around it in the dark. It all flowed into one delightful scramble.

First light from the NW Ridge (Rowan Cox)


We summitted just after first light. It was atrociously windy. Any exposed piece of skin stung. Buffs were pulled down quickly for a photo and then back down we headed, clag closing in just as we ran into team 2 on our way down and their way up.

The Bonar as seen from the summit 
Torea, Maddy, Liam, Lottie and Rowan on the summit (Imogen Van Pierce)

The Volta (Rowan Cox)

Shapes in the mist (Rowan Cox)

Maddy and Imo descending from the summit cap (Rowan Cox)

The Buttress (Rowan Cox)

We arrived back at the hut to find two blocks of Whittaker's from Jane Morris and a note!  It read  "OUTC Crew: Good to see the club is going strong. Here's a little something to keep you going! Jane M." Liam decided to stay and walk out with the crew the following day (since they were driving back to Dunedin too). We demolished one, left the second for team 2, got out the compass and set off in the clag following a bearing towards Bevan Col.

The lovely note left for us with two blocks of Whittakers from Jane Morris (Rowan Cox).

The walkout blurs into one. It got dark sometime between Aspiring Hut and the carpark. A huge moon rose over the Sharks Tooth and we plodded onwards. 21 hours after leaving Colin Todd that morning we got to the car.

Rowan drove for about 15 minutes and then swapped out. Within about 30 seconds of tapping out he was asleep. Torea was also asleep in the backseat. I drove slowly back to Wanaka, so smashed that I could only drive at 60 km/h in a 100km/h zone. Back at Wanaka, Torea and I crashed on Rowan's floor. No sleeping mat, just straight on the floor. It was one of the best sleeps I have ever had.

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