Southern Alps: Mount Tasman

0 ft

Elevation

N.Z.

Country

Days

3A

Difficulty

Late Oct

Start

Late Dec

End

About the Mountain

WHY CLIMB IT?

Mount Tasman (11,473 ft) is the second-highest mountain in New Zealand, though it is known for being even harder than its higher up neighbor, Aoraki Mount Cook (12,316 ft), which is in turn harder than Liberty Ridge on Mount Rainier. There are no non-technical routes up Mount Tasman, but there are a variety of technical routes ranging from difficult to unimaginably hard. Anyone hoping to reach the summit should have significant mountaineering experience and advanced glacier travel and crevasse rescue skills. The Base Camp for Mount Tasman is the Plateau Hut, which is also used for Aoraki Mount Cook. Some climbers shorten the journey by taking a helicopter or plane up to this point, though this can make proper acclimatization challenging.

“Tasman is a classic narrow snow ridge, snow arete kind of climb. It’s super exposed so it gets fewer ascents than Aoraki.”

- Tim Robertson

Mount Tasman is located in a protected national park covering 170,000 acres. Nearby are 140 peaks over 6,600 ft (2,000 meters) and 72 named glaciers. Standing on one of Mount Tasman’s famously icy and exposed ridges, you’ll have incredible views of this unique landscape, which only get better as you work your way towards the summit. If you don’t explore Aoraki Mount Cook National Park before your ascent, be sure to do some recovery hikes there afterward. Each hike in the region is so different from the next that you’ll feel transported to a completely different paradise, even though you can see Mount Tasman’s sharp peak in the distance.