Aoraki Mount Cook

Yesterday we dragged the drill and equipment across the glacier, set it up in a newly dug pit and made a protective wall of snow blocks. After 10 metres we came to wet ice and decided there was no point to continue. Back to the drawing board.After having further close looks at the radar images, […]

After yesterdays progress, today’s was disappointing. During the night, water had seeped into the drill hole and other technical issues slowed down the drilling. Then from about 45 metres below the surface we pulled up an ice core that was dripping with water. We must have drilled into a water conduit in the glacier. We

By 9am all was set for drilling to start Having dug a pit about 2 metres deep into the snow to find a hard layer for the drill to stand on securely, we were still another 2 metres from the previous summer surface of the glacier that was now under a total of 4 metres

By 8am we were all at the airport loading a huge pile of supplies into a sling net for the helicopter to take up to the Annette Plateau. I went up with the first flight with the job of pointing out our chosen drilling location to our pilot Brendan. Unfortunately the GPS co-ordinates were wrong

 Today I jumped into a helicopter with Lawrence Kees and Alice Doughty from Victoria University Wellington. We flew up to the Annette Plateau to do some further radar work. I took the opportunity to test the snow conditions for securing tents and see if there were any possible snow caving sites nearby as a back-up.

Today the weather was an improvement over the last few days. There was a cold southerly at first after which the skies cleared. We went for a walk up the Hooker Valley, past the Mueller Lake, and up to the Hooker Glacier lake. The mountains on all sides are spectacular, with Mount Cook dominating the

 Today we finally drove over to Mount Cook village. Lawrence Kees The large living area of our base at the New Zealand Alpine Club’s Unwin lodge was soon covered with STUFF. The white boxes are for storing ice cores to keep them frozen as they get transported down from the mountain and into a freezer

Today we flew up to the Annette Plateau in a Pilatus Porter ski plane. We had a big pile of gear – boxes of Radar parts, ice axes, crampons, snow shoes, food and emergency tents, sleeping gear and food. The weather was sunny and still – having expected bitter cold, we had come a bit