Free Skiers conquer Mt Cook
In 2005 New Zealander Todd Windle, Austria's Axel Naglich and Frenchman Baptiste Blanc added another peak to their lists of high mountain conquests with a thrilling free ski descent of New Zealand's highest mountain Aoraki, Mt Cook.
The trio, all elite free skiers with extensive experience on some of the world's most challenging descents began their climb at 2.30am to the light of a rising full moon and reached the summit eight hours later. They chose to descend from the West Ridge into the North West Couloir of Mt Cook at 11.45am in the morning, encountering spectacular, crisp, near perfect conditions.
The adventurers were overwhelmed by the beauty at the summit but were wary of spring weather that could have meant ice breaks on the glacier. "It was unreal once we hit the top. Looking out over Caroline Face the adrenalin started pumping. It was really intense at the top as we were exposed to the South Face which is incredibly intimidating," Windle said later.
The climbers had to cope with a grade 3 climb that evolved into a grade 5 near the summit and unlike most similar excursions they had no air transport support. The skiers and their support team trekked all their equipment and food up the mountain. Windle has been free skiing for the past 17 years and although he has already tackled some of the world's toughest mountains, Mt. Cook has always had a mystique that he could not resist. "This has been one of the most challenging and difficult terrains to conquer," he said. "Mt. Cook is not the easiest mountain in the world; in fact it is one of the hardest." Windle now has his eye on the Caroline Face of Mt. Cook, a still to be conquered descent. Naglich, who grew up in Kitzbuehel, one of Austria's most prestigious ski resorts, and idolizing the conquerors of the legendary "Streiff" downhill classic, says it is not the adrenalin rush that drives him to free ski the great mountains, it is the feeling of oneness with nature. He is Austria's most outstanding free skier and has a distinguished international record.
Blanc, has some of Europe's most stunning mountains at his disposal at home in France, but, like his companions, has tested his limits in international descents. Blanc has told reporters that he views free skiing as a battle with himself and contrasts it with traditional alpine ski racing where the racer contests the clock, not the mountain. Aoraki, Mt. Cook, is at the centre of New Zealand's great alpine park. It is set in a harsh landscape of ice and rock in the centre of the South Island among some of the world's most spectacular alpine and glacier scenery. The peaks are an ongoing challenge to professional mountaineers and adventurers. The summit of Aoraki towers 3754 metres and is New Zealand's tallest mountain, formed 2 million years ago by the clash of the Pacific and Indo-Australian Tectonic plates that created the Southern Alps.
Article courtesy of Redbull
