On the 26th January 2005, together with Vanessa Wills, we climbed Mt Green from Tasman Saddle Hut.  Mt Green is 2847m and sits on the main divide in the Southern Alps of New Zealand.  We climbed the East Face NE Ridge (Main Divide) route.   This route is rated as a grade 2.  We did not pitch any of the route, thus climbed fast.  However there is exposed places where you do not want to fall, so considerable care must be taken.

We left the Tasman Saddle hut around 4:30AM and made our way over the Tasman glacier and thorugh a maze of slots to get our way onto the South East Ridge .  We passed a rope of two (young Australian chaps) who were sitting down on the glacier in the dark disoriented and could not find their way to the base of the South East Ridge ridge through the crevasses.  They had been sitting there since 4AM.

After getting to the base of the ridge, a large schrund has to be crossed.  It took us an hour to work our way up this and onto the upper exposed section of the ridge itself.  Here the climb becomes more interesting as the ridge turns into quite a steep arête.  There is nice exposure off each side if you wanted to fall.  We climbed this carefully, roped up for glacier travel and ready to jump off the opposite side of the ridge if the other partner fell to one side.   It took around 15 minutes  to bypass this section before we were off the ridge  and onto the col between Mount Walter and Mt Green.  Here we cached some gear.  We then set-out onto the East Face.  After 50 meters or so another large schrund needed to be crossed.  We chose to climb the steeper more exposed section further south on the face where the schrund is easier to cross.  The east face is around 200-250m of 60 degree snow up  onto the summit ridge.  The summit is heavily corniced so we stayed away from the edge.  It was a beautiful day with lovely views from the summit.

There was a guided party descending as we were, so we joined our two 60m ropes and made one long 120m rappell back down the East Face to the Col.  We then very carefully down climbed the South East Ridge then waded back through the crevasses on the Tasman glacier to reach the Tasman Saddle hut at 12:30PM.   A really nice climb, done in good style. Below is some photo’s.

View of Mt Green from Tasman glacier, our route marked in red. (route though crevasses is approximate only)

Vanessa Wills crossing the schrund at the base of the south east ridge.

East face as seen from the Col between Mt Walter and Mt Green. Our route up the east face shown in red.

Working up the east face of Mt Green

On the summit ridge - note this ridge is heavily corniced to the left side of photo.

On the summit of Mt Green - Mt Cook over my left shoulder

Vanessa Wills prepares to rappel the east face.

Looking back at the south east ridge over my shoulder on the descent

Vanessa Wills descending the south east ridge

Relaxing in the sun on the rock outside Tasman Saddle hut.