Features...

Top of the Heap

MARK WATSON, editor of The Climber, the journal of the New Zealand Alpine Club, nominates the top 10 New Zealand mountaineers of all time

The recent ascent of Mt Everest by double amputee Mark Inglis prompts the question of just who are New Zealand's greatest climbers.

New Zealand's mountaineering record spans a little more than a century. In that time a great many New Zealanders have shown a pioneering spirit and resourcefulness that has seen mountaineering boundaries pushed time and time again. New Zealand's Southern Alps rank with many of the great ranges of the world in terms of the scale of the mountain faces, the challenges and the objective dangers. Remoteness and volatile weather conditions especially combine to make them a tough proving ground.

The first ascent of Aoraki/Mt Cook by a young, self-taught team was on a par with the top climbs in Europe at the time and in the decades following, New Zealand mountaineers have maintained a level that has seen them consistently rival the standards of the day.

Tom Fyfe

First ascent of Aoraki/Mount Cook
Tom Fyfe was the 24-year-old leader of the party, including Jack Clarke and George Graham, who made the first ascent of Aoraki/Mt Cook on Christmas Day, 1894.

Despite his all round ability, Fyfe's true climbing penchant was for rock and his solo first ascent of the 3199m Malte Brun via its North West Face in March 1894 was audacious for the time, as it was the first peak over 3000m to be climbed. It has been voted one of the most significant ascents in the history of New Zealand mountaineering.

In 1895 Fyfe became the first official Hermitage mountain guide. He made numerous other first ascents in the Aoraki/Mt Cook region including Mts Darby, Footstool, De la Beche and the North Peak of Haidinger.

Peter Graham

'The outstanding mountaineer of his time'
Widely referred to as one of the greatest names in New Zealand mountaineering and mountain guiding, Peter and his almost equally famous brother Alex's climbing careers began in 1896 and coincided with the 'first flowering of New Zealand alpine climbing', from the period 1894 to 1928.

Through his exemplary technique Graham is recognised for founding a doctrine of safe technique and sound judgement that would permeate professional guiding in the years to come. Graham was chief guide at the Hermitage from 1906-1922 and during that time climbed or traversed almost every peak in the region, claiming a great many first ascents.

Samuel Turner

Single-mindedly determined
UK-born produce trader Samuel Turner settled in New Zealand in 1911 at the age of 42. Already a keen mountaineer he engaged in a determined 18 year period of climbing and exploration, claiming some very significant first ascents, many of which were in remote regions. During this period Turner's most notable climbs were the first complete solo ascent of Aoraki/Mt Cook, and the first ascents of Mts Tutoko, Hooker, Hopkins, McKerrow, and the second ascent of Mt Aspiring.

For the majority of these ascents Turner was accompanied by the leading guides of the day, including Peter Graham, Frank Milne and Conrad Kain. Openly criticised in mountaineering literature for exaggerating his achievements and stature, Turner may have been an egotist, but his actions speak loudly.

Harry Ayres

'Master of ice craft'
Credited with teaching Hillary all he knew, Ayres was the greatest guide and ice climber in New Zealand during the 1940s and 1950s. He was initiated into guiding by Frank Alack, a colourful pre-Second World War guide. Perhaps Ayres' most famous first ascent was the South Ridge of Aoraki/Mt Cook, one of the 'last great problems' of that time. The ascent was made with Edmund Hillary, Ruth Adams and Mick Sullivan. Among his other first ascents are Mts Strachan, Lendenfeld, Tasman (via Engineer Col), Malte Brun (first traverse), Haast, Dixon and Magellan. In 1958 Ayres was appointed Chief Ranger to the then newly-gazetted Mt Cook National Park.

Graeme Dingle

Renowned adventurer and standard setter
In 1969 Graeme Dingle and Murray Jones became the first to climb the sextet of classic European North Faces in one season. This achievement thrust them into the limelight and opened the eyes of the New Zealand climbing fraternity to our capabilities as technical climbers.

Dingle's New Zealand climbing achievements are extensive, and include the first ascent of the south face of Mt Hicks, the second ascent of the Caroline Face of Aoraki/Mount Cook and the first ascent of the huge Taipo Wall in Fiordland. Expeditions have taken him to a first winter traverse of the Southern Alps, to the north face of Jannu, to a Himalayan traverse with Peter Hillary. He founded the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre in 1973.

Bill Denz

1970s mountaineering icon
Unconventional and ahead of his time, Bill Denz was New Zealand's most prolific mountaineer of the competitive 1970s. His first solo of Aoraki/Mt Cook's Grand Traverse at 19 opened a chapter of New Zealand climbing that has become a vital part of our heritage.

In a five year period starting from 1970 Denz made 18 major first ascents, first solos and first winter ascents in the Cook area, and a further 18 new routes in the Darran Mountains. Denz believed in picking the biggest and hardest lines and was often partnered with Phil Herron and Murray Judge or Nigel Perry. Later, his career took him beyond New Zealand to Yosemite, Patagonia, Alaska and Nepal, where he stamped his mark on world climbing numerous times. Denz died in 1983 when caught in an avalanche on the unclimbed South West Pillar of Makalu (8462m).

Rob Hall

Inspirational high altitude mountain guide

Bill McLeod

Going it alone
Choosing New Zealand's Southern Alps as his crucible, the reclusive Bill McLeod has emerged as an alpine soloist without peer. McLeod began climbing in the late 1970s. By the mid 1980s he had developed a strong alpine adeptness and ability as a rock climber that would provide a fusion of skills he could apply to the big faces.

From 1984 he made first solos, during winter, of some of the hardest routes in the Aoraki/Mt Cook region, as well as a number of other highly notable first ascents and repeats that he made with partners. His first ascent of the south face of La Perouse with Brian Alder in 1993 is likely the hardest route in the Aoraki Mt Cook area. McLeod also has a name for new routes well off the beaten track, with his solo first ascent of the east face of Mt Townsend in the Hopkins Valley, and first ascent of the south west face of Mt Percy Smith with Peter K Dickson.

Athol Whimp

Attempting the 'last great problems'
Athol Whimp is the only New Zealand mountaineer to win the French Piolet d'Or (Golden Ice Axe) award for a mountaineering achievement. Wimp is an ex-SAS officer and made a number of significant New Zealand ascents in the 1980s-often climbing with Gavin Tweedie. In the early 1990s he began climbing with Australian Andrew Lindblade and made ascents in New Zealand and Patagonia, including a solo of Cerro Torre's Compressor Route. The pair went on to make a cutting edge, lightweight, first ascent of the technical north face of India's Thalay Sagar (6904m) in 1997, for which they won the Piolet d'Or. In 2000 the pair returned to the Himalaya making a fast and light ascent of the north face of Jannu. 2003 saw the pair attempting a new route on the giant west face of Gasherbrum IV (7925m).

Also deserving of mention:

Dan Bryant

Opened New Zealand's connections to the Himalaya and Mt Everest and pioneered some classic routes in the Aoraki Mt Cook region during the 1930s

Lydia Bradey

First solo female ascent of Mt Everest without oxygen, 1988. Many first female ascents in the Southern Alps.

John Nankervis

Prominent first ascentionist with over 20 new routes in the Aoraki Mt Cook region, many in more remote areas.

Nick Cradock

One of the best technical alpinists of the late 1970s and1980s with an extensive New Zealand record of cutting edge first ascents.

Compiling a list of New Zealand's 10 most outstanding mountaineers is a difficult task - there are many who have achieved at a high standard. Mountaineering is a multifaceted challenge and consequently it becomes difficult to weigh one person's achievements with another's, as they may well be playing a different game. Were this to be a list of, say, outstanding first ascentionists purely active in New Zealand, the list would be quite different. I have deliberately kept my criteria wide to cover mountaineering in a fuller context and to represent a range of outstanding achievements.