GUNUNG · Selandia Baru

Mount Tasman

Mount Tasman (Rarakiura)

Information

Elevation: 3.497 m
Country: Selandia Baru (NZ)
Location / Range: Southern Alps (Kā Tiritiri o te Moana), Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, South Island
Mountain type: Greywacke and granite peak (non-volcanic) — the second-highest peak in New Zealand
Volcanic?: No (non-volcanic)
Coordinates: -43.5660, 170.1570
Difficulty: Fully technical — snow and ice alpine mountaineering with glaciers, mixed ice-rock pitches, and rapidly changing weather. Not a non-technical climb; crampons, ice axe, harness, and glacier experience are mandatory. Most climbers hire an NZMGA-licensed guide
Best Season: November–March (New Zealand summer): the most stable snow conditions and longest daylight hours. Outside this season conditions become highly alpine and dangerous
Permits & Rules: No special permit for climbing; climbing intentions must be logged with the DOC Visitor Centre Aoraki/Mount Cook. Huts such as Plateau Hut require booking via DOC. Most climbers use licensed guiding services
Hazards: Glacier hazards (hidden crevasses, serac avalanches), brittle and unstable greywacke rock, very rapidly changing alpine weather, white-out fog, hard ice on steep slopes, and avalanche risk. The mountain has a record of fatal accidents

Description

Mount Tasman (3,497 m) is the second-highest peak in New Zealand, standing alongside Aoraki/Mount Cook in the heart of Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park on the South Island. Named by geologist Julius von Haast in 1862 to honour Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, it was first climbed in 1895 by Tom Fyfe, Jack Clarke, and George Graham — a year before Aoraki itself was summited. Unlike Aoraki, which draws more frequent summit attempts, Mount Tasman offers a quieter yet equally demanding alpine experience: the normal route via the East Ridge and Silberhorn crosses the Tasman and Franz Josef glaciers, steep snow slopes, and exposed rocky traverses at extreme altitude. The greywacke rock is notoriously fragile and unreliable, adding a technical dimension of its own. Views from the summit — the vast Tasman Glacier spreading eastward and the Tasman Sea to the west — rank among New Zealand's most dramatic. Most climbers arrive via Plateau Hut, reached by helicopter from Mount Cook Village, making the brief flight itself part of the unforgettable experience.

Gallery

Foto bersumber dari Wikimedia Commons — klik untuk memperbesar & lihat sumbernya.

Routes

North Shoulder via Pioneer Hut / Fox Névé (sisi pantai barat)

Advanced — pendakian gletser & es alpine dari sisi barat, melintasi Fox Névé dan bergschrund menuju North Shoulder

Ekspedisi ±6 hari (musim November–Februari), hari puncak ±10 jam

Alternatif dari sisi pantai barat: bermarkas di Pioneer Hut di Fox Névé, lalu menapaki névé dan lereng es menuju North Shoulder dan punggungan puncak. Biasanya dikemas sebagai ekspedisi berpemandu enam hari yang menyertakan aklimatisasi, latihan teknik gletser, dan menunggu jendela cuaca.

Source

Syme Ridge / North Shoulder dari Grand Plateau (Plateau Hut)

NZ Alpine Grade III+/IV — es & salju alpine teknis dengan gully es, bergschrund di Engineer Col, dan punggungan puncak setajam pisau

±15–18 jam pulang-pergi dari hut (rute standar)

Rute standar dan paling sering ditempuh: dari Plateau Hut di Grand Plateau (sisi timur, dijangkau dengan ski-plane/helikopter), pendaki menyeberangi névé menuju North Shoulder lewat Syme/Silberhorn Ridge, menembus gully es dan bergschrund sebelum menapaki punggungan puncak yang sangat tajam. Banyak pemandu menilainya lebih menuntut secara teknis daripada Aoraki/Mount Cook.

Source

Climbing Experiences

Accounts of climbing Mount Tasman describe a genuine alpine ice expedition, not a trek: climbers fly in by ski-plane or helicopter to Plateau Hut or Pioneer Hut, then work up névés, ice gullies, and bergschrunds to the North Shoulder and a knife-edge summit ridge via the Syme/Silberhorn Ridge. Many stories stress how serious the peak is — pinned in huts for days by weather, turning back barely a hundred metres below the summit over wet-snow avalanche danger, even crevasse-fall incidents. Some climbers pair it with Aoraki/Mount Cook in one expedition. These sources come from real climbers and alpine teams plus verified climbing videos.

References

The summary above is compiled from the following sources. Click to explore them yourself.