Skiing Mt Cook / Aoraki East Face, New Zealand

Skiing the iconic East face of Aoraki / Mt Cook , from the summit ridge back to plateau hut. Notorious for fickle snow and weather conditions, after 3 years of trying we finally got it in perfect conditions with knee deep pow the whole way down. After about 100m of exposed, cautious skiing from the summit ridge we could open it up the whole way down the face getting to the bottom in only 30 minutes in 3 pitches. 14 people in total skiied the face that day bringing the total tally to between 40-50 : enough that the East face is now considered a 'classic'?

[@souleymanediarra5565]

9 hours from hut to summit in winter conditions, you guys are fffffit, congrats on styling the descent too with that gaping slot near the base of Zurbriggens Ridge, respect.

[@joecollinson6232]

Chur! Yeah definitely a slog when wading through pow...make the time up on the descent . Fuck yeah Gotta gap those shrunds !

[@LukeFrisken]

fantastic!

[@DaveSearle]

Yeah boys!

[@mandybowen9436]

Hi Joe. Do you know who was the first person to ski the East Face of Mt Cook. My good friend Ardi Reichlin (who is sadly not longer with us) skied it in spring of1993. (see 1993 NZ Alpine Journal) I have always wondered if it was a first descent. Cheers, Mandy

[@joecollinson6232]

Hey! I'm not sure , details like that definetly don't get recrded quite as well as in Europe. The one that seems to be recorded everywhere is 2011 Freddy Verango so 93 would be way before that. And Bruce Grant in ?1982 but that was down the linda. Think ardi can probably claim it!