footstool
30 October 2009 - 8:51pm
hey all
does any one have any info on the couloir route on the footstool.
any traps etc we may have to look out for
cheers
3 November 2009 - 1:58am
#3
I've been looking at this webcam http://snow.co.nz/hermitage/?camera=MtFootstool over the last few days. You can see what snow is frozen, and what melts off after a snowfall, and then some fine weather.
Your Couloir route looks to be in excellent condition and you don't have much to worry about. To get started on the face you climb the schrund at the snow cone of major snow debris, then move left to be out of the fall line as much as possible. The climb is straightforward but very satisfying for a face route. Be sure to check out the descent route through the crevasses whilst you are up on the face.
The descent is an enjoyable walk down, apart from one place on the Divide where you need to take a right turn to the East and downclimb a steep snow slope which can be 70 degrees for the top couple of meters. If you look you will see that this slope leads back onto the Divide lower down.
Don't linger on the Col because the wind strength can easily bowl you over. Move down a bit and get set up for the glacier travel to come. Although most of the crevasses can be avoided on the right hand side, do not move too far to the right or you will be exposed to serious rockfall from the East ridge of Footstool. The glacial descent is steep in places so probe with the shaft of you axe into the snow. If you find a hard glacial layer underneath soft snow then consider facing in and downclimbing carefully for a bit.
Once down the glacier you have the choice of cutting across the bottom of the east ridge or downclimbing the glacier some more to a snow col. Only cut across the bottom of the east ridge if you are confident on loose weetbix type rock. It's easy but scary to some people.
If you keep going down you will get to a snow Col which is beneath the east ridge.
All you have to do now is follow a snow ramp down back to Sefton Bivy. If you are smart you will already have sussed the way through the crevasses from above.
In all this is a very enjoyable satisfying climb. It takes 5 hours return from the Bivy for a soloist and 10-12 hours for a party that belays.
Yeah mate, I've done Footstool several times. The Couloir route is a natural funnel for falling debris. It pays to check the bottom of the route to see how much rockfall or wet snow debris there is. The Aussie route to the left is a much better bet, especially if the rock section is covered in ice. It's not steep so you dont need a lot of snow over the rock band to get through there. It's the sort of climb you can move together on, 6 ropelengths if you belay.
By Xmas the Couloir route often has a deep groove in it caused by rain. If you climb this rain runnel the ice is better quality but you dramatically increase your chances of being bombed. I climbed the runnel during the night and got away with it.
Remember the Footstool climb starts from the snowline so you often start in unfrozen snow, but it will improve once you reach the bottom of the face. However this time of the year it can be very soft after a dump of snow and that face will sluff wet snow before it stabilizes. After that you can get a suberb freeze and fast climbing conditions. Study the bottom of the face from Mueller or Sealy tarns to get a feel for the avo lines and for signs of rock fall. Also beware of climbers telling you the glacier is cut off, or the route finding through the crevasses on the normal route is too complicated. Unless they are guides or genuinely experienced climbers it is safe to disregard such information (this applies to the Linda glacier route also).
Do you also want information about the descent?
Shutchoassup biarch njus climb ehbro ?