Thursday, February 9, 2023

Ascent Of Mt. Cleese

There remained another mountain I wanted to add to my list of New Zealand ascents: Palmerston North's legendary Mt. Cleese. Of course, I did it by the direct north face route, direttissima, alone, solo, un-roped, unaided, and without (supplemental) oxygen. It was a fine day for climbing, and I took a number of pix.



Cleese is of course a living, growing mountain, and so it is now
probably a bit higher that 45m; alas, my excitement was such I
forgot to look at my phone's altimeter

At the base of the mountain

Foothills

Looking toward the north face
Palmerston North in the distance

Still on the approach

On the north face









































































































































Crux of the climb, this couloir

On the summit plateau

Treacherous footing



Now on the summit

Summit views

Not sure whether this is extracting or injecting

Souvenir found near the summit





The sea birds celebrate my triumphant return



1 comment:

Tawana said...

You are such a hoot! I take it that Vicki declined to join you on your ascent.