Glacier Peak & Douglas Peak Attempt
- Mike Morelli
- Nov 1
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 18
Date: November 2, 2025
Location: Tasman Glacier, Main Divide Range, Westland National Park, New Zealand
Total Trip Distance: 5.63 mi / 9 km
Total Elevation Gain: 2,910 ft / 887 m
Trip Duration: 8 hr 49 min
Team: Kevin Reid, Emilie Agnew, Louis Halpin, Ella Hartley
Field Notes: Glacier Peak is a popular climb and ski from Pioneer Hut. The climb itself is straightforward, but later in the season crevasses will make this extremely problematic. The North East Ridge of Douglas has a thirty-meter ice/rock step. There is at least one abseil on the descent.
Grade: Glacier West Face - III, 2+ | Douglas NE Ridge: III, 3+
For years, I had dreamed of flying up onto the glaciers around the Mt. Cook area. Huge, lofty, glaciated, snow-capped mountains — nothing makes me more excited.
We had planned this trip months in advance, but with September and October proving impossible for mountaineering this year, I wasn’t optimistic about getting a weather window.
But then, 10 days out… 7 days out… 5 days out… 3 days out… it became clear that a massive high-pressure system was moving into the country, aligning perfectly with our trip.
When we showed up at Mt. Cook Village, there was a buzz I hadn’t felt in a long time. There was energy in the mountains. People were stoked and I was one of them. When we flew into Pioneer Hut, we found it completely alive — packed with climbers excited to make the most of the conditions.
Pioneer sleeps 16, yet that first weekend, there were 25 people. Centennial was packed. Plateau Hut was reported to be full. One thing was for sure: if you love mountaineering, this was the time to be out.
For our first mission, we decided Glacier Peak would be an awesome climb and ski. We woke up early — earlier than needed, to be honest — but because Emilie, Kevin, and I planned to attempt the Northeast Ridge of Douglas Peak as well.
As we skinned under a combination of moonlight and head-torch glow, we looked up at Douglas, which looked incredibly imposing and coated in rime ice.
We roped up for the ascent of Glacier Peak as there were many crevasses. However, conditions were excellent — everything filled in, firm, and solid. From the summit of Glacier Peak, we headed south along the airy and beautiful ridge toward Douglas.
At the base of the crux, the group wasn’t feeling entirely optimistic. To be fair, conditions didn’t look good. The entire climb was covered in thick rime ice and looked completely unprotectable. I felt confident leading the first pitch, where I could see a way to back down if conditions weren’t right. Emilie and Kevin were okay with that, so I led out.
I climbed a small gully — something resembling a step on MK Gully in the Remarkables I’d climbed earlier this year. Above that, I continued climbing and began sidling right over steep, committing terrain. I hoped that around the corner would give me access the summit slopes.
I checked my phone: we were just one contour level from the top — only about 20 meters. The sun was out, the sky was bluebird. We were truly in the alpine. This is what I live for.
But as I came fully around the corner, I was dismayed to find the climbing looked just as hard, with another ice step and more rime ice making everything unprotectable. I sat there for five minutes, calming my breathing and searching for alternatives, but the reality was clear. The climb wasn’t in condition. It was time to go down.
I backtracked and downclimbed to where I could loop some cord around a rock, then got lowered back down to Emilie and Kevin. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief. From here, we belayed each other down a steep snow pitch until we were back on firmer ground.
We walked back to Glacier Peak, where we ran into a group of seven other highly stoked mountaineers sharing Pioneer Hut with us. They applauded our effort on Douglas — and to be fair, when we looked back, it did look extremely imposing.
We weren’t out of the woods yet, as the west face of Glacier Peak was very firm and icy. We made delicate turns down the face. One of the guys I met on the trip, Neil — an ex-pro skier and all-around legend — was incredibly stoked for us, and we snapped an awesome team photo at the base of the ski.
Smiles on our faces, made our way back to Pioneer Hut to refuel. It was an awesome day. We had one hell of an effort on Douglas — and we skied off a 3000er.
Happy days...
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