Daniel Joll and I climbed a new route on the south face of Mt. Aspiring (3,033m) on September 6. The route climbs through the right-hand side of the lower rock band before traversing left across the central ice fields and finishing directly up an ice gully to top out high on the Coxcomb Ridge. After delicately passing a two-tiered cornice above the bergschrund, we climbed twelve 60m pitches on the face and a further four pitches along the upper Coxcomb to reach the summit, about 14 hours after starting.

We climbed Shooting Star (720m climbing distance, IV 5+ Darrans winter grade, WI3+ M4) as a tribute to close a friend, Ari Kingan, who tragically died in August in a fall near the base of the northwest ridge of Aspiring, during his descent from a climb of the south face. The pastor at Ari’s memorial service described him as a shooting star, burning brightly and touching many, but only lasting a short time. We saw shooting stars during the approach, and we left a few frozen flowers at the summit. 

Ben Dare, with additional information from Daniel Joll (Alpineteam.co.nz)

[Eleven routes and variations ascend the ca 500m south face of Aspiring. Shooting Star is a completely independent line, starting between the Whiston-Hyslop (1976) and Leo Hugo (Bernard-Cayrol, 2002), and finishing right of 24 Hour Party People (Edwards-Metherell-Neal, 2005).]