A good time was had by all.
It was a dusty drive to the trail head on the Smith Dorrien, but at 9.02am, we made our way up the good trail towards Buller Pass. After about 45 minutes we found a faint trail heading left towards our objective: Mt Buller. With some minor bushwhacking and easy scrambling along a ridge we found the col below the peak as expected. Here we took a refreshment break and we all donned helmets before proceeding upwards on a rough trail through patchy talus, scree and slab.

Rest break at col enroute to Mt. Buller

About halfway to the summit, it steepened, narrowed and became more exposed and slabby. This area was essentially the crux as a tumbling fall would probably be unstoppable and result in death. Although we noticed 3 new bolts on these slabs, in dry conditions like today, they were not needed and we all emerged on the summit about 12.30pm for lunch. Great views including the Assiniboine area. We were all in a good mood primed by Brian's usual wacky sense of humour.


Lunch on Mt. Buller Summit: David, Mike, Sebastiaan, Brian, Ulli, Sim

Apparently the bolts were installed in 2017 by the Princess Patricia Regiment for a fund raising trip to the summit. From Kane and Peakfinder.com: "Henry Cecil Buller was a lieutenant in Princess Patricia's Light Infantry, killed in World War One". There was also a plaque on the summit in his name.

We started back down about 1.00pm taking care on the previously mentioned slabs.


Sim descends the upper ridge of Mt. Buller

Coordinator David descends the crux slabs on Mt. Buller

On arrival at the col we took a long rest break in the pleasant breeze before continuing down the stream bed on a trail noticed by Kevin.


Kevin and Brian relax at the col on descent from Mt. Buller

Elton (David) and the Duck (Sim)

Although this eventually petered out, we found the good Buller Pass trail without problems to reach the cars by 4.00pm. Thanks to everyone for making this such an enjoyable day.

Stats: 10km, 1000m elevation gain, 7 hours round trip.

Participants: Sim,David,Mike,Brian,Kevin,Sebastiaan,Ulli