Mueller Hut might be one of the most sought after hut in New Zealand. It's so busy over summer the hut is booked out for weeks on end. And that is not surprinsing seeing how incredible the terrain surrounding it is.
You have a front row seat of New Zealand's highest peak, Aoraki / Mt Cook!
A 7am start from the carpark saw us walk up the sloped around Lake Alta. From there we gained the ridge to make this a counter clockwise loop.
Neither Tom, Phil, Emi or myself had done it before, so it was a nice adventure figuring out the exact route. When things got too hard we saw that as a sign that we were off track and that there should be an easier way, which there always was.
The crux move for us was a steep exposed ledge that saw us get in between the col of Double Cone. Only to find out that we could have taken an easier route.
We pitched one short section going up the second peak from Double Cone and for the rest scrambled our way on the rock.
Having turned around on Mt Aspiring due to exposure, this trip was a great stepping stone. While I still was focused in the more exposed sections, I was feeling good and had fun!