This year SCARPA Athlete Ross Hewitt set out to New Zealand with some unfinished business in his sights....
Read on for Ross' trip report on his first descent of the Jones Route, Aoraki / Mt Cook New Zealand.
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It was the first time in my life that I didn't get the desk job I was after. For a few days, I was a bit peeved, but I soon realised it gave me the opportunity and energy to go and do what I’d been dreaming about.
In 2017, just before leaving for New Zealand to attempt the first descent of the Caroline Face on Aoraki / Mt Cook—one of the last great ski problems in the world—I blew a spinal disc.
Fast forward to 2024: after completing a first descent on the Brenva Face of Mont Blanc, I returned to New Zealand in peak skiing form and with a Jedi mindset, aiming to tackle the first descent of the Jones Route.
This 1000m line is characterised by its extremely steep spines that weave up the Himalayan-sized East Face of Aoraki / Mt Cook. However, a twist of fate intervened when high winds arrived 12 hours early, halting my attempt midway up the face as 120 kph gusts forced me to cling to my axes. I left bitterly disappointed, feeling that, for the second time, the opportunity to express myself creatively and ski a first descent off this massive mountain had eluded me.
So I reached out to my friends - Will Rowntree and Sam Smoothy – who were a few years into their own project to ski all of New Zealand’s 3000 m peaks to see how they would feel if I joined them.
Will has been my partner in crime the last few European springs and together we notched up so many sick descents. I’d known Sam since 2019 and we finally skied last May confirming we shared similar view on risk, planning, style and motivations and everything clicked into place, confirmed we shared similar view on risk, planning, style and motivations. So I bought a ticket, trained a bunch and flew south.
NZ was experiencing the worst spring weather in living memory. Even in town some days the wind was too strong to go outside, one week they had 250 kph wind at 2000 m and 487 mm of rain - that's 4.8 m of snow at altitude, the equivalent to the accumulated winter snowfall in Chamonix from November to June.
For weeks, we tried and got battered, sunglasses iced inside and out, snow forced through every part of clothing, soaking us inside- out. Time was running out, and then, on the very last day of my trip, everything in the universe aligned, and the magic happened.
The lads wanted a grand finale to their film and with the Jones Route ticking most of the boxes, we started to max plans. Things started to align despite some rowdy storms that kept us pinned in the valley with 487.5 mm of precip in a week just before! The mountains were plastered, all we needed was a rare calm day.
The vision was to ski the series of spines that characterise this route. A 400 m spine leads to the headwall, then a leftward traverse on an exposed ramp crosses 3 spines. A further 2 spines lead past the major overlaps to the exit gully and summit ridge near Middle Peak.
We left Plateau hut at 1am and skinned across the shrund before donning snow plates. The night air was cold and still (not only our 2nd windless day in a 5 weeks). A over-welcome gorgeous sun rise brought needed warming rays in the exit gully where some black ice put some doubts in my head. We topped out finding ourselves in a mellow flat spot on the ridge. There, any doubts I had were replaced by a growing excitement and confidence we could do this in good style. This was partly due to relief found swapping the insecurity of crampons in ultra steep powder for skis, part was being with my friends who I’d trust with my life, but mainly I had an overall sense everything in the universe was aligning in our favour and all the signs were calling to us.
Just before 8 am we started down. The route was everything you can possibly imagine and a lot more. Ultra steep, technical, exposed, wonderful. The snow was perfect giving us a good felling of security without too much slough and allowing us to pass a couple of crux sections with skis on. Full engagement mentally and physically.
We were ecstatic and hugged on the glacier. This really was the perfect day. All to soon the adrenaline wore off and deep exhaustion made itself felt.
Aoraki / Mt Cook 3724 m
Jones Route 1000 m 5.5 E4
Ski Descent 1st November 2025
R Hewitt, S Smoothy, W Rowntree
