Wellington - A veteran mountain guide said Wednesday that he had cancelled all scheduled climbs to the top of New Zealand's highest peak, Mount Cook for the rest of the year because global warming had made it too dangerous. Gottlieb Braun-Elwert said that packed snow on the Linda Glacier, the most popular route to the 3,745-metre-high summit, which would normally be 10-metres thick, was now wafer-thin and climbers had to use a track with ice cliffs prone to avalanches on either side.
Braun-Elwert, who has been guiding on the mountain for 31 years, told Radio New Zealand that it used to be safe to climb until the end of December but warmer temperatures causing snow and ice to melt had shortened the seasons over the last 10 years.
He said the pace of meltdown of other glaciers in the Southern Alps was accelerating and this was the earliest end to the Mount Cook climbing season he had experienced.
