Sam Smoothy, Will Rowntree and Joe Collinson Make Second Descent of Caroline Face
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On October 21st, 2021 Sam Smoothy joined his buddies Joe Collinson and Will Rowntree on the second-ever descent of Mt. Cook/Aoraki’s Caroline Face – one of the crown jewels of ski mountaineering in New Zealand. The trio became the first all-Kiwi team to make the descent, which involves climbing the East Face and East Ridge before dropping into the massively intimidating SE face, a nearly 7,000-foot face with multiple large seracs to navigate. The descent required an 80-meter rappel to enter the line, and another 80-meter rappel over a serac midway down. Conditions were reported to be perfect, with boot top pow most of the way down the face.
Smoothy summed up the experience:
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It’s the second ever descent and first by a Kiwi team. To me, the Caroline face has been the ultimate pipe dream ski mountaineering line that’s haunted me for a decade. This line is the culmination of years of work developing the necessary mountaineering skill set and safety skills, as well as finding a strong like-minded team whose talents were crucial to our success. To ski the Caroline in great conditions was an incredible, intense yet joyous experience, one I’m incredibly proud of and one I have absolutely no desire to repeat. Without Joe and Will’s prodigious talents and work, there’s no way I could have pulled this off!
