Malte Brun (mountain)

Malte Brun
Malte Brun (upper right) rises beyond the Tasman Glacier
Highest point
Elevation	3,199 m (10,495 ft)[1]
Prominence	780 m (2,560 ft)[1]
Listing	New Zealand #3
Coordinates	43°33′50″S 170°18′17″E[2]
Geography
Malte Brun South Island, New Zealand
Parent range	Malte Brun Range, Southern Alps
Climbing
First ascent	1894, by Tom Fyfe[3][4]

Malte Brun is the highest peak in the Malte Brun Range, which lies between the Tasman and Murchison Glaciers within New Zealand's Southern Alps. According to Land Information New Zealand, it rises to a height of 3,199 metres (10,495 ft),^[1] although other sources give heights ranging from 3155 to 3199 m.^[5][6] A list published by the New Zealand Alpine Club ranks Malte Brun as the third highest mountain in New Zealand.^[7]

It was named by Julius von Haast after the French geographer Victor Adolphe Malte-Brun.^[8]

Climbing

Malte Brun was first ascended by Tom Fyfe (solo climb) in March 1894 via the North Face.^[9] Today, many climbing routes lie on the mountain, all of which require technical experience and equipment. The classic route is the West Ridge which includes the "Cheval", a knife edge ridge traversed by straddling. Some of the major climbing routes on Malte Brun include:^[10]

• West Ridge (NZ Alpine grade 3+)
• South Ridge (NZ Alpine Grade 3)
• South Face (NZ Alpine Grades 4 – 4+)

Two huts servicing climbers used to exist on the lower slopes, The Beetham hut in the Beetham Valley, and the Malte Brun Hut on moraine terraces above the Tasman Glacier. The Beetham hut was destroyed by Avalanche in the early 1990s.^[9]

See also

• List of mountains of New Zealand by height

References

1. "LINZ Topo50 map". Land Information New Zealand. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
2. "Place name detail: Malte Brun". New Zealand Gazetteer. New Zealand Geographic Board. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
3. E. Freda Du Faur (1915). Chapter I — A Rèsumè of Mountaineering — in the Mount Cook District, between — 1862 And 1909, in The conquest of Mount Cook and other climbs : an account of four seasons’ mountaineering on the Southern Alps of New Zealand. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. Electronic version by New Zealand Electronic Text Centre, 2009. Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
4. John Wilson. Mountaineering – Aoraki/Mt Cook, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Wellington: Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Updated 2 March 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
5. Jonathan de Ferranti, NEW ZEALAND – SOUTH ISLAND: 301 Summits with 600 meters or greater prominence Peaklist. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
6. "Malte Brun, New Zealand". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
7. Mountains of New Zealand, New Zealand Alpine Club. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
8. Reed, A. W. (2010). Peter Dowling (ed.). Place Names of New Zealand. Rosedale, North Shore: Raupo. p. 231. ISBN 9780143204107.
9. Logan, Hugh (2002). Classic Peaks of New Zealand. Craig Potton Publishing. p. 53. ISBN 0-908802-88-9.
10. "ClimbNZ National Route Database". New Zealand Alpine Club.