We load into a heli and Plateau hut, choosing to skip the dreadful moraine crawl to the glacial plateau, as much as this is part of climbing Cook we simply have no time. Buzzing the side of the face, it’s pretty apparent there are large patches of grey ice all over the route. Deposited at the base of the face and soon alone, the magnitude of the line above our heads is a secondary concern to the wide spread serac debris so we retreat to a safer vantage spot to try pick a line between the ice patches.