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Christmas at Mt Aspiring 23.12.2011 - 27.12.2011

Mikey — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:21:41 GMT

Travis Gloyn

Michael Instone (Scribe)

We had a plan to climb Mt Aspiring, the “Matterhorn” of the Southern Hemisphere. It took a bit of negotiation to decide on a date. Eventually we found that we both had time during Christmas, when we would attempt the Northwest Ridge of Mt Aspiring.

We arrived at Wellington Airport for a 12.15 flight to Christchurch. I went through to the boarding lounge forgetting that my knife fork and spoon were in my carry on bag. I was pulled over to the side and told that I could not take my knife on the plane as it is “fixed handle” knife. I pointed out that the fork has sharp points and would be potentially much more dangerous than a blunt butter knife. The airport security guy understood my point, but had no flexibility to exercise common sense and I had to give up my knife.

We arrived in Christchurch to pick up the rental car and sort out food and then drove to Wanaka. We had to get up early the next morning to pick up the emergency locator beacon from the DOC office in Wanaka, and then head to the road end to start walking up the Matukituki valley. We took a bit longer than expected to get ready, then decided to ask a guide what the conditions were like. When asking the guides about the conditions, I confused the Northwest Ridge with the Southwest Ridge. Travis picked this up and corrected me. The office lady said “Well which one are you climbing? You want to be sure as there is a big difference in grades”.

After sorting ourselves in town, the drive to the road end took another hour. We arrived at the road end at 11.30 (after getting up at 6.30! Although it was hot by then, this did benefit us. Paul Rogers, a guide arrived at the carpark as we were about to leave. Paul offered to take some of our gear up to the top of Bevan Col for us. We gave him about 10kg to take and he gave us some advice on what to leave behind. This made the walk up the valley that we were about to start much easier. After waiting for the helicopter to leave with our gear, we started our walk at 12.30. The valley was extremely hot and there was no shelter from the sun.

We were planning to make it to Bevan Col that day so that we could give ourselves the best opportunity with weather for climbing. We told Paul this, to which he replied “you’re dreaming”. We changed our goal for the day to Scott’s Biv, which is near the head of the valley and would get up early the next morning to head up to the Bonar Glacier and Colin Todd Hut.

We got up at 4pm and started up the valley. To get to Bevan Col, we would have to walk up above a waterfall and then negotiate a system of ledges up a steep alpine river valley. I was nervous about this as the description in the route description makes it sound much worse than it actually us. We started trying to climb up a slab, which would have been alright without 30kg on our backs. Deciding that the slab was not the best way, we climbed back down to the scree slope and promptly found a cairn which marked the track to the top of the waterfall. Once I saw the valley at the top of the waterfall, I was relieved. The rock had plenty of grip, there were one or two kind of technical moves, but mostly it was a walk up the valley, although on ledges 10-20m above the stream. I think it would be quite a bit harder when covered in ice.

Mt Aspiring came into view as we approached Bevan Col. We stopped at the Col to pick up the gear that Paul left for us and to practice rope skills. As with the first day, we had perfect weather. Now that we were on snow, the temperature was more reasonable. After lunch, we headed across the Bonar Glacier to Colin Todd Hut. The glacier was in perfect condition after a late season with plenty of snow. We were greeted at Colin Todd hut by 7 Keas. The Keas only hung around when there were people at the hut. Being summer, it was warm, so we cooked dinner outside. We had to guard against the cheeky Keas though and could never leave the food unattended. There was no wind and we had amazing views of the Southern Alps. We could see the route that we were planning to take to climb Mt Aspiring. The planned route was up the Kangaroo to the buttress and then up the Northwest Ridge. Looking at the mountain and this route, I managed to psych myself out. It didn’t help that I wasn’t feeling very competent on my crampons during the day.

The next day (Christmas Eve) was summit day and we decided to get up at 3.30 to take advantage of the firmer snow. I woke up feeling the same as the day before, but got up anyway. We put on our gear and headed out towards Death or Glory! After about half an hour of heading up towards the mountain we stopped for a rest. That was a mistake and killed our summit attempt. It was all the excuse I needed as I had talked myself out of the attempt. It was an anticlimax. I felt bad that it meant that Travis also lost the opportunity to summit on the trip. The conditions were perfect, except in my head. We spent a bit of time on the slope looking around, then headed back to the hut for a pit day.

While in the hut, it rained. This was the only bad weather we had on the entire trip. Although we had only walked 1 ½ days to get to the hut, I was exhausted, so a pit day was beneficial.

The next day was Christmas! We spent Christmas walking across the Bonar Glacier towards French Ridge where we would descend back to the Matukituki Valley. New Zealand has Christmas in Summer, when people usually go to the beach and never associate the day with snow. We had a white Christmas in summer! We had the best of both worlds.

We decided to traverse around the side of Aspiring, rather than descend straight away on to the glacier as we thought it would be easier with us not having to regain altitude that we would have lost by going directly to the glacier.

The scenery was impressive as we walked across the glacier. I pulled out my raincoat when it started spitting. This stopped after 5 minutes and I regretted having my raincoat on as I became hotter. We walked past Mt French and then down French Ridge. We stayed at French Ridge hut for a couple of hours in the sun.

We felt good, so headed down to the valley were we would spend the night. French Ridge is steep and requires climbing down steep rooted sections. I’m not sure which would require more effort – going up, or coming down. I also wonder if it would be more appropriately called French Spur. Towards the bottom I faded and felt like I almost needed to stop on the side of the track to have dinner. I was getting a bit clumsy. We got to the bottom soon after that and once I had dropped my pack, I felt OK again.

The next day was uneventful with the final walk out down the valley. We started earlier than the first day, so had a couple of hours without the intense heat. I was grateful for this as I got sunburnt at French Ridge hut.

Although we didn’t climb Mt Aspiring, this was definitely one of the best trips I have been on this year. We learnt quite a lot and got smashed physically. The perfect combination! ...Almost.

Plastics on Trade Me

Mikey — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:09:12 GMT

http://www.trademe.co.nz/sports/camping-outdoors/climbing-adventure/climbing-shoes-accessories/auction-449075855.htm

Someone in New Plymouth is selling plastic alpine boots on trade me. The bid is low at the moment, so could be a cheap pair of boots for winter.

Mike

This Saturday: NZAC's National Boulder series at Turakirae Head

Mikey — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:44:50 GMT

Rak Hop – This Saturday

For those interested in spending a day honing rock skills for a late summer/early autumn assault on some central Darrans test piece, this year’s Wellington leg of the NBS will be held at Turakirae Head on Saturday. Registration starts at 9am, climbing starts at 10am. There are expert, endurance and junior categories, loads of spot prizes and a BBQ to finish. The forecast is good. The price is good (NZAC members and students: $15 (please bring relevant ID); Non Members: $20; Youth 12 years and under: $10). You might even enjoy it! If you want to know more, check out www.nbs.org.nz. And you can download and print the competition route guide here: http://powerband.org.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/bronx-sector-guide_2012_competition-edition_2.pdf

Central North Island Climbing

Mikey — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:15:15 GMT

Anyone keen to climb this weekend that isn't going to Nelson Lakes? It will be a long weekend this coming weekend, so the perfect opportunity to go to either Kawakawa Bay, Whanganui Bay, Mangaokewa or even Ruapehu.

Let me know if you're keen.

Mike

BBQ at Jeremy's

Mikey — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:35:25 GMT

Terra is in town at the moment and Jeremy has a new deck, so we are going to have a BBQ on Thursday night from 7.30 onwards.

Bring whatever you want to eat and whatever you want to drink.

4 Natalie Way Karori.

Mikey

Mt Taranaki 4 - 6 June (Queens Birthday)

Mikey — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 23:34:09 GMT

Isabella Dobija

Jack Nixon

Josie Broadbent

Tenzin Heatherbell

Shawn Johnson

Jukka Saarelma

Chris Bruniges

Antoine Moinet (from France)

Michael Instone (Scribe)

This was a trip organised in traditional style – at the last minute! Not realising that it had been taken off the calendar (I was chief guide this year!), and given that this was the trip that I had been hanging out for since the beginning of the year, I had to get the trip going. Although it was organised at the last minute, I didn’t have to try very hard to find people who also wanted to come.

Before the trip, the weather was looking a bit average.... stormy and less than desirable. The forecast did show however a few hours on the Monday morning when the weather would be clear. I used the Monday weather forecast to justify going Taranaki instead of using the forecast for the rest of the weekend to justify going somewhere else.... We had our weather window and the trip to the summit was on! We just had to find something to do for the first two days. I ran my plans past Kieran who told me that they were a bit ambitious. I wanted to start at the north side, go over the top by North Ridge and head to Waiaua Gorge Hut, then back over the top to somewhere else. It would have been fun I’m sure, but I am pleased that we didn’t do that this trip!

Friday night came and 9 of us turned up at Hunter Carpark for a trip where our plan was to fill in Saturday and Sunday and be at Syme Hut on Sunday night to take full advantage of our “window”. We had a van and a car for transport. We decided that two vehicles would be antisocial, so we set up a 9^th seat in the van using packs and were on our way. We listened to the Ipods of those who had them, enjoying lyrics like “Raise your hand if you’re on ketamine”. It opened my eyes.

When driving towards Mt Taranaki, I had in my mind that I wanted to start at North Egmont and walk around the base of the mountain until summit day. We found ourselves at the Dawson Falls road end. I didn’t see the right road signs to get us to North Egmont before we got there. Isabella was driving and I was tired and didn’t have the energy to tell her to turn around and continue driving for another hour. We were going to start from Dawson Falls!

We camped that night on the grass outside the visitors centre and restaurant and it was wet and windy! We decided that there was no point carrying tents with us on the trip beyond the carpark as they would only add weight and we were staying in huts anyway. The next morning we got up early and before we left, decided to go south to Waiaua Gorge Hut via the Upper Lake Dive and Brames Falls tracks. It was raining when we left, but warm. When we got to the bushline, I only had a T shirt under my raincoat. It was raining heavily and there was some wind. We had been walking for an hour above the bushline and completely exposed to the weather. I felt that I was at a comfortable temperature, but that I had to pay attention to my temperature as I was getting to the colder side of comfortable. I kept walking for about half an hour and realised that I needed to have another layer on. This was not ideal as the rain was heavy, the wind was getting strong and there was nowhere sheltered to take my raincoat off and to put my softshell on underneath it. I finally got to the point where I had to put something warm on, so I stopped and took my pack off. It wasn’t until then that I found that my arms were so cold that I couldn’t use them properly. I pulled my softshell out and tried to keep it dry. I then took my raincoat off and put everything back on as fast as I could. With my numb arms, I couldn’t do the zip up properly on my raincoat. I was annoyed and felt guilty that while leading this trip, I had turned myself into a potential liability by letting myself get cold.

I walked a few hundred metres further up the hill to where everyone else was standing. Tenzin and Josie were in the same position or slightly worse to the one I had just put myself in. I didn’t feel guilty anymore! Tenzin learnt the important lesson that cold weather gear, including gloves, should be kept in the top of your pack so that you don’t have to pull everything out to get at them! We have had a few laughs about those gloves over the year! Once we got started again, I warmed up within half an hour. Thanks softshell with a hood!

Although the weather was not our friend on Saturday, it gave the mountain and the scenery a feel that we would not have experienced had the sun been out. It was wet and miserable, but when we got to the Brames Falls track, we found a saddle that was rising up through a blanket of mist, it had a certain majesty about it. Once we went down over the saddle and below the bushline, we were safe from the weather. The weather was a bit ***, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way for Saturday.

We arrived at Waiaua Gorge after around 6 hours. We had mulled wine and Jaegger tea thanks to Isabella and Jukka who carried it for us! We then learned to laugh like the French do (haw haw haw).

The next morning we again decided our route just before leaving. As seems to happen with larger groups, we left 2 ½ hours after I got up. We had the choice of the shorter day – going back the way we came and then on to Syme Hut, or the longer day – taking the Taungatara track to Lake Dive Hut and then up to Syme Hut. As we would walk back a different way to the way we came, we chose the longer day! It was still raining when we left, but the weather cleared as the day went on. The Taungatara track follows around the mountain, but at a lower altitude than our previous day. This option made for a long day! We walked through wet green forest, adding some variation from the day before.

We arrived at Lake Dive hut at around 5 and had lunch here. I was keen to make it a quick stop as if we were to hang around for a while, it would have been easy to stay there for the night. If we stayed at Lake Dive, we would not have had a chance to summit, which was the whole reason we were there! I also wanted to get to Syme Hut before it got dark as I didn’t know what the wind was doing. Jukka, Isabella and Tenzin swam in the lake while the rest of us ate lunch. The lake looked cold.

We walked up the mountain from Lake Dive towards the launch zone for our summit bid. We got up to the scree slopes and found that there was no wind and the clouds were gone. I needn’t have worried about the weather today. It took plenty of energy to get up the slope with scree sliding under our feet every time we took another step. I was at the back with Jack and Chris. Jack and I couldn’t work out why Chris was taking so long and struggling so much. It became dark while we were walking up the scree. It was also a starry night, making the slope a very pleasant place to be. We stopped to sort out the weight issue in Chris’ pack. We had left the rest of the tents at the van. Chris brought his 4kg tent with him. Anyone who knows Chris understands this. Chris loves to be prepared for any eventuality. Mt Taranaki was my introduction to Chris and I was a bit stunned. I took the tent and Jack took some weight off Chris too.

We got to Syme under a blanket of stars. The others had already started cooking dinner. Outside was dead still, so Jack and I sat outside while eating dinner. It was a pretty sweet place to hang out. To maintain our theme for the trip, we again had mulled wine and Jaegger tea.

The next morning we set out for our objective on the trip, the summit! Half of the group had not used crampons before. The plan was to give a quick demonstration at the bottom of a snow slope where there was a safe run out. We got to the snow and there was no run out. Jack and I got everyone to put their crampons on and gave clear instructions that everyone should ensure that all points of the crampons were in the snow, and of course, no one was to fall. Once we got to the top of the slope we had a break and my stress reduced greatly. We walked down the other side into a gully to then find a way to the summit. We found a nice mixed route that involved a bit of rock as we were more used to rock than snow and ice, and thought this would be the easiest way. Standing at the bottom of the mixed rock and snow slope was like standing in a different world. Towering over us were three pillars standing proud in the mist. Behind the pillars, the sun started to pierce through.

We got to the top, but needed something to celebrate our feat. Planking had been in the news recently and I had just learned what it was. Our summit photo was of the group planking on top of Taranaki. Like everything else on the trip, it fell into place.

We headed back down to Syme hut where we finished any left over food we had and also finished the wine. Tenzin showed us a few card tricks, but being as evil as he is, did not reveal the secrets to the tricks.

We headed down from Syme mid afternoon. My pack weighed almost nothing now, except for Chris’ tent! The scree slope had taken us around 2 or 3 hours to get up, but took hardly any time at all to get down. Sliding down the scree was definitely a lot of fun!

We got back to the van at around 5 and headed back to Wellington. It was an entertaining drive back. In the front, Jack and I decided to play the window game after people in the back complained of it being cold.

It was a great trip and one of the highlights for me this year. After coming back and telling of our successful trip and of summiting in spite of the depressing weather forecast, Craig Scott described the trip as “tin ***”.

Golden Bay over New Years..... It would be rude not to

Mikey — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 04:30:04 GMT

New Years will be at Golden Bay! We will be camping at Hang Dog, just out of Takaka. Craig will be taking a car across the strait on boxing day, so let him know if you want a ride. The main theme of the trip is climbing, but if you are not a climber, don't let that put you off. We can teach you to climb and if you don't want to climb, there are also so many other things to do in Golden Bay - Farewell Spit, the beach day walks.... Not everyone will be climbing all the time.

Hang Dog fills up in summer fast, so get there as soon as you can after Christmas. Camping there is $10 per night and we will need tents, so if you don't have one, let me know.

Let me know if you are keen.

Mike

Whanganui Bay Climbing

Mikey — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 06:01:58 GMT

A group of us are climbing at Whanganui Bay this weekend. No previous experience needed, so if you are not going to Cape Palliser this weekend and are keen, let either me or Tenzin know. We will leave on Friday night and come back Sunday night. Meeting at Hunter Carpark at 5.30pm.

Tenzin's email address: tenzin.heatherbell@windowslive.com

Mike

Hangdog

Mikey — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 19:52:39 GMT

Anyone keen to climb tomorrow (Sunday) at Hangdog?

Re: Hut Bagging 1-2 October

Mikey — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 05:08:36 GMT

Hut bagging is this coming weekend. Let me know if you are keen!

Mike