Club nights are at Turnbull House, on the first clear Monday of every month. New and prospective members are welcome. Meet for dinner at the Backbencher at 6.30 and on to Turnbull House at 7.30 pm for a catch up. Meetings, run with an iron fist jam by El Presidente Alan Lowrie, start with precision at 8.00 pm with club business. Talks kick-off on the button at 8.01 pm.

Every lining has a silver cloud: Whanganui Bay road crew up in the air

Well, there was going to be a working bee on the road to the Bay over Easter, but having talked to Mere last weekend, all is up in the air as they have no culverts to put in! So, if you were going to help out, take your climbing shoes and be prepared to check a little rock out as a substitute….

Aoraki to Arthur’s Pass: Shaun Barnett for section night, 8th of April

Well known Wellington photographer and outdoors writer (he writes about the outdoors, as opposed to writing – generally – outdoors. Ed.) Shaun Barnett completed a 28-day trip from Aoraki to Arthur's Pass with Elsie Bryant and Rob Brown in January 2001, and found out such miracles can happen as no rain, even in New Zealand’s worst summer ever. The trio took a 'route-less-travelled' approach to the trip, and mixed 2 weeks of West Coast travel with two weeks on the east visiting such places as the Gardens of Eden and Allah and the Bracken Snowfield en route. Shaun will present an hour-long slide show of the trip.

Event: April section night
Person: Shaun Barnett
Venue: Alexander Turnbull house, Bowen Street
Time: 8.05 pm
Date: Monday 8st April (i.e. not Easter Monday!)

This club wants you: AGM coming on 8th of April!

Well, the AGM is on the 8th of April at 8 pm at Turnbull House on Bowen Street. It is always short, sweet, and as non-bureaucratic as possible.

This is your chance, we are always looking for keen enthusiastic volunteers to be on the Wellington Section Committee. Nominations are now open for Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Section Representative (to attend twice yearly Club Committee meetings in Christchurch) and Committee Members. Feel free to nominate yourself or someone else by contacting Alan, email chairperson@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz or phone 970 05290 now or come along to the AGM. If you would like to know what we get up to, have a read of the Annual Report, Financial Statements, 2001 AGM Minutes and newsletters on our web site www.nzalpine.wellington.net.nz or talk to any current committee member.

And following the AGM is Shaun Barnett’s talk (see above).

Distaghil Sar Fund Applications

This fund was set up as a memorial to Chris Hoare, Andy Boas and Steve Thornley, Wellington Section members who died on Distaghil Sar in the Karakoram in August 1996.

The fund is made up of donations from families and friends. Awards are made every year from the interest it earns. This year the total available for awards (including interest not spent last year) is in the region of $1000. The purpose of the fund is to assist members to become better qualified to instruct on our alpine courses.

Any member of the section may apply for an award. The closing date for applications this year is 1 May. Decisions about grants are made by the fund administrators (the section's chairperson, instruction committee convener and treasurer).

Applications should be in writing, and should specify the courses or qualifications for which financial assistance is sought; the need for such assistance; and the availability of the applicant to instruct on the section's snow courses.

Appropriate courses are NZAC or FMC instructor courses; NZOIA snow assessments or pre-assessments; risk assessment and outdoor first aid courses; or any other courses or qualifications that the fund administrators approve. Awards will be used to pay for expenses actually incurred, rather than given as a lump sum.

The decision about awards will take into account the applicants' climbing skills and judgement, ability to communicate with students, commitment to safety, previous contributions to the section's instruction programmes, and availability to instruct on the section's alpine courses in future. The available funding may be given to one applicant, or split between two or more. Applications should be sent to Distaghil Sar Fund, NZAC Wellington Section, PO Box 1628, Wellington BY 3 MAY 2002. Awards will be announced in the June newsletter.

Learn how to be cold and miserable on the 2002 Alpine Instruction Course

Here’s some news - our very popular AIC will run again this year. The course includes theory and practical sessions on avalanche awareness. The course fee of $680 covers instruction (2:1 student/instructor ratio), accommodation, food, and transport for three weekends away on Ruapehu and Taranaki, and includes three super evening sessions in Wellington. Students are also required to be members of the club before the course begins.

If you want more information and/or a place on the course contact Pete de Joux, email pdj@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz or phone 478-1017 Home or 0274-421-779 Mobile as soon as possible. There are 20 places, but they normally fill up very quickly, so get in fast. Please also contact Pete if you would like to instruct or come along as an assistant instructor and are available for these dates.

Photo Competition

Slides are now being accepted for the 2002 Wellington Section Photo Competition. Mainly Tramping are accepting all the slides for the competition, so drop them off there. Please add a black spot to the front bottom left of all your slides so that we can put them in the projector the correct way the first time. There will be some fantastic prizes this year. Entries Close Friday 31 May. Rob Suisted is the Judge this year and is, he tells Vertigo, eminently corruptible at very low cost. Come along and see some great slide at the section night on Monday 10 June. The entry form and more details will be available on our web site here or contact Alan, email chairperson@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz or phone 970 0529

Hot new library reads for your winter pleasure!

Curl up in bed with your hottie (either sort) and live vicariously courtesy of the club library! Two new books have been added to the library: Expeditions, by Andrew Lindblade (pub. 2001). Purchased by popular request by YOU, the members, it is the enthralling account by Aussie Andrew about his and Kiwi Athol Whimp’s various expeditions to Fitzroy, Cerro Torre, Thalay Sagar and Jannu. Note that this latter (Jannu) expedition has been mentioned with awe by both Norman Hardie (Kanchenjunga 1955) and Don French (Jannu attempt 1987) at recent section night talks. Feel free to try and wrest the book away from the librarian - but only after he has finished the last chapter. Totem Pole, by Paul Pritchard (pub. 1999). The autobiographical story of his 1998 accident on this freestanding hunk of Tasmanian rock and his subsequent slow recovery from the head injuries.

The library is always keen to hear about other books that members can recommend.
By Derek Richardson

Greenland needs you in 2002

Due to injury, some Poms have possible vacancies for the ACG/AC Greater Ranges Meet in the Lemon Mts of Greenland. Dates are 13 July - 10 August. Approximate cost is £3000. At the moment 4 pairs of climbers are going, but there is room for another pair. The area is alpine in scale, with lots of great-looking rock/snow/mixed routes. A large proportion of the area is completely untrodden except by polar bears and penguins.

If you are interested then please contact Roy Ruddle royr@comp.leeds.ac.uk asap. Tel: 0113 284 2825 (home).

Dips into trips: misadventures of a climbing kind

Mt Cook - Tasman Saddle Trip

One thought seems to stick, which was a comment made as we drove off the Ferry on Tuesday night. "We started this trip with rain, and fittingly ended it in rain"

Not to say that rain is all we experienced. Once we were in the South Island, we were blessed with good weather. Even when we arrived in Mt Cook & Unwin Hut, we had only one day’s wait before it looked like we would have the weather on our side.

Maybe we should have taken warning from the fact that an Australian contingent had been already waiting 5 days for the skies to clear! Two of them subsequently became hut-bound like we were, when they managed to fly in to Tasman Saddle Hut immediately after us. The other two Australians were booked on a different aircraft, and didn’t mange to fly in at all.

On the first day at Tasman Saddle, after organising our bunks we decided to put some tracks up towards Mt Aylmer. That way we would have an easier start for tomorrow’s climb. Early on in the piece the weather looked like it might be improving, so we traversed around below Aylmer towards Kelman Hut. When we arrived at Kelman, it was good to get out of the rain that had developed. The hut occupants were busy practising rope work and escaping the belay system, and they were not too happy about seeing us. Something about being stuck indoors and things already a bit on the cosy side before we arrived. Once they realised we weren’t staying, they seemed friendlier. On that note we ate a quick snack, had a drink, and then departed, as it wasn't getting any better outside.

Halfway back and we were dealing with whiteout conditions - GPS and compass work fixed this. While Pete was giving the last direction reading towards Tasman Saddle Hut, he was busy looking at the bearing on his compass. Suddenly, the clouds parted, bringing the hut into our view. Pete's direction, which was right on the nail, got the response from us, “Thanks, we know. We can see it.”

The weather on Day 2 wasn't much different, so we played in a large crevasse. We were practising rescue techniques using Z & C pulleys. Also a bit of ice climbing, if that’s what you could call it. More of a hacking at slush comes to mind. After another quick deterioration in the weather, we headed back to the hut. Adam, who was leading on Pete's rope, managed to walk over a yawning (but hidden) crevasse, before the snow bridge collapsed under him. He became wedged up to his shoulders. After the usual setting of anchors we went about his extraction. Chris (female) seemed to be using an interesting technique as she reached down into the pitch-black crevasse to undo the waist strap on Adam's pack. Her technique seemed to take Adam's sense of immediate peril away from his mind. When Pete saw we couldn't easily haul Adam up with the rope, because we were trying to pull him sideways, he went for the straight lift up by the pack straps as he straddled the slot.

After extracting Adam, it ended up being a virtual reinactment of the day before. Pete was giving us a bearing towards the hut when the visibility suddenly cleared - a confirmation of good navigation.

Needless to say everyone experienced falling into a slot at some point of the trip. One of mine was quite comical - being wedged, with a crampon pushed up against my leg. Chris was pulling on the rope, trying to haul me out. I was yelling over the wind for slack in the rope, and being misunderstood. Then Pete came in to add his might to the hauling attempt, and I was yanking back on the rope like a tug of war. Next time I think I'll try the call GIVE! It works for my friend’s dog.

Most of the rest of our time included being hut-bound, cleaning up on the literature available. Some of which was missing a few pages; I'll let your imagination explain where they had ended up. A good day was spent with the Great Autoblock Challenge, where we took turns at inventing different methods of setting up a crevasse-extraction rope system. A combined Australian/Scottish team against the four Kiwi's. Unfortunately, NZ did not come out on top of the points. But we all learnt a few different ways to create an autoblock with what climbing equipment was available.

Weather patterns were not looking like improving over the next few days, so discussions about trying to walk out, or waiting for a flight were high on the agenda. One brief attempt at walking was aborted by Fraser and Jerram after the weather turned nasty.

We all ended up taking a shot at walking out the next day. This was not an easy option with all the weight we had, and the poor condition of the glacier. In the end, we decided to split up, with the walking party going light-weight. The other three of us (Pete, Adam & myself) went back to the hut, with all the rest of the gear and waited for a helicopter flight. From the higher ground near the hut, we were able to guide the other group around the visible crevasses via our two-way radios.

After four days of waiting to fly out, we received a radio call offering a back-flight on an incoming AGL (Alpine Guides Ltd) helicopter charter.

After seeing aircraft flights resume after so long, it was cruel torture having to wait at the landing site, with a clearing of blue sky above us punctured by squalls of rain & high wind. We wondered if the weather would hold, as we listened on the hand-held radio to DOC's radio schedule/weather report and heard that it was closing-in for at least another 2 days.

Finally, it was exhilarating to watch the chopper land so close to us. The pilot performed a very skilful side-slip to get even closer. Takeoff, and the flight down the glacier showed how much the rain and high freezing level had opened up the terrain in what I would call Crevasse Central. The views were fantastic.

Some of what you can see in this National Park is shown in photos at http://nzalpine.wellington.net.nz/tripreport3.htm

Thanks to Dave Shanks



Post-Spring rock course trip to the Bay
Garth, Mandira, Catherine and Carl from the Spring Rock course had their first introduction to the Bay as a course follow up trip, along with a rag tag bunch of instructors. Catherine learned that a “Climber’s, park cars here” sign has a positive information content through ignoring it and getting her four wheel drive well stuck down in the mud by the camp ground. Garth spanked “Wet Dreams” (19) clean on top rope and did his first ever lead “Blind Paratroopers” (18), including a small fall. Carl got up his first 19, while Mandira enjoyed “Forever Tuesday Morning” (17) so much she camped on it for several hours. The Editor led “Wet Dreams”. It’s only 8m high, but he managed to empty his entire (large) rack into the crack, creating a climb that was more metal than Motorhead. The downsides included half of Massey University Alpine club arriving, pitching their tents at 12.30 am right next to us, and taking the next hour to get to bed – loudly. The next night various earnest undergraduate ponderings on religion, god, and other deep mysteries of the universe were endured as 30 of them decided to have their fire right next to ours. Plus ca change…and don’t mention the annoying full moon drumming and didgeredoo.


Duggan for the long haul, so drops the first person plural
Just did a week long trip (Feb 24 - Mar 02) from Fox Glacier to the Copeland visiting some rarely seen country and experiencing some epic scrub and bush bashes. Did the trip with Johnny Mulheron (NZAC Wellington) and Geoff Spearpoint (NZAC Canterbury/Westland). We headed up onto the Fox Range, dropped into Mckenna Creek and crossed into the Balfour Glacier. Then crossed over the Balfour Range to the La Perouse Glacier where we had to cross the Cook River (which was chest deep). Camped next to Gulch Stream and attempted La Perouse via the West Ridge. Turned back at the cheval section at 2160m due to a lack of "fire" that day. Then after a day of heavy rain headed down the Cook River and crossed Whale’s Saddle into Architect Creek. Experienced more heavy rain and thunder storms here as we bashed down to the Copeland and then out to the road.

By Eric Duggan


But did they summit?
In breathless conditions John B and Erin H lunched on Mitre in early March listening to tour boat commentaries below. They recommend a Zodiac, an understanding of indistinct tracks in bush, Tevas, confidence in tussock holds and a helicopter.

Apparently Mitre was simply an attempt to see where they had been three days earlier and to check whether Sabre really did have the edge of a cavalryman's sword.

By John Barnes


Slowest fifty on record
Wanganui Tramping Club is celebrating their 50th Jubilee. Let’s hear it for them! I wish we could tell you more!

A Vertigo feature: Your ideal world of work

Guides/Facilitators Wanted

Trips

March 2002
Easter Gardening. 27 March-1 April 2002.
As you read this, Don French & team are heading to the Garden of Eden from Clyde, with eyes on Mt Tyndall. A once per lifetime opportunity, which you’ve missed on account of sitting on your fat butts waiting for your lives to happen. Let this be a lesson to you!



June 2002
Queen's Birthday Bash, Mt. Franklin, Nelson Lakes. 1-3 June 2002.
With remarkable foresight Caroline Duggan has revealed the Place To Be for the first w/e of June 2002. We've had to advertise this far in advance to avoid disappointment. Don't miss out, Contact: cd@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz, or phone 04 475 5542 (hm).

August 2002
Mid–winter Ascent, Mt. Taranaki. 17—18 August. Kara Lipski is keen to organise an ascent of Mt Taranaki to coincide with the final weekend of the 2002 Alpine Instruction Course. She would love to hear from anyone keen to go and especially from someone with enough experience to lead it. Easy peasy. Contact: kalipski@ihug.co.nz, or phone 04 387 4420 (hm).

January 2003
Informal “climbing camp”. Wanaka. ?27 Dec 2002—20 Jan 2003. “It has only begun in my head at the moment.” (Steve Hart). The idea would be a "climbing camp" based at a Wanaka campsite. This allows for a meeting place for individuals as well as family groups to meet and pair up with others. Walkers, mountaineers, novices, rockclimbers, as well those who may just join in for the sun, company and barbeques. If you are at all interested in such a plan, Steve Hart would love to hear from you, Contact: sdhart@paradise.net.nz, or phone 04 9738079 (hm).



Thanks from Phil to everyone making an effort to generate club trips. Remember, contact trips co-ordinator if you have any ideas for trips-destinations, leaders, dates, level of (in)competence, activities, queries about listed trips, or even if you'd like to help in organising trips. Nothing will be set in stone! Phil Suisted-ps@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz, or ph: 380 0855.

Last words returns

“Go on, get out! Last words are for those fools who have not said enough” – Karl Marx.