Section trips news

Please send all your fantastic trip reports to newsletter@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz, so everyone can enjoy your stories.

The French invade Murchison

Don French, James Wright, Steve Hart and Toby Johnston ventured into the Murchison Valley at the end of October, with Mt Hamilton being their primary objective. They had an excellent camp at the base of Hamilton's East ridge. The lower section of the ridge was climbed the next day. 10 hours of very hard work in deep snow conditions with heavy packs. The lower section of the ridge is generally not that difficult, with one noticeable step at 1700ms, which is passed on the northern side.

A camp was established on the Baker Glacier (2100ms). The party later decided to move the camp a couple of hundred meters to the south, a decision that proved to be very prudent. 30 to 40 cms of snow fell over the next few days. Short exploratory journeys were made over the next few days resulting in 3 ascents of Frind peak. There was a significant avalanche risk with 2 to 5 mtr crown walls being present. This necessitated a certain amount of prudence in route selection. Unfortunately the east ridge ascent could not be completed, and a retreat in poor weather over Frind Peak was required. The retreat to use was onto a puggy Cascade glacier before dropping to a very comfortable camp at point 1224. The following day saw a casual walk out to the Ball hut road, with the 200m Tasman Moraine wall being rather breathtaking.

In summary, we are rather surprised that the Murchison is not that frequented. The two low level camp sites that we used are probably the best camp sites in the park. The 1800m East ridge of Hamilton is on a par with the East ridge of Mt Cook as far as a climb goes. It is also very neglected as a climbing objective with possibly only one successful ascent having been recorded. There is a lot of fine mountaineering to be had in this valley. And the weather is not as vile as that nearer to the divide.

Don French

Volcanoes and Revolutions

Charles Allison (Auckland section) and Craig Anderson have just returned from scaling some volcanoes in Ecuador, including Mt Chimborazo, the world's thickest mountain (due to the earth's equatorial bulge). One Ecuadorian is quoted as saying "We have a revolution every Thursday at 2:30pm..." but we found both the government and the weather to be fantastically stable. Cool and clear night and morning, chance of a snow flurry late afternoon every day for two weeks. We were also pleased to discover the name John Nankervis still being spoken reverentially among local climbers, 10 years on from his trip there.

Craig Anderson

Labour Weekend - Mt Adams

The original plan was to go hard out from Arthur's Pass all weekend - a busy plan of Rolleston (Rome Ridge), Avalanche and Mt Cassidy. However crap snow conditions, marginal weather forecast and the appearance of the word 'Extreme' in the avalanche report had us consulting our outdoors consultant and following his recommendation of Mt Adams.

After leaving Jeremy in Christchurch to play cars we (Maria, Alan and Caroline) spent the night in the club lodge at AP and were up early-ish on Saturday and off to Hokitika for fuel and last minute shopping (toilet paper, fresh food, water). Seeing as we are usually out of our trips too late to enjoy such things as cafes we had our café stop before hitting the hills - that way ensuring it did actually happen.

Cake and coffee consumed it was off to just south of Harihari. Chatted to the farmer, confirmed the track had some kind of markers, repacked in the hot sun (discarded ropes, harnesses, anchors) and argued over who was carrying the tent and how much water (Caroline was carrying the tent until Alan told her 3 times that men are stronger and tougher than women).

A late departure from the car of 1.30pm and a slow start meant we had a very late lunch still in the river, where we were passed by a group of 5 from Chch (great - they could clear the route up the ridge for us). The ridge was 800m straight up, with the help of a few steel ropes and plenty of tree roots (for the numerous vertical steps).

The campsite (at about 1100m) had a great outlook although lacked flatness and water (we carried 11 litres up between us). We arrived just before 8pm, set up camp and enjoyed a gourmet green chicken curry before retiring to our cramped and sloping tent.

On Sunday we had a late start of 7.30am and hit the snow proper about an hour or so later. Then it was on with the crampons (very useful on steep snow grass and loose slate) and a step-step-whack-whack motion as the snow softened up fairly quickly and we had 'balling-up' problems all day. We got a brief glimpse of Elie before cloud descended over the main divide. And then a few hours later we were on the shoulder peak (2194m) which was the edge of the Adams Wilderness Area. Unfortunately Mt Adams itself was about 300m away along a narrow ridge (with large drops and crevasses down either side) and 14m higher. We did make it to the proper top (2208m) and even more we beat the other team there.

Then it was a slow descent as the clag came down and the snow got really soft, stopping at the last patch of snow where we left our cooker and billy to make more water. Back at camp Maria and Caroline were keen to pack up and head down to a lower camp (there were 2 we spotted in the bush - still no water but flat at least) or even all the way out (we hadn't done a torch bash on the trip yet) however Alan was tired so we cooked up our meagre rations and went to bed.

Not a lot of sleeping was done from midnight on as the rain got heavier and we lay there thinking about the narrow river we had to walk down the following day. We packed up in the sleet/snow, after a breakfast of a small ration of water and the remaining toffee pops, and left at 6.30am thinking of Cafe de Paris in Hokitika. By the time we got to the car the sun was shining (always good weather on the West Coast - it just stops at the hills), unfortunately the cafe was closed (is that what Labour Day is for?) and so it was back to the airport via ham sandwiches in Springfield and impatient Canterbury drivers.

Caroline Duggan

POTATOES, SMALL MEN AND IGNIMBRITE

Michele Domaneschi may be a small man, but his penetration rockclimbing skills are legendary. Those participants in the Wellington Section's recent lead climbing course received the benefit of his expertise, as well as those of Scott Taylor, Simon Chapple (in one of his last trips away before the shackles of fatherhood bite) and Mike O'Brien.

The course was the brainchild of Scottie and Mike, as a follow-on for those rock climbers who may have done Summer Rock or its equivalent, who have been top-roping outdoors for some time, and wanted to make the foray into lead. The course consisted of three consecutive Wednesday night sessions at Fergs and culminated with a weekend away to Wharepapa, where our new-found knowledge of pulling plastic on lead, was put to the test on real rock, the ignimbrite at Smith's Farm.

The first session was a chance for those who hadn't been climbing for a while to scrape the rust from the old brain cells as we 'earnestly' revised anchors at Scottie's mansion in Manley Terrace. If you weren't really yet in the rock jock frame of mind, learning about anchors whilst surrounded by climbing hardware and Manley Terrace's own indoor climbing wall, soon ensured you were in the right head space. The second session was down at Fergs out the back and into some real leading. We learnt about bent and straight gate karabiners on quickdraws, assessing the route before a climb, buddy checks, racking up efficiently and sufficiently, clipping techniques, when and how to efficiently clip, climbing direction versus karabiner gates, and the perils of Z-clipping (a sure fire way to impede upwards progress, as the writer soon found out, although thankfully not on real rock). It sure was a completely different mind game than being on top-rope, and we were all instantly hooked on the buzz. The final Fergs session was the most important, namely lead belaying. The boys also ran an extra session at Manley Palace to brush up on our anchor skills, direct and indirect belaying, and escaping the system.

The weekend of 8th and 9th November saw us head off to Wharepapa in the South Waikato. We did the AIC thing of hiring one van. One extra private car was also needed, and the occupants of that missed out on 7 hours of Simon Chapple humour, punctuated by stories of the ill-fated love lives of two course participants who shall remain nameless. Being cunning climbing types and all, we phoned ahead to Levin Pizza Hut to save stopping for food and wasting precious time, and as a result ended up with enough Meatlovers Pizza to feed the entire population of Wharepapa for a week (or at least Ben Anderson for a weekend). In defence of Karen who did the ordering, who would have thought however that a Triple Pizza meant three large pizzas?!

Kept awake by Simon's tales, the time went quickly and we arrived at Bryce's shortly after 11 pm. After arguing over who got to share a room with the self-confessed snorer of the group (again, no names, but it wasn't me!), we all crashed out ready to be up and at the crag at the crack of dawn…except…it was raining. So after a bit of a sleep in, which I for one relished after a chaotic week and seven hours of Simon's stories, when it became obvious the rain wasn't going to stop in the near future, we took over Bryce's bouldering cave, where Kate Smith made a dramatic first ascent on lead of the two foot high traverse on the rear wall, with the writer belaying her from a hanging belay two inches off the ground. Scary stuff. We also prussicked up and down our gleaming new ropes, had breaks when we shopped for gear at Bryce's Wharepapa toll gate, and practised escaping from the system when things turned to custard.

When we had done all we could possibly do in the bouldering cave, and the other climbers staying at Bryce's were starting to look at us fiercely and twirl their hardware in an ominous manner as we hogged the cave, we went outside and spent a few minutes gazing hopefully at the sky. It was pretty clear the rain wasn't stopping that afternoon, in fact just when we thought it was, it came down even harder. So we piled into the van and drove an hour to Rotorua, which for the record, has what I consider is the best indoor climbing gym I have climbed in in New Zealand. There were a number of achievable lead climbs set up, and although it was disappointing not to be out on the real rock, we learnt a great deal putting our new found skills into practice on some gnarly plastic routes. The gym takes up three floors of a building in the main street, and with the routes being about twice as long as anything at Fergs, it was a mind game to ignore the huge pump which started halfway up the route. I took my first fall on my new rope when I fumbled a clip halfway up, and sent Kate soaring into the air in a takeoff which had everyone in the gym laughing. Needless to say, after that experience, she made sure she anchored herself when belaying me!

Of course we had a date with the television that night, so at 6.30 pm we drove back to Wharepapa in time for a delicious feed of spicy risotto a la Chong followed by Taylor strudel, before piling into Bryce's living room to watch the Blacks kick the Boks. I don't think when Bryce made his kind offer, he truly understood what he was getting himself into. A majority of females in a state of fervour over Dougie's tight jersey and Carlos's, ahem, passing skills, was probably not his idea of a great time! But the gesture was truly appreciated, thanks Bryce.

To bed with sweet dreams of All Black wins (little did we know then) and dynamic moves on lead, and the next day dawned still and sunny. It was off as early as we could to Smith's where we spent an awesome few hours experiencing the joy and the buzz of leading on real rock. Everyone got up a number of good routes within their respective climbing abilities, and seeing it all come together was magic. Someone likened the experience to climbing in Middle Earth, with the 360-degree views of rolling green fields, misshapen crags, and Chilean climbers with their shirts off (Paradise, more like). It was with regret that we packed up at 3pm, sunburnt and happy, to undertake the mission drive back to Wellington.

A fast-growing tradition after weekends away at Wharepapa, we all stopped in Taihape at the Venison Kitchen where Kate Smith, surveyed her baked spud, and declared with true Irish pleasure:

'I never met a potato I didn't like.'

Pretty much summed up the tone of the weekend really! Many thanks to the instructors for their expertise, patience and good humour in running such a fantastic course. I for one am hooked

Rachael Schmidt

Course participants: Ben Anderson, Colin, Claudia Kling, Annette Phillips, Robyn Maxwell, Kate Smith, Rachael Schmidt.
Instructors: Scott Taylor, Simon Chapple, Michele Domaneschi, Mike O'Brien Chefs and ignimbrite climbers extraordinaire: Tracey Chong, Karen Domaneschi

Do something with your summer!

It's that time of year again - we are running the ever popular Summer Rock Course, and are taking names of interested people. This introduction to rock climbing runs over February and March 2004, and it covers climbing technique and all the skills needed to safely set up, belay, and climb on top rope, including abseiling.

To find out more and/or book a place on the course, call Scott or Mike on 3800913, or email mob@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz. Places are already filling, so don't delay……

Interested in Instructing?

We are always interested in hearing from anyone who would like to share their knowledge, experience and skills with others in the club - and gain new skills at the same time. The club supports instructors with training and can give assistance working towards qualifications. Anyone who believes they have something to offer and is interested in helping on rock climbing instruction courses can contact Mike or Scott on 3800913, or email mob@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz.

CHAIRPERSON'S 6th QUIZ

Nigel Roberts' sixth quiz question stemmed from the fact that he's a political scientist. One of Nigel's former colleagues -- now retired - was a member of a party that completed a first ascent of one of the classic routes on one of New Zealand's 3,000-metre peaks. Nigel asked, "Who was it? What was the peak, and which route was it?"

The answer was Les Cleveland, who -- together with Neil Hamilton and John Lange -- completed the first Lendelfeld-Tasman-Torres traverse on 6 January 1951.

Having deliberately posed a question for which the answer was not available on google, Nigel received only one correct answer -- from Hugh Logan, author of "Classic Peaks of New Zealand" (Craig Potton Publishing, 2002)! Far from being critical of the fact that Hugh Logan was guilty of the mountaineering equivalent of insider trading, Nigel was truly delighted to know that Hugh had actually paid attention to his Political Science 101 lectures in 1975, and Hugh was duly rewarded with a bottle of Tasman Bay wine.

CHAIRPERSON'S 7th QUIZ

In light of Phil Castle's 3 November section night account of big wall climbing, Nigel has had to admit that the biggest wall he's ever climbed had only ten pitches (which is not a patch on what Phil has done, but at least it leaves Paynes Ford and Wharepapa for dead). Nigel's climb consisted of three pitches on Fraser's Variation, two pitches on Arrow Face, and five pitches on Arrow Final. Which mountain was this climb on?

Email your answers -- with the words "Quiz number 7" in the subject line -- to chairperson@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz by no later than 5:00 pm on Sunday, 30 November, to be in with a chance of winning a bottle of wine from a vineyard close to the peak containing Nigel's ten pitches.

Natural Pro Multi-Pitch Adventure Rock

Natural-Pro Multi-Pitch Adventure Rockclimbing Course
Twin Streams, Aoraki Mount Cook National Park

Learn the skills to undertake long committing rock climbs efficiently and safely in an inspiring environment.

When: Saturday 6th December - Monday 8th December 2003
Where: Based at Twin Streams, access by helicopter from Glentanner (flight included in course price), walk out on Monday afternoon.
Who: The course Instructor will be Dave Brash from Dunedin, a professional rock climbing instructor and editor of Dunedin Rock. There are only four student places available and they are open on a first come, first served basis. Participants must be Club members and payment must be received in full by the National Office to secure a place.
Skills: To get the most out of this course you should have some experience leading and placing natural pro to grade 16-17. Cost: $250

More Questions: Contact either the National Office in Christchurch, or the instructor Dave Brash, 03 473 9970, 027 222 1195, davebrash.climbing@xtra.co.nz

Our website

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NZAC National instruction programme

Course Numbers are limited so book early! Fully qualified alpine guides or rock instructors will be used to lead all courses and there will be an instructor - student ration of 1:4 ensuring an excellent learning environment.

Intermediate- Advanced Mountaineering (Five Days) $750
3-7 January 2004 , Unwin Hut Mt Cook
10-14 January 2004 Unwin Hut Mt Cook

Richard Wesley
National Administrator
phone 03 377 7595
email richard@alpineclub.org.nz

For Sale

Touring Skis for sale. Black Diamond Rubicons, 191cm (no bindings). Good condition, $300 ono. Call Arwen on 021 717 696 or hm 09 379 9731 or email arwen_vant@yahoo.com for more info.

Plateau Hut

Plateau Hut will NOT be closed this season now….

And here are the club trips ....

Wellington Section Trips

Trips are a key part of the section, so if anyone has an idea about a trip, no matter how vague, come and chat to Mike Williams (trips@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz)

Trips can be of any length, any level of difficulty, and any size. Simply email us, or approach us at the monthly meeting, and we can help you get going on a safe and enjoyable trip.

See you in the hills!