Club nights are at Turnbull House, on the first unimpeded Monday of every month. New and prospective members are welcome. Meetings and talks start at 8.00 pm with club business and tea and coffee afterwards.

Meet for dinner at the Backbencher public bar at 6.30 and on to Turnbull House at 7.30 pm for a catch up

Nina Lynne Creedman 1977-2007

Nina on the summit of Mt Sealy, 24 March 2007

A Tribute to Nina Creedman

Nina bounced into our lives on last year's AIC course, declaring passionately: "I LOVE tramping!" Radiating enthusiasm, positivity and warmth, she initiated several tramps and climbs following the course.

Despite knowing her for only a short time, she had a huge impact on us and many others. She was a person that you got close to quickly, as she was so open and so good at connecting with others.

Nina was a member of a recent Wellington section trip to Mt Cook National Park with friends Lou, Ed and Paul. Tragically, Nina died on that trip after being hit by rockfall during a descent of Mt Sealy on 24 March.

Nina was an American from San Francisco, but had been living in New Zealand for over two years. She lived life to the full, packing in an enormous amount. Many words come to mind to describe Nina's personality and nature. Vibrant, vivacious, fun, witty, outrageous, courageous, generous, sparkly and passionate would be just a start. She had a directness that we Kiwis admired - she wasn't afraid to state her view or argue a point.

Nina was passionate about tramping and climbing in New Zealand, especially in the South Island. She'd tramped in many parts of the South Island and done road trips all over the country. Her recent trips included the Routeburn track, a New Year's trip to French Ridge Hut, and a Southern Crossing of the Tararuas.

Nina's top priority for the French Ridge trip was to ensure that we carried in enough gourmet food and drink to be able to celebrate New Year properly. Despite a great deal of pessimism and discouragement from Ed and Lou, she insisted on stashing a whole pavlova in the top of her pack. Miraculously the pavlova survived its journey, deflated only by a tiny amount, and the group sat down to a delicious dessert complete with boysenberries and whipped cream.

Nina was good at creating a sense of community and everywhere she went she attracted friends. She brought people together many times for barbecues at her flat in Mt Vic, and last year she hosted a big Thanksgiving dinner for her friends. It was the first Thanksgiving for many of us, and we loved it. Events with Nina always involved great people, lots of laughter and tons of delicious, home-baked food.

Aside from her tramping and climbing, Nina was multi-talented - she played competitive soccer which she absolutely loved, she could play the piano like a concert pianist, and in her free time she crammed in a whole raft of other things like running, touch rugby and tennis. She was also highly intelligent and passionate about her work. Her boss paid tribute to her as a talented urban designer who at times did not hesitate to take on senior engineers or managers. A previous senior colleague in the States commented that he had such respect for her work and intellect that his greatest fear at work was to look stupid in front of Nina.

A website has been set up as a place for Nina's friends to pay tribute to her. The address is http://ninacreedman.tama.co.nz.
On behalf of Nina's climbing friends, we would like to say an enormous thank-you to Garth and the Wellington NZAC for their instant and amazing support.

We are all much better off for having known Nina but much worse off for having lost her. She will be hugely and sadly missed in the Wellington NZAC. Nina was a special and inspiring person, and her spirit will live on in all those whose lives she touched.

Lou Thornley and Gwen Rashbrooke

Thanks Michele!

Last month I found myself installed back in the position of VertiGO Editor so quickly, that I barely had time to put the newsletter together, let alone say thanks to Michele Domaneschi for the fantastic job he has done over the past year or so as our VertiGO Editor. Those of you who know Michele will know how much he does for the Club, in his capacity as a past Rock Instructor Extraordinaire, as the main brains and brawn behind the Banff Mountain Film Festival and as immediate past newsletter Editor. All this with a young baby and a full-on job as well. So, from me, Mickey D, and on behalf of the rest of the Club, thanks so much for keeping us up to date with all the Club news in the past few months and whilst I can never hope to come close to filling your rock shoes, I hope I can manage half as good a job as Editor!

On that note, Judy Reid tells me that the cartoon on the back cover of your newsletters has been around since year dot. So, here's a challenge for you budding cartoonists out there. Send me a cartoon climber drawing for the back cover and I'll publish them all next month. Best effort will win a prize of my choosing and will grace the back cover for the next 50 years!

Rachael Schmidt (Your New (but old) Editor)

CLIMBING IN PARADISE?

In September '06, Simone Chiaretta, an Italian rock climber temporarily working in Wellington, and his wife Daniela, spent a week in what is said to be the 2nd most beautiful rock climbing spot in the world (after Thailand): the stunning island of Kalymnos, in the Aegean Sea, in Greece.
Here is the report of his trip in Simone's own words:

"As soon as we took off from Athens, we started to feel the climbing atmosphere that was waiting for us on the island: instead of the usual people that go to the Greek Islands (couples on honeymoon or groups of friends ready for a week of parties), the plane was full of tanned people dressed with technical garments and with mountain packs.

That feeling increased looking at the temporary "inhabitants" of the small town of Massouri, where we were staying in a comfortable B&B with an astonishing view over the small island of Telentos, on the other side of the channel: climbers along the streets, climbers in the restaurants eating Mussaka or Stuffed Vine Leaves, climbers in the bars drinking Ouzo or Metaxa, climbers on scooters. It was like entering climbing heaven.

After the first night spent in the company of someone we met over there, we woke up in the morning ready for an intense week of climbing in some of the 40+ climbing areas around the island: all, at most, 10 minutes by scooter from Massouri.
We spent all morning looking for a scooter to rent for the week and then we headed to "Afternoon", the area just behind our B&B. The area is so named because you can only climb there in the afternoon, otherwise you will melt on the rock.
Graded from 4c to 9c (European system), there is a route for every skill level, from the uber-beginner, to Sharma level climbers.

The rock is limestone, with little holds (except for the routes in the caves, where you have stalactites hanging from the ceiling) and small holes. At first it was difficult to get used to the rock, since the limestone where I usually climb is slippery and I didn't trust my feet on the small footholds. But after the first day I understood that this limestone was rough enough to make use of the small holds for the feet. And my confidence was increased by the amazing bolting of the routes: the maximum distance between the bolts is 3-3.5 meters, so, even if you dare a route over your limit, you don't have to worry about a big fall.
We spent 5 lovely days climbing in the morning, going to the beach in the late afternoon, and spending the evenings in restaurants and bars. The perfect climbing holiday: no long walks, no worries about injuries, relaxation, and a lot of friendly climbers to party with in the evenings."

Simone Chiaretta

Check out Simone's fantastic photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/simone.chiaretta/KalymnosClimbing

TEN DAYS IN FIORDLAND

From Kevin Patterson:

"We took an extended Easter break to visit a part of the country we had not climbed in before. Our official aim was to climb 3 peaks in the Darrans - Talbot, Sabre, and Christina. Our real aim was to find out what it was like to climb on granite, explore the upper reaches of the Marian Valley, and maybe catch a glimpse of the hidden Lake Adelaide.

After a quick flight to Invercargill we arrived in drizzle, and promptly rolled up the Marian valley to attempt Christina (2500m) via the 1980 McLeod route near the lake exit. Progress was initially rapid through light scrub. Then the terrain steepened and the bush thickened considerably such that we barely gained 20m in an hour in mist and drizzle. "I think the bush has grown a bit since McLeod bashed it" - so suitably chastened and soaked we retreated, moved up valley, and tried again the following day on another route (1955, G-H-J-M). This day was a ripper, quick progress was made until the valley walls got ridiculously steep. I eventually lead a 50m pitch with all but the first 10m unprotected, up slippery 70 degree mossy, semi-tussocky, rock. I had to keep going, there was nowhere to stop till the end. Visions of an 80m winger filled my mind. Ahead stretched 100's of metres of more climbing of similar ilk until the terrain eased off. "Ahhh…I think we'll retire to the clubhouse". Best lunch we ever had, no wind, blue sky day (BSD), sitting on a ledge, with 400m of exposure at our feet.

The next day was another BSD so we attempted to get past the Lyttle Falls at the head of the Marian Valley to have a look at Sabre as a day trip. A steep initial pitch up a grainy slab brought out the rock shoes. "Mmmm….nice Fiordland granite, solid as, can still feel that graininess through my feet. Just don't think I can bring myself to climb anywhere else." It didn't last long - progress reduced to a crawl and it became obvious that even though we possibly could make it, time was against us. Again another high altitude lunch then a hasty retreat to the Gertrude Valley.

Another BSD - honest, I'm not making this up. We were away to achieve Talbot (2100m) which we nailed in good time and returned to tent on the Gertrude Saddle. The next day the weather deteriorated - a wet, misty westerly with worse to come. We wandered up to Barrier and saw nothing. Sabre would have to wait. We retreated to Milford to dry out. Overnight the wind rose to 120km/h and a tremendous thunderstorm came in - best lightning I've ever seen - awesome. Over 150mm of rain fell. The forecast for the rest of the week was awful, snow down to 500m, 100mk/h winds till Sunday.

We retreated further to Manapouri, and bagged an old favourite I'd been wanting to visit for a while - Mt Titiroa (1700m) - over a 3 day period. This mountain when viewed in summer from Manapouri looks like it has a covering of snow, but it is in fact white quartz. Access to the "Bluffs" campsite is fairly straightforward - dinghy - track - river crossing - bush bash - 7-8h from Manapuri township. Even camping as low as 900m we still collected 20-30cm of fresh snow overnight. But we were doing OK, and pushed through to the summit without much drama. Unique quartz rock shapes carved out by nature surrounded us.
On our last day we did a side tour to Lake Hauroko - now this is about as far south/west you can get by road - right on the edge of the greatest wilderness still left in NZ. Sort of like how Milford Sound used to be before the tourists turned up. We did a climb to a ripper lookout and were fairly treated to a clearing sky. 400m before us was revealed the stunning blue of NZ's deepest lake (462m, some 300m below sea level) carved out by the last ice age. In the distance the Hump Ridge, then Foveaux Strait and Stewart Island. What a trip!

Additional photos/details can be viewed at http://kpatterson7.photosite.com/Fiordland/
Climbing Team - Kevin Patterson and Tom Zink

Kevin Patterson

EVER WONDER WHERE MEREWYN WENT?

Merewyn leading W14 (she "can't believe she did it")

Merewyn Ellis and Josh Groom are spending the Northern Winter in the Canadian Rockies. Here's Merewyn's latest report:

"We are based in Calgary as that is where the work is, but only 1.5 hours from Banff which makes day and weekend trips very easy. Most of our adventures have been waterfall ice climbing in an area called the Ghost Valley which is in the Rockies front ranges behind Cochrane.

Access to the Ghost requires a fairly decent 4WD and involves steep hills, river bed driving and deep snow drifts, often done in the dark due to the short daylight hours in winter. Then the real fun starts - on foot - winter river crossings teetering over fallen trees or 'thinking light' as you try to cross on a delicate ice bridge - anything to keep our boots dry. Walking poles sure come in handy for this kind of nonsense, but one pair can be tossed back across the river for the whole team to use… most of the time.

We have also climbed in some more famous locales - Johnston Canyon which was a circus complete with falling ice and spectating tourists, Haffner Creek and Bear Spirit for mixed climbing. Recently we did a fantastic alpine mixed route Coire Dubh Intergrale which is graded WI3 and has 4 pitches of 5.6 rock to put you onto the ridge near Loder Peak. A quick trot over the summit and we descended the ridge in a 100km hour Chinook wind clinging to the rough Rockies Limestone.
Then it's back to the pub for beer and wings, (deep fried Chicken Wings) a Canadian tradition. Towards the end of the season we have got onto a few 'Ultra Classics' such as The Professor Falls WI4, Guiness Gully WI4, and High Test WI4+.

Unfortunately as I write this it is 12deg outside, even though it was snowing this morning, and everything appears to be melting out quite early this year. The Chinook rules this place, similar to the Nor'wester of NZ it comes over the Rockies and can raise the temperature in Calgary by 20 deg in a single day. Legend has it that this occurred right before the Winter Olympics in 1988, melting out the ski jumps.
For more photos and updates on the trip visit our trip blog at: http://placebojim.blogspot.com

Merewyn Ellis

THE PINNACLES IN SUMMER

"In mid-March Steve Dowall and I took some time off work and headed up to Ruapehu. We climbed a rib of rock on the East (far) side of the Grand Pinnacle at Whakapapa. It turned out to be a couple of pitches of pleasant rock at about grade 11, before merging with the Pinnacle proper just before the summit. It makes a nice half day alpine scramble with a bit of exposure and good top-out. It could also make a fun start to a Pinnacle Traverse.
Although not mentioned in the guide book, it seems unlikely that this feature hasn't been climbed before."

Tom Wilson

A NEW ROUTE TO THE CABLE CAR

Matthew Stevens advised me of the following first ascent by himself and other section members Maria Cassidy, Caroline Duggan, Jeremy Bray and newest member Zeke Bray. Unfortunately he couldn't provide photographic evidence so it must remain out of the guidebooks for the moment:

"Hi Rach,
Maria and I had an exciting Easter journey.
The first three days were spent in preparation. Friday we moved house renovation rubbish to the end of the path, ably assisted by fellow climber Alan Lowrie. Saturday we loaded the trailer and took over 1000kg of house renovation rubbish to the tip. As an encore, we scraped paint, sanded and repaired our concrete path. Sunday we scraped, sanded and repaired the concrete path some more.
The real climbing began on Monday. The team assembled by the main entrance of the Botanical Gardens. Along with Caroline, Jeremy and Zeke, Maria and I took stock and chatted baby buggies. Then we scaled the heights of the Botanical Gardens, taking a moderate angled path (but, I think, new route) to the cable car summit.
It was a hot day, but we pushed the pram through and finally gained the ice cream shop. A quick descent past the lawn sculptures had us back at the bottom in time for the afternoon feed. A good time was had by all."

Matthew Stevens

DENY THE EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING?

Mike Peat and family (Pamela and Thomas aged 7) met up with more talented rockclimbing section members (Yibai, Sarah and Joe) at Whanganui Bay for a relaxing few days climbing and swimming. The highlight of the trip was Thomas confidently announcing one morning that he was going to get us a trout for dinner (even though he had no fishing gear) then actually producing a good sized specimen just before dinner that he had conned a fisherwoman to give up!

The family also visited Ruapehu for a couple of days staying overnight at the NZAC Whangaehu hut at Tukino. On Easter Monday they climbed the Cathedral Rocks via the Mangatoetoenui Glacier. The climb took 2hrs from the hut via a circuitous route that avoided snow and ice travel, a good effort for city-chick Pamela and young Thomas climbing in sneakers. There has been a huge amount of glacial recession on this side of the mountain in the last 5 - 10 years. Mike estimates that the snout of the Mangatoetoenui has receded about 200m and the thickness reduced by about 20m which has isolated a large arm of the glacier and has destabilised adjacent rock outcrops and moraine walls. Ski in summer while you still can!

Mike Peat

AND MORE FROM MIKE……

On March 24th Mike Peat and John Dawkins completed a new route on the North Tower. The route 'Religiously Unkind' (17) ascends the wall left of the chimney via a series of corners and ledges. The rock is generally solid and provides pleasing alpine rock climbing. Pitch 1 (16) 40m starts 5m left of the corner below the chimney and has sustained difficulties topping out at a large ledge, pitch 2 (17) 25m continues up the obvious corner then up the wall on the right (crux) via a fist crack. One short blade piton was used (and left in place) but otherwise good trad gear is available, a 5m sling is required for the abseil (30m) down the west flank.

A GHOST AT RUAPEHU HUT?

There's changes afoot at Ruapehu Hut on Delta Corner and whispers of a resident ghost. I received this report on the Ruapehu Hut working bee of 23-25 March 2007 run by the Akld and CNI sections, and on which some Wgtn section members assisted:

"We had a very successful weekend. Thanks to all the volunteers who came and dedicated their time to helping out. There are still a number of jobs to finish, but we made a great start!
He is an account of how the weekend progressed.

There were 9 people in total. On Friday, we managed to get all the final materials up to the hut - the bulk had arrived by chopper earlier in the week. We did a shuttle relay of 6 trips from the chairlift to Delta corner, and then from Delta corner up to the hut. We were quite proud of getting everything up there, when we realized we'd left the box of beers and one bag of tools down at the end of the Centennial Chairlift. We managed to get back for them before the Lifty thought he'd got away with a good Friday night score!

Once the materials and tools were all up there, we took the entrance door off and started ripping up the old floor. By sundown Friday, we had managed to make good progress.

We all turned in relatively early, as we knew it would be an early start. We were expecting a couple of others to stumble in quite late, but they ended up coming up first thing in the morning. However, the night was eventful, and I will digress a bit.

Does anyone know of any rumours of the Ruapehu Hut having a ghost or being haunted? We have 4 witnesses this weekend of ghostly happenings this night, so I would be interested to know if anyone else knows of anything. And no, we were not plastered (we were on rations!), so that couldn't be an excuse! That night, I got up about 1:30, so it was after this. I was aware of coming around, and being aware of someone climbing the bunks. I was sleeping second tier, with the ladder at my feet, but the movement was past my head, and I could feel the vibration of someone climbing. I thought it was Dave, but then realized he was sleeping below me. Then I thought it might be Brad, cause he was in the back corner. I didn't hear any further noise, no rustling of sleeping bags, which you would expect if someone had arrived late and was settling in.

It wasn't until the next morning that all the other stories came out. After Brad got up, he went looking in the entrance loft, and came back in and said, "where's the others?". In the night, he had seen in the doorway, a person all covered up in winter gear, in an orangy beany, and thought "someone's turned up late". He didn't click at the time that the light in the entrance way was left on all night, so it would have shone through the door. He also didn't hear the door go. (And the door is quite noisy when you get up to go toilet!). He didn't see where the figure went to, just that there was someone in the doorway.

Ron woke up to hear the bang-bang of heavy feet on the entrance grill, as if someone was banging their boots off. Rosemary was same as me - heard movement going on, and felt the movements of the bunks. Dave doesn't admit to anything. He did hear someone getting up, but it may have been me.

It wasn't til after hearing all the stories that I tried climbing that post to get to the top bunk - it was bloody hard work, but I could do it, (and almost near impossible if you are not a climber) and I remembered it being pretty a swift movement in the night. And it wasn't until I was working on the entrance grill the next day, I tried making the sound that Ron had heard - my medium tramping boots couldn't replicate the sound that the grill had made - the sound in the night was more like it came from Plastics.

Anyways, all interesting! We may have started a tourist attraction. Good way of raising funds! I was beginning to wonder if after ripping the hut apart, we released bad karma, and we didn't do a blessing on the hut prior!! What have we started?! No encounters on the Saturday night, though!

Anyways, Saturday brought excellent weather. We were at the grindstone by 7 am. Good alpine start! Most of Saturday was trying to get the old floor up, renogged out, and we got most of the underfloor insulation done. As well, we had repaired and sealed all major holes in the cladding. The door was remade by the end of Saturday and coated with a coat of etch-primer. We managed to get all the mortaring done of the holes in the foundation blocks by the end of Saturday. We pushed on to 8:30, as we wanted to get the plywood all down before we stopped, as we knew the checkerplate would take the full day. As it was, one of the sheets of ply wasn't level, and we needed to take it up, so we just decided to wait til morning. Besides, the beer and wine were calling! A couple of others spent a good amount of Saturday cleaning up the paintwork and scraping off all the flaking paint on the eastern walls (they continued this work on Sunday to the other walls).

Also, on Saturday, we wondered why there were lots of blow flies, so we investigated. About 40m north of the hut, there was a big black cloud, low to the ground, which was blowflies, like bees around a honey pot - but these were flies around effluent, as we found the septic tank was obviously seeping….thanks to Brad for coming up with the new technique of killing flies. We will all be looking out for the new electrifying fly swat - apparently can be found at Warehouse!

Sunday was another great weather day and very productive. Again, early start by 6:30 am, to sort out the uneven plywood prior to breakfast. I was sorting out the rehanging of the door - the existing door had a warp, so it was a struggle, and there was a lot of modifying of the framework to get it to fit. At the same time, the checkerplate was going down as a dry run, and cutting it to size. Before we knew it, it was lunch time, and we knew our deadline was to get the last chairlift down by 4:00! We spent the afternoon fitting the checkerplate and getting the door handle fitted.

After this, it was a mad pack up and dash, and still putting last screws and nuts in as we were walking away from the hut.
The only big job that did not get touched was the water hatch (modify and redo) - this was quite involved. The glass still needs to go in the window. There is still quite a bit of finishing regarding flashings around door, the door in the drying room needs to be rehung, and a few more architraves left to do. We still need to replace the drying dowels in ceiling, but that is all ready to go. The water pump is still leaking - have had a go at it, but need to look at it again.

The old floor is stacked neatly under the hut. We need to get this out on a relay or back flight, if there is a drop off anytime, as it is a potential fire hazard.

It was an excellent team of people, everyone gelled and worked really well together. Work really flowed all weekend, and made, from my point of view, the work easy to organize. Work will continue Easter Weekend, as long as the weather is willing."

Submitted by
Richard Knott
Ruapehu Hut Maintenance person
CNI Section Rep

CHEAP FLIGHTS TO MELBOURNE?

The Bard (Paul Grimwood)

"Arapiles" from Paul Grimwood:

"Alison and I managed to squeeze in a long weekend at the Araps over the end of March. This was our first visit to the region and in fact the first climbing outside of New Zealand and also our first time climbing trad, and oh we learned so much. How pitiful is my rack of 3 cams, 3 hexes and 8 nuts, and how grateful am I for the loan of a further 7 cams and a set of RPs - thanks Geoff. 130m off the ground edging up the rounded laybacks on the 5th pitch of Siren on the Pinnacle Face one gains an appreciation of having the gear to build a bomber anchor, be able to stick in more than 1 cam on route and still have some gear to build an anchor at the top. Pushing the grade (that would be a 10!) on the start of the committing second crux pitch of The Baptism at Mitre Rock those little borrowed aliens were my best friends as pump started to kick and my hands weaken as I flailed gracelessly around the face, huffing loudly, blind to the beautiful fist crack in front of my face. And thanks to Callum for the loan of the brilliant 'Arapiles Selected Climbs'.

In a nutshell - our 68 hour climb fest:
We cut our teeth on the grade 3 Hammer at Declaration Crag where it took an average of three attempts to find the right gear for the job, before setting off on the 3 star grade 5 120m ascent of Tiptoe Ridge on the Pinnacle Face, choosing to be bold and ignore the voices saying 'what about the rain' and 'it's not long till it gets dark'. It was my birthday and what a way to spend it. Next we upped the ante and attempted a throbbing grade 7 climb: the 2 star Diapason route on The Organ Pipes. All went swimmingly and our further boldness did not seem misplaced. All of our climbs were learning moments and here we learned not to bring a rucksack up a tight chimney. Then on to Bushranger Bluff, to knock off the 1 star Bullet Buttress (3), the 2 star Revolver Crack (6), and the no star Cobb and Co. (4) and the no star Tullah's Tease (6) done twice as it was so nice. So even the unrated climbs seemed to be excellent! Then we again pushed the grade up a couple of notches and climbed the 3 star 145m grade 9 Siren on the Pinnacles Face. The grade 9 crux pitch was saved till the end keeping the suspense going right till the last minute. Moving up through grade 8 and 9 pitches made things more challenging but we were never out of total control. We then mosied over to Mitre Rock and climbed the 2 star grade 6 Exodus and the 1 star grade 8 The Parsons Nose (particularly enjoyable). Then in the final wee hours of climb time we opted to go into double figures on the 1 star grade 10 The Baptism at Mitre Rock. To quote from Arapiles Selected Climbs, "The crux has a couple of committing moves off the ledge followed by a hand-jamming sequence …… Steep cranking up the wall ….A couple of tricky moves…". Well the book was true to form and when you throw in complete inexperience at crack climbing the first 5 metres were a real test piece. Pump was building up quicker than I could shake it out of my resting arm. There was some serious praying going on. Still the route was sent and we had half an hour to spare to sit down and enjoy the view.

We played it safe, worked our way up through the grades, felt in control (mostly) and had a fantastic time climbing in warm sunshine amongst the kangaroos, parrots and 1.5m giant lizards, and despite the description we did actually sleep normal hours in between climbs, and manage to get to the pub even if it was just for one pot which I learned is Australian for not a lot of beer.

Paul Grimwood

Alison Stevenson on Exodus (Paul Grimwood)

OUTDOOR FIRST AID COURSE

Recent tragic events within the Section have reinforced the need for us all to be up-to-speed with our outdoor first aid skills when we venture out into the hills. By all accounts, including those of the Police and Mt Cook Search & Rescue, Lou, Ed and Paul did everything perfectly when confronted with the awful accident resulting in Nina's death. We applaud them for their actions, but would we all be as skilled in a similar situation? If you have doubts about your own ability to cope with an accident in the outdoors, the Wellington section of the NZAC is offering you an opportunity to gain an NZQA qualification in Outdoor First Aid. The course is running on 12-13 May 2007 at Wadestown Scout Hall, 9am to 5 pm each day. Run in the first instance for Instructors on AIC, there are some spaces left which we are opening up to Club members. The Club will pay a small subsidy towards the cost of the course for any members who wish to take part. For further information, or to reserve a spot, please email Mike Courtney on stung@xtra.co.nz

HIMALAYAN EXPEDITION: MANASLU 2007

Manaslu 2007. Joint Canadian/NZ expedition.

We have one, possibly two, places left for a expedition to Manaslu (8,163m) from 30 August 2007 to October 10th. Walk in, helicopter out.
This is a little climbed 8000 metre mountain. No previous Canadian ascents and only a couple of NZ ones (no NZ Autumn ascents we are aware of?). All major items have been organised e.g. peak permission, support to base camp, support personnel etc. This is a shared cost expedition. If you are interested, have a happy personality!, and have good climbing experience (as least some climbing on South America 6000m+) please contact Dave Morrison on david.morrison@eds.com
or Warwick (Waz) on warwickwhite@yahoo.co.nz for more details.

VERTIGO GOES INTERNATIONAL…

I recently received the following email from an American reader of our esteemed publication:

"Dear Rachael
While trying to find out if there was any rock climbing in the North Island of New Zealand (?? What a question! - Ed), I came across your website. I couldn't help but notice Quiz #22 (those of you who have been members for a while will remember Nigel Roberts' infamous quizzes - Ed.). As a native Californian who has been rock climbing for 43 years, and who first climbed in Yosemite in 1964, I knew the answer to the quiz!
"Inspired by an August weekend in California, Nigel Roberts noted that Josiah Whitney, a former director of the California State Geological Survey and the man after whom Mt Whitney was named, once famously called someone "an ignoramus" and "mere sheepherder." Nigel's 22nd quiz question was who was that someone, and why did Whitney disagree with him?
The answer is that Josiah Whitney called John Muir "an ignoramus" and "a mere shepherder" because they disagreed about the geology of Yosemite. Whitney thought that the valley had been created by a catyclismic earthquake. Muir thought the cause was glaciation, and was largely correct."
Whereas John Muir is the correct answer, both Muir and Whitney were wrong about the geology of Yosemite. The glacier explanation came about in 1930, and it has been the one supported by the U.S. Geological Survey (who issued the report 77 years ago). Needless to say, after more than 3/4 of a century, better explanations have been given. In particular, a detailed explanation of Yosemite's geology was given in the 1997 book: The Geomorphic Evolution of the Yosemite Valley and Sierra Nevada Landscapes. According to this book, and it seems to be far more accurate than the USGS version, glaciers had little to do with the formation of Yosemite Valley."

Greg Schaffer

So there you go, Nigel…..! Ed.

ALPINE INSTRUCTION COURSE 2007

It's coming up to that time of year again - we are running the ever popular annual Alpine Instruction Course, taking place over three Tuesday night theory sessions in July and August, two weekends on Mt Ruapehu (based at Tukino) and one weekend on Mt Taranaki. To find out more, including dates, cost and syllabus, and/or to book a place on the course, call Rachael on 494 5643, or email rs @nzalpine.wellington.net.nz.
Note as of publication today, we only have two places left, although I will start a waiting list!

Wgtn Section Photo Competition 2007 - Enter Now!

FOR SALE/WANTED TO BUY

FOR SALE - Karhu Betty Telemark / Alpine Touring Skis
Brand new (still in plastic) Karhu Betty 176 cm skis. An ideal ski for NZ back country snow conditions. 117 - 80 - 105 profile, Weight 2.8 kg / pair.
$650 ONO Ph Nicola on 03 981 3651 email: nicola.noble(at)kordia.co.nz (Postage $10 in NZ)

FOR SALE - Ice climbing this winter?
2 X 60m 8.1mm Beal Iceline ropes. Super-dry. Only used twice. $220 each Grivel Rambo Crampons $220. Any questions/offers give me a call or email me.
Michael Scott
021 1175931
michael@springload.co.nz

OVER 70'S TRAVEL INSURANCE

From Head Office: "Thanks to the enquiries of Trevor Chinn, we have approached our travel insurance provider on behalf of our ever-adventurous, over 70 year old climbers. They have come back with permanent endorsement to now cover NZAC members between the ages of 70-75yrs for any extra 10% premium. They will also consider 76 year+ applications on a case-by-case basis. "

Please see this webpage for more travel insurance information: http://www.alpineclub.org.nz/default.aspx?p=23

MSC CONFERENCE

The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council will be holding an Avalanche Conference on 18-20 May 2007 at Christchurch. This is the snow industry's biennial conference, with international and NZ-based speakers presenting the latest on avalanche research, as well as trade displays of the newest avalanche equipment and resources. There will also be a gala dinner on 19 May, with The Wizard as guest speaker.

Conference fee is $130, while the gala dinner is for $45. Registration starts on 28 March. For further details please contact Cristina.Samson@mountainsafety.org.nz

Trips for the Calendar for 2007 so far…

Aconcagua : 2007

The highest mountain in the Southern Hemisphere and outside Asia is the perfect choice to take your high altitude trekking to the next level. I'm organizing an Aconcagua expedition on 11-12/2007 and I'm looking for people to join the core group to work out the details during the next few months.

The expedition will be as independent as possible and guided or unguided depending on the route choice. Climbing Aconcagua does not necessarily require technical climbing skills but experience in high altitude trekking and fitness is required as the goal is not to use external help beyond the base camp. Later, when the exact budget, date, route and timetable have been set the expedition will be open for any club members to join.

Especially for those who aim on taking eight thousanders later Aconcagua is extremely good practice. I am also considering combining an acclimatisation trip to the Cotopaxi (and possibly the other volcanos there) in Equador just before the expedition. Please contact me through e-mail at jsarkila@gmail.com for more information and visit www.aconcagua.com for general information about the mountain.

Juho Sarkila, Wellington

Nepal – depart NZ late April 2007.

We are looking for additional people keen to go to Nepal – either for atrekking holiday or to climb Island Peak.

Sherpa Kamal Rai and his wife Sara are facilitating the above trip to Nepal, working with Adventure Travel. So far there are 3 adults + 18 mth old child in the trekking group and 3
adults in the climbing group. We currently have space for 3-4 trekkers and 1-3 climbers.

Guided Camping Trek 1 : Everest Base Camp and Island Peak (20 days).
Challenging, limited technical climb. Approx NZ$5,200

Guided Camping Trek 2 : Sherpa Villages (17 days). Easy. Approx NZ $4,800

Prices include: return airfares, taxes, accommodation in Thailand and Nepal,
food, internal airfares, climbing permits

For further information contact: Sara and Kamal Rai 04 528 3814, 021 747 994
Waypoint Adventures www.go2nepal.com

MOVED HOUSE?

Please notify the Club's National Administrator of your change of address as the labels for all newsletters and club publications are generated at the HQ office.

You can contact:

Margaret McMahon
National Administrator
email office@alpineclub.org.nz

NZAC
PO BOX 786
CHRISTCHURCH
TEL (03) 377 7595
FAX (03) 337 7594

Bored at work?

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