NZAC Trip to Mt Somers

I just had a lovely weekend away with the NZAC crew. On Saturday afternoon we walked into Pinnicals hut which took about three and a half hours in heavy snow. It was quite cold, but the group worked extremely well together to make a fire, collect water and get the tea on. The group were Helena and Andy, John and Robyn and Josh plus myself.

Today we ascended Mt Somers from the saddle above pinnicals. Conditions were perfect all day with excellent views all the way to Mt Cook. The Ryolite rock was inviting and we were soon doing a bit of rock scrambling. Especially Josh and Helena who were both rock climbers. We then ascended to the summit and had some lunch on the top.

Coming down we couldn't resist a bit of ice climbing in a shady gully, just to test out some gear and to develop skills and confidence. This was followed by a longish walk out to the carpark.

I really enjoyed the trip and hope to take part in many more!

The photos are on the summit(there was still almost 2m of snow) and descending the ridge.

Rescue on Avalanche Peak

Today I awoke to the sound of a helicopter landing on the LZ near home. Due to the early hour it could only mean a rescue, so I headed down.

Turns out a young overseas tramper slipped off the summit of avalanche peak about 150m down the slope to a basin and spent the night there. The only thing he did in his favour was set off the distress beacon he was carrying. When the heli picked him up he had travelled 350m from his pack, and on arrival at rescue HQ mentioned that he would quite like his pack and gear back!

As the Heli was returning to Greymouth, we had to walk up and retrieve the left behind gear.

The victims inexperience was obvious as the gear was spread in a large area suggestive of an agitated, or hypothermic state. I noted the victim had no obvious waterproof jacket, one of the first items he left behind in is wake was his woolly hat - so he had spent the night without those two very important items. There was a compas, but no map. He had dehydrated meals, but no snack food to keep him going. None of his gear was sealed in plastic bags, and was mostly cotton damp geans etc. He didn't have gloves, and lacerated his hands as a result of the fall.

Why did this guy persist in climbing a mountain without proper exquipment or experience - shear ignorance is all I can think.

His saving grace was the fact that the staff member at DoC spotted him as a DMW (dead man walking) and insisted on issuing him with a distress beacon, and in so doing probably saved his life. Secondly he didn't get too far from civilization before falling, so rescue was expedient and didn't require an extensive search. I understand the young man is going to have the fear of God put into him by our local cop, which is one of our cop's many talents!

No photos this time sorry.

Mt Temple Climb

We had a bluebird day here in AP. My group went off to visit a West Coast attraction leaving me free to climb for the day, so I took the opportunity to do a little climb to the top of Mt Temple 1913m.

I walked up the track to Temple basin ski field, then skinned up to Temple col, where I changed to crampons, and headed up the ridge to the summit. The guide book says that you need to siddle west towards the skifield, but the snow was supportive over the Mingha side so I did that instead. The route required some interspursed rock and snow climbing, but generally flowed well at an easily manageble grade. Towards the top in the shade was very hard ice, so crampons only just bit in, but the exposure was only momentary. It was beautiful on the summit, with a straight forward descent.From the summit I skied out of the two obvious coliours; firstly, coming directly off the summit next to the large buttress, and then secondly, siddling left, down a wide chute running directly to the downhill lift shed. I had lunch there and then headed back up towards the summit of B'limit, but bailed near the summit, due to cloud cover coming in from the west.

The snow is disappearing at an alarming rate, as it always does in the warn NW rains that we have had earlier this week. I hope I get a chance to do the Phipps - Temple Travers, while it is still supportive!

Above are the usual photos of the day. Enjoy! I certainly did!

RedBull - Backcountry???

I've put a link on my video list to the Redbull Backcountry Kicker Film- What the hell? You may ask yourself? Lets just think about this now. Oh! Now I get it - we're competing in the DARWIN AWARDS! But not only that, lets build a 30m kicker. Why? Cause we got a 30m sign that says redbull, oh and a helicopter too, and a snow mobile, oh, and a GROOMER! If the slopes is groomed can you still call it the "Backcountry' - er NO!

Lets not mention the RedBull mission to ski down Mt Cook, which they actually did, but then when they got in their helicopter to go home they put their TWENTY bags of rubbish out the door of the hut. Nice one. I wonder if RedBull have ever heard of leave no trace - I'm thinking a fat 'no' on that one.

My favourite part of the film is where Travis Rice says : 'I'm here, it's here, we gotta make this thing happen'.And then he lands on his ass - sums the whole show up for me. yup.

Still a small World here in NZ

Sometimes we are reminded just how small NZ is. For example I was just checking the Teton AT blog when TV 1 rang me and asked me if it was windy here in Arthur's Pass, and if it was likely that any roofs would blow off! Ah no. Sorry. The orographic effect, or the effect of raising moist air over the mountains combines with a katabatic effect over the Canterbury plains to create increasingly higher winds as they travel towards the coast ie the hot dry NW ers that Canterbury is famous for.I suggested they try mid Canterbury ie Darfield.

Anyway, Rando steve has a good write up on his blog regarding the new Dynafits coming out with a DIN of 12. The whole reluctance thing with Dynafits, I think is mental. I've just had my first season on a pair of speedlites and they are perfect, however it did take me a while to get my head around a couple of mental factors:
(1) They are harder to put on. Yes, but after a while you get used to them and they are actually about the same as alpine bindings.
(2) The system fits better with ski touring. Ie you don't have to take skis off at the top, when it is least convenient, but do have to down the bottom, when you are either going to stop skiing, or put skins on for another lap.
(3) No breaks aren't a problem if you think about what you are doing and use the following system: Never have more than one ski off your foot at a time (unless stopping) keep your skins on your skis, if you are bootbacking them.

The weight they save make backcoutry travel more effective and efficient, and therefore safer in all regards. So brother and sister - I know you will read this. Get yourselves some Dynafits this season!

Back to life after Alpine One Assessment

Well I had my alpine One assessment with the New Zealand Outdoor Instructors Association over last weekend. On thursday we had a general knowledge quiz which was quite fun. Then on Friday morning we headed off into the mountains to demonstrate our personal skills. Each candidate was given a navigation leg and told to travel to a particular location. We all managed this ok and ended up summiting MT Manson for the evenings activities which included a avalanche transciever search in the dark. On satuday we cut steps, climbed with crampons and made snow anchors. The technical skills were quite fun and I learned heaps about rope work, which will be quite handy here at AP. On Saturday we were each given a further Navigation Leg, and returned to our accomodation at the Cragieburn environmental centre. On Sunday we took out a group of students on a mountain experience day and taught them basic mountaineering skills while being assessed.

The whole experience was motivating and beneficial in terms of my learning and development as an alpine instructor. Our assessor was Dave Moore who currently works for the NZ Army.

The photo is from my Copland trip earlier in the year.

NZOIA Training Day

Today Richie, Steve and I headed down to Broken River to Revise any last minute skills for our Alpine One assessment coming up this weekend. The day proved useful in fine tuning the smaller details. We mostly worked on snow anchors, avalanche safety and transciever searches, as well as some pitch climbing, step cutting and general Alpine chit chat.

On Friday I climbed a route on Goldney Ridge which involved a little snow and ridge travel, which surprisingly took me to summit on the ridge in 2 hours car to car (c2c). As far as loosness of rock and snow went the route had been stable for the past 24hours, and was not exposed to the sun like Broken River was today we saw quite a few wet slides over snow grass. The pack is disappearing rapidly.

Here is a photo of the boys managing a pitch with three on the rope!

Snow Stakes and ice screw practice

Today I had a nice little group from a North Canterbury rural school. We walked the Dobson nature walk in the morning and learnt how to make emergency shelters in the afternoon. After work I shot up the Bealy valley to survey the damage left by the snow, and there is quite a lot of trees down and avalanches that have crossed the valley floor and gone up the other side of the valley. The river is still completely covered in some areas as you can see in the photo.

I'm feeling a little better today after having a bit of a fever over the last few days. I've been doing heaps of work for my alpine one, so apologies to everyone I haven't spoken to in a while!

Kea out of control!!!

No blogs for a while now... Sorry must get back into it. So here is a photo from out the back of the lodge of Kea(Alpine parot) Damage. The birds have no problems eating through the plastic and are very smart, so no problems undoing the clip on lids of the bins. I took this photo to make a sign telling my groups not to leave their rubbish out the backdoor- I think it will work!

I had a couple of really fantasic family surprises this week. Firstly my dad sent me his memoirs which he recently published. They are a fantastic read and really well put together, so well done dad! And phew! no major revelations like... I prefer to wear womens clothes or have another family on the otherside of town. No, actually just pretty normal everyday guy stuff - So well done dad. My dad is pretty awesome actually. And the other thing was the kids rang on Fathers day for the first time ever! I even hear rumours of a card having been created! Thanks kids, can't wait to see you in the holidays!!!