ITS WINTER!!!!!!!

OK, while I'm blogging, I cant resist a few skiing pics. Been going up to Treble Cone, the mountain ski area near Wanaka, it has the best skiing in resort of any of the local mountains, with lift access to un-pisted gullies and steep terrain. Just what I needed! I have some new skis and touring set up (bindings that the heel can lift up on, skins, and avalanche rescue gear), so have been adventuring away from the resort, into the solitude of the back-country, where you can find fresh lines, and not see another soul. In NZ you have to be fairly open minded about snow conditions, especially as its not been a great year for snow, but have managed to find some powder, and have lots of fun.
We spend a bit of time talking about avalanche risk, and sometimes dig a snow pit, or a test block, just to be sure of risk minimisation, and for the practice. Its a bit different to resort skiing, obviously you need to be sure of navigation, and what the weather will be and has been doing. There's a lot of up to every down, and you need to be constantly assessing the risk. But to be in the mountain environment, away from crowds, and finding some fresh powder to make first tracks in is an amazing feeling, and worth it all :-)
Me and Craig had a trip up to Arthur's Pass and went to some of the canterbury club fields, we camped in his new 4WD van. Bit stromy while we were up there, but great fun, once I had mastered the rope tow nutcrackers again!
So fun to be had both on and off the resort, and loving winter. Just hoping for another cold snap and some great snow, as conditions are remarkably spring like! please stay cold, keep the winds low, and bring us more snow.......

catch up.... and the next great walk run!

Well, its been ages since I've caught up! so sorry, not had a computer and been having lots of fun, so not really had the time or facilities....
So since my last adventure in the matukituki I have discovered a talent I never knew I had... mountain biking. Well, maybe not a talent as such, as my scars and bruises would testify, but a love for it. Where I live has some of the best biking in NZ, natural trails in the hills with plenty of fun rocks and steep sections to negotiate. Going further afield to Queenstown and Wanaka there is yet more biking on offer, including some gnarly trails down queenstown hill, that you can ride the gondola up to and have a day of pure adrenalin, downhill riding :-)
There is a large mountain range called the Old Man range just 15 mins drive from my house, you can get up to the top by 4WD (or freddie can do it under good conditions), and its then an hour of fun, fast downhill with a vertical kilometer of descent. Our fave thing is doing this in the dark under torchlight, adds a certain excitement!
Sooo lucky having all of this at my back door.
Big excitement of the year..... Mum and Dad came out to NZ to visit! It had been a stressfull week as I raced up to Christchurch after the fatal February earthquake to help out, doing 3 nightshifts in A&E, being woken from my sleep on a regular basis to the sound and feeling of the house being rocked and shaken! Although I slept suprisingly well through these aftershocks, and was great seeing all my old buddies up in ChCh. After these shifts I drove to Dunedin for a day of surfing to rest and recover before heading back up north to pic up ma and pa in Picton. Great seeing them after nearly 2 years, and excited about showing them my new home. We drove down the west coast and on to Clyde over the next couple of days, then sent them off on some adventures while I worked a few shifts. We all then headed down to Te Anau and had a fun three days walking the routeburn, kayaking Milford Sound, and drinking wine :-)
They went off to explore the Catlins, and I joined them later for a visit to Stewart Island, where I completed my 3rd great walk run....The Rakiura Track. 30KM of forest and mud!!!! Really very dull, except for the first bit which was lovely beaches. Not a track I recommend, unless you like forest, or want to see a Kiwi, as they do linger around these parts.
We drove up to Chch via the stunning Mt Cook Village, and soon it was time to say goodbye again. Really sad, wanted them to stay! But was so good showing them NZ and them meeting all of my friends, and at least now they can understand why I am here....I think they can be convinced to come back.
I feel at this point I should touch on the fact that I have taken up surfing. I wont stress the point as I'm rubbish, but it is fun, in the summer months. But really I am crap.
So summer and autumn were taken up biking, surfing, climbing and waiting for snow.... which was a long time coming, but now its WINTER! And I have some good, fat, stiff, off piste touring skis, so The back country has opened up to me for winter adventures..... I'll write more about that next time, but be assured, I'm having lots of them and since I've turned 30 i've suddenly got really gutsy! Heading for the steepest and deepest :-) (sorry mum) on bike or skis.
Oh yeah, I turned 30. Forgot that one didn't I! Had a great time, biking and a night out in Queenstown, and a big group of us got a batch in Ohau, an alpine village near Mt Cook, for some biking, lake kayaking, eating and drinking and fun. Thanks to all my lovely mates who came or sent wishes. And I'll have another 30th next year, as I'll be back in the UK for my birthday! So no one will have missed out, and I'll be 30 for another year, which I really dont mind as its been great the first time round. Life begins at 30........
So hope this has put those fears to rest that I've settled down and calmed down and stopped having adventures. Like that would ever happen, I just didn't have access to a computer to tell you about them.
Much love xxxxx

Return to the Matukituki......
On Jan 11th this year, I had a car packed, once again with climbing and mountaineering gear, and was headed off to Wanaka to meet Craig, and start our epic adventure! Both late, we pulled into the DoC office at the same time, so look at the weather, put in our intentions, and get excited! The weather was not very promising, but we were prepared for all conditions, and had a locator beacon, so we were all set. Except for a few last minute purchases, organising gear and ..... our last decent coffee for a week!
So by the time we reached Raspberry Flat car park it was about 13.30 pm, and we had 20KG packs and a long walk ahead! The first part of the walk is flat, and pretty, to Aspiring hut, and beyond down the valley to Shovel Flat. After a river crossing, its a tough 100m climb to French Ridge Hut. All well and good, but Craig was recovering from a nasty ankle injury and had not don any tramping for over a year....way to break him in gently Ange!
By 2100hrs, we arrived, gasping, out of the bush line and into the open. We only had another hour or so to the hut, but we were exhausted and darkness was falling, so we set up a wild camp near a tarn, and made dinner.
The next day was a well earned rest day. We had a leisurely morning in the sun, and then walked the remaining hour or so up to French Ridge hut, still climbing steeply. We got to the hut and Mark, the lovely volunteer warden, made us a pot of tea :-)
After lunch we practised rope work and crevasse rescue techniques on the rocks outside the hut, then we organised our gear. We planned to camp 2 nights on the Bonar Glacier, and attempt Mt Avalanche and Pope's Nose. However, on listening to the mountain forecast, the weather was supposed to turn on Saturday, the day we were coming down. We made a decision to still go, but to take enough supplies in case the weather came in early and we had to sit out a storm. We had an expected "out" day of Sunday, but our panic day (when people start to think we are in need of some help!) we had put as Tuesday, so we had some days to play with.
The next morning, at 06.30 am we set off up towards the Quarterdeck. We came out of the clouds, into beautiful weather. The quarterdeck was much more heavily crevassed than my last trip, and the top was a great big crevasse, with one remaining solid snow bridge across it. We got onto the Bonar Glacier in glorious sunshine. We found a flat spot on the glacier, poked around the check we were not on a precarious snow bridge, and set up our tent. We then set off towards Mt Avalanche. After plodding up steep snow, and negotiating a narrow path across a step slop with HUGE crevasses at the bottom, we reached the base of the rock. We moved together over loose rock, with some fairly good gear placements and made good time up Mt Avalanche. We didn't make it to the top as we made a decision to turn around in order to get off the glacier before the snow bridges became too soft and dangerous. We made it back to the tent by late afternoon, having had an awesome day!
We chilled out in the sun until it got cooler, had dinner, and settled in for our first night on the glacier. The first night taught me that sleeping on a $10 roll mat from the warehouse on snow is cold. And that my sleeping back did not have a -2 comfort rating (actually, its +2, I had obviously miss read it). And I was jealous of Craig's warm bag and thermarest!!!!
Next day, we got up early and walked across the Bonar towards Mt Aspiring, to attempt Pope's Nose. It was a long slog up snow, negotiating some awe-inspiring crevasses! We made it up to the base of the final climb, and a brilliant view! However the last part would elude us once more, there was a big schrund across the base, probably negotiable, but then a very steep section with poor protection. We probably could have soloed this but neither of us were that confident and a fall would have been unprotected and very bad! So we came away, happy, but slightly disappointed. It was an intense walk down, and there were some very delicate crossings of fairly exciting snow bridges over pretty scary holes in the ground!!!!
We plodded back towards our tent and had a great afternoon in the sun, a lovely dinner, and a well deserved rest.
Now in true Ange and Craig style we had a leisurely start to the next day, getting up at 7am. Our style is not "fast and light", not "true alpine". Its chilled out, messy and slightly disorganised. Its always fun, but sometimes not terribly professional. So as we walked towards the top of the quarterdeck in closing in weather, we kind of wished we had a wee bit more discipline and had got up at 0530am as planned. So we ended up on this snow slope, in bad weather and no visibility, surrounded by crevasses. The only sensible thing to do would be to re trace our steps and get back up to the safety of camp. We found our camp again and hour later, and put up our tent just in time. The rain, snow and 120kmph winds began, as did our 48hrs of "truth or dare" and the name game. Oh and eating nothing but bars, no hot food or drink and strict rationing. And did I mention being stung by whipped up snow and nearly being blown away whilst trying to pee? Sometimes I wish I was a man.......
We managed to make the next 48hrs really fun, did a lot of laughing, and a fair amount of sleeping. There was a brief weather window on the Monday night, but too late for us to go for it. We decided that the next day we would pack up at about the same time and have a shot. It was almost our panic day after all, we were fine, but would not have wanted people to come looking for us! So we packed up at 1400hrs the next day and headed to the top of the Quarterdeck. We spend an intense hour negotiating the worst bits (including knocking the last of the snow bridge at the top down....sorry! and me taking a slide - and remembering how to ice-axe arrest!!). It was intense! But we made it down in clearing weather, and got to the hut radio in time to let people know we were ok.
Boy did we have a good feed that night! 2 days of eating and drinking very little, we were glad to be able to use our gas and have a hot meal, hot drinks and as much food as we liked. We were walking out the next day so the more we could eat the better! We met some cool people at the hut that night and had an awesome time.
The next day we had a leisurely breakfast and set off down the valley. It was a long walk, and we broke the journey at Aspiring hut for an hour, w=it was pretty busy, and we were soaked through and hadn't had a shower for 7 days! lovely! We headed out and to Craig's friend's house where they had cooked us dinner :-) Then back to QT to Yan's house for some wine (we had missed his birthday due to getting stuck!) and spent the next few days recovering, mountain biking and kayaking! Back to work for the weekend, then a trip to the Catlins surfing..... All in all a fun packed and tiring few weeks!