kaikoura Coast track

Sunday 14th March
Ok, so this was ages ago and I need to catch up on the blogging!
I walked the kaikoura coastal track with vera and paddy, to work friends. Its a three day walk through private farm lands, staying in farm bunk-houses or cottages on the way. It takes in stunning scenery along the east coast of the South Island and walks along beachs, through forsts, and across farm land. Its fairly gentle, just about 13kms each day, and they carry your food (and wine!) and pack if you like to the next house along the way. We met a group of six other girls doing this, they were great fun and we all got along really well. The wallk had a few hills, and a long stretch a long a beach, but all in all there was plenty of cake and wine to make it painless, and great fun.....

Mount Cook - the bottom bit......

I'm not sure how it happened that we ended up heading to Cook, I think we decided that less days off meant we needed a closer target than the slightly more realistic goal of Mount Aspiring, so Cook seemed like a good option .......!!!!!
Not only is it NZ's highest mountain, but it is a particularly daunting and dangerous one, and was a little further down my list in the section "when more experienced". However I could not resist having a "look" and a summit would be excitement beyond belief. So after a botched sick call to work (we were rumbled on this one!) we headed down to Mt Cook village, 5 hours drive away. We (me, Axel, and Steve) drove from Cook Village down a four wheel drive track as far as we could go, and slept the night, rather uncomfortably, in the back of Axel's car. It was gone midnight when we got there, and after a few hours of rest (not sure we got much sleep!) we got up and headed off towards Cook. We had to walk over rough moraine and negotiate scree slopes with heavy packs. I had some nasty falls on the scree and was glad when we crossed Ball Glacier and headed up a rocky gully. We missed our route onto more scree and had to negotiate some steep rocky sections, ending up at the bottom of an ice-fall on Boys Glacier. It was 7pm by this point and we had no idea what lay ahead so we thought it would be safest to set up camp and start again in the morning. The terrain was rocky, but we built a platform for my alpine tent as best we could. We had no sleeping mats so the boys slept on their packs, and I made do with a layer of clothing. I made dinner while Steve got a crash course in glacier travel and self arrest. We had strategically placed our tent behind a rock to protect from the rock and ice fall. However right before bed we all looked up to the sound of cracking ice. Me and Axel ducked behind the rock, and Steve ran the other direction. A huge lump of ice had broken off the ice-fall and crashed over the rock that was protecting our tent! Slightly unnerved by this we all put on our helmets, and slept in them, and built up the rock wall around our tent still further.
A cold and restless night was to come, with three people in my two man alpine tent making sleep elusive! We woke early to get onto the glacier, moving along to the constant sound of rock and ice fall. We had come onto the glacier at the wrong level, so found ourselves trying to find a way around wide open crevasses. We ended up having to ice-climb down into crevasses and out the other side. It was slow progress. We eventually got onto the snow covered part of the glacier, making progress smoother and easier, as the crevasses were all linked by snow bridges. We got to boys col and looked up at the mighty face of Cook. It was so immense, so huge, so exciting! It made me realise that I had a lot of work to do before I was good enough for this!
We wanted to push on further but the route ahead was heavily crevassed, with it being so late in the season, and I'm sure our route up the mountain would have been the same. We did not know the mountain well enough to know if it was worth a shot, as we could not be sure of conditions or safe bivvy spots. The weather also looked like it was closing in, and it was a long way to plateau hut. We made the wise choice to return to the car. It would be a long walk out.
We descended along the correct route, which involved a steep descent on scree, made harder by heavy packs. on the way ac cross a steep scree slope, with a 70ft drop over a lip about twenty meters below me, I was knocked over by a loose rock which came flying down the slope. I couldn't get it off my leg so I was stuck! I was praying that I did not have a broken leg or anything, as that could have been disastrous. Luckily Steve was there and lifted the rock of my leg, it was fine, apart from a few bruises, and an injured knee all was well. It really knocked my confidence on the scree though, and I completely froze after that when crossing scree, something I need to work on, as its an integral part of mountaineering here!
We got back to the car late that evening, walking the last bit in the dark. We had no water, but plenty of beer, so we ate and drank, then slept. The next day we were all a bit sore, but packed our stuff and went and did some rock climbing a Sebastopol Bluffs. It had been an awesome trip, and one of the biggest learning experiences I have had in the mountains. This Trip has been invaluable, and has certainly spurred me on to get fitter and stronger, to carry MUCH less stuff (no more comfy pants ;-)) and to climb more mountains.
I will be back in the spring, for Mt Cook, take two! And one day, the Grand Traverse. Until then, I've got lots of work to do!

catch up - Kaiteriteri

So, much time has passed and I have severly neglected my blog, which isn't really good enough at all. And its not as though there is nothing to tell, I've had some exciting trips so much to catch up on! So they will come in installments.... here's number one!
Back in March I had a weekend away with some friends from work, Chrissy and jamie, as it was the big 30 for Jamie, and some of their other friends came too. We went to Kaiteriteri, which is a tiny place on the north of the South Island, near Abel Tasman National Park and Nelson. Its a beautiful place, with golden sandy beaches and clear blue sea. We did some sea kayaking and saw seals and blue penguins, which was awesome! there was drinking a plenty and good times had by all. We were camping just a minutes walk from the beach so that was great. Bit of a long drive just for two nights, but the drive was through some beautiful scenery, through Lewis pass and up to the coast. Will definately need to go back, but for longer next time.
So I will leave you with this, and you can eagerly await blogs for Mount Cook (take one), and Kaikoura Coastal Track. Rest assured, I'm still here, and still having adventures! xx

West Coast Weekend!

After finishing work at 5 on Sunday, Axel picked me up and we drove to Lake Pearson, on the way to Arthur's Pass. We found a good spot, off the beaten track, and set up camp. we had a great dinner of curry, and washed it down with a few beers, a great start to the weekend! We woke up in the morning and drove to the West Coast, passing coast to coast runners on the way through Arhtur's Pass. After Greymouth we stopped to pick up Axel's new kayak, then drove on to Punakaki. At punakaki there is a place called pancake rocks, where there are interesting layered rocks ( a bit of a tourist spot). We drove to Charlston and went for a walk up to caves where they do tours. The caves were closed, but not locked, so we snuck in with our head torches for a sneaky exploration! we ventured quite far in, and saw stalactites and stalagmites. We then heard voices in the distant cave, so made a swift exit! We ran out and luckily did not get caught! Shame we could not have explored more, but I have to admit, I was getting a bit worried that someone would come and lock the gates while we were in there!
We stumbled across a pile of large inner tubes on the way back down, used by the caving tours to do black water rafting (ie floating down a cave in the tube in the dark), we couldn't resist, and "borrowed" a couple, jumped in the river and tubed our way back down to the car, awesome! We obviously left them were they could be found and used again the next day.
That night we had dinner, and went to the local, and rather unfriendly, European Hotel for a beer, then returned to camp by the sea with a wine.
The next morning was bright and sunny, we set up a top roped and rappelled down a couple of sea cliff climbs, climbing back up them, in the sunshine. We only managed a couple of routes each before we had to leave for home, and night shifts again. A great weekend :-)

Mt Murchison 2408m

1st-2nd Feb 2010
After finishing work on Sunday at 5, jumped in the car with Axel and Peter and we headed back to my second home, the CMC hut, Kennedy Lodge, in Arthur's Pass. We had some beers as we made plans, deciding on Mt Murchison, an easy climb but a long walk in and the highest peak in Arthur's Pass.
We got up and drove to the Bealey pub, where we left the car and walked in along the Waimakariri river bed, occasionally leaving the bed for forested areas. 15km into our walk we passed the Carrington hut, a large hut, where we had some lunch and a rest, and cached some stocks for the return trip. we carried on, boulder hopping along the white river, getting wet feet on the necessary crossings. After a while the river turns into a gorge, so we left the bed for steep scree and tussock slope on the true left. Hard work, especially with big packs! After a couple of hours we did some scrambling on loose scree/rock up to the Barker hut where we would spend the night. It was now 7.30 pm, a long day! We basked in the sun next to the hut. The hut is tiny, and perched high on rock, surrounded by huge mountains. You could see down the valley to Rolleston. The sky was blue, and we were happy to be resting, so we brought the matresses outside and made a fantastic couch, with the best view in the world. We drank a little bourbon, and ate dinner, chatting into the night. The sky was so clear, with millions of stars, and a bright moon that lit up the snow on the mountains around us. The sunset over Rolleston was amazing. It was a mild night so Axel and I slept out under the stars in our sleeping bags. An awesome experience.
We woke at 5am and set off up Murchison. it was an easy snow plod up a moderately steep slope, with some loose rock to climb at the end. We took a bit of a detour, and gave ourselves a slightly more challenging, and way more fun, rock route. On the summit you could see for miles and miles you could even see Mt Cook, and the sea of the west coast. It was one of my favorite moments ever. It was perfect, perfect blue skies, and mountains as far as the eye could see. I really felt that this was exactly what I came to NZ for.
Happily we descended after lunch, bum sliding the slopes (avoiding the crevasses!) and practiced a bit of ice-axe self arrest. Back at the hut, we packed up and began our long walk out. After four hours we reached the Carrington Hut, and picked up the rest of our food, but decided to walk the remaining 15km out that night. It went on forever! We happily reached the Bealey pub at 9.20 pm, had some beers and went back to the CMC hut. We didn't even manage much bourbon before falling asleep! What a fantastic couple of days.

Arthurs Pass, 2 Scots, a Pom and a Kiwi!

Andy is leaving NZ so we decided to take a trip to Arthur's pass, with his mate Magnus and our friend hayley from work. We headed off Sunday 24th Jan to the CMC hut, had dinner and a few drinks that night. Hayley joined us at 6.30 am th next morning, and we all set off, after a good brekkie, to Avalanche Peak. It was a beautiful day, and we followed Scott's track up through the bushline, through tussock and on to a rocky ridge. From here the summit was gained by all, after a little encouragement.....
The views from the top were amazing. Rolleston looked beautiful as always, and you could see Murchison and Franklin in the distance. The boys chose to carry on around the ridge to Mt Bealey, but Hayley, whose first ever mountain it was (Yey) and I went back down the way we came.
Tired but satisfied we had dinner drinks, and games that night at the hut. Next morning we took it easy, had an ice-cream, and a walk to devil's punchbowl waterfalls. Me and Andy went for a run, and we spent the rest of the day basking in the sun. We went out to the "wobbly Kea" for tea and a glass of wine.
The next day the boys were leaving for the west coast. Hayley walked the Bealey track and I raced to the top of Avalanch peak and back in under three hours, just to see if I was fit enough, as I am now officially entered in the Routeburn Classic, a 32km cross country run in the fjiordland mountains!
We has an ice cream and headed home, for a good rest before an early the next day. An awesome few days :-)

Mount Rolleston 14th Jan 2010

It was with great excitement that I packed up my car for my first NZ Alpine trip! I met a guy called Peter over the mountaineering club website and we decided to climb together. He has twenty years alpine experience but has not done much for years, so after warning about my relative inexperience we decided that a trip up Rolleston would be a good first go. I hadn't met him before I went to his house to pick him up, so I didn't really know what to expect. It turns out he was a famous alpinist in his day, putting up first ascents all over the Cook region, including some tough lines on Cook and Sefton. Seems I would be learning from a master! A friend from work, Axel, also decided to come along, having done lots of climbing and mountaineering back at home in America.
We drove off to Arthurs Pass, arriving late and finding ourselves locked out of the hut! A bit of detective work meant that we avoided a bivvy on the porch and got inside the hut. Although tired and ready for bed, a few bourbons seemed like a good idea, and it turned into a 3am bedtime. We had a leisurely start at 8am, and set off for Rome Ridge on Rolleston. Rolleston is a beautiful mountain, clearly seen from the pass, and from Avalanche Peak, which I have climbed before. The initial walk up through the forest and out of the bushline was a bit of a slog, but didn't last long, and we found ourselves on steepening rock. We eventually roped together, moving over loose rock placing anchors where possible. At one point we had to leave the ridge and descend a steep snow slope, with a climb up the other side on snow, to avoid a steep rock section. The weather looked like it was closing in and that we would loose our beautiful blue skies! We commit ed to the ridge by climbing a steep rock step however, as Peter knew the mountain well and we had a clear descent plan. We carried on in light rain, cloud and wind, and eventually reached the final snow slope leading to the peak. I led this last bit, and we happily arrived at the top of the ridge! It was great to be there, but we didn't linger as there was still to come a descent down the steep snow of the Otira Slide. I cant say I wasn't a little scared! Steep snow, and I couldn't see the bottom. Getting down was a relief, but it had been an amazing experience! We walked out of the Otira valley, and still further down a road to the car. Tired but happy, we went back to the hut, for food, wine, and more Jim Beam!
We had a lie in in the morning, Peter slept til midday, so me and Axel went for a couple of beers at the "wobbly Kea", we then packed up and drove to castle hill for a little play on the rocks on the way home.
Back to Christchurch just in time to pick up some red wine and get an early night, before an early shift in the morning. A fantastic few days, absolutely awesome....absolutely knackered!