The Climber issue 85

THE CLIMBER

SPRING 2013 $9.95

85

NEW ZEALAND’S CLIMBING MAGAZINE

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF THE NEW ZEALAND ALPINE CLUB

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ON THE COVER James Morris heading into big tufa country on Space Cowboy (30). TOM HOYLE

CONTENTS ISSUE 85

FEATURES 22 THE NEW ZEALAND ALPINE CLUB PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION

Champion and Honours images

26 NO RECORDED ASCENT

Unclimbed alpine objectives

BY ROB FROST

34 AXES OF EVIL

Highball bouldering

BY JOHN PALMER

42 THE TWIN TEATS OF AFRICA

Mounts Kilimanjaro and Kenya

BY NIC BENDELI

48 KIWI DEATH MATCH

Climbing superstitions

BY JONNY BOWMAN

REGULARS 4 The Sharp End

Comment and opinion

8 Climbing News

and Events

20 People 51 Stuff You Need 53 Books and Films 56 The Last Pitch 2

THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

Creating New Worlds of Light

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THE SHARP END

GREAT TO BE BACK I’VE JUST got my latest copy of The Climber and it’s a great read. Excellent articles, great photography, bright and well designed. It is all that I hoped and worked hard for way back in 1991–92 when I was publications manager at NZAC. I’d done a couple of New Zealand Alpine Journals and shepherded through several climbing guide revisions but the NZAC Bulletin, which preceded The New Zealand Climber (The Climber) was a real battle. This was not the fault of the bulletin’s editors, who did a fine job. The format was stale and the A5 photocopied (originally photostat) format was not attractive to either club members or advertisers. Furthermore, it had no traction with anyone outside the club and did nothing to attract new members to NZAC. The seed that became The New Zealand Climber had festered for quite a while before it became reality. It was The New Zealand Climber because there was another magazine overseas called Climber, published in the UK, and they weren’t keen on a new magazine with a title too close to theirs.

After doing the design mock-ups, running the numbers, and convincing the NZAC committee that this was a runner, we were off with the inaugural edition. I was pleased with it but very nervous about the reaction from members which, thankfully, was almost overwhelmingly positive.

On to the second edition and that was good also, apart from the fact that one of the articles ended up being essentially a made-up story by some guys who decided to take the piss. Pretty disappointing, but my view was that it reflected badly on them and not NZAC. By that stage I also realised that the day of the volunteer was over and so with a big, big gulp of breath the first paid editor, Naomi O’Conner, was appointed, a computer and software purchased (a Mac LC and Adobe Pagemaker).

The rest is history. And so was I. After several years of very hard work on not just The Climber and the NZAJ but also the various other publications, I was burnt out. This was exacerbated by the real world, with many years of restructuring within the public sector taking its toll. So it was time to walk away, to call time out, not just from NZAC publications but from the club itself. It wasn’t intended and I still enjoyed visiting the hills both in New Zealand and overseas but other things, particularly wildlife photography, drew me in.

In March this year, after a gap of many years, I decided it was time to return to the fold and I rejoined NZAC. I’m pleased I did.

I have moved on and so have many others who were there back when The Climber was born in 1992. I am no longer burnt out and it’s great to be back.

–Murray Cave

A QUESTION OF BOLTS AS A NON-CLIMBING reader of The Climber (my wife has a climbing background), I was fascinated by the retro-bolting article in the last issue. I’d like to enter the debate from a different outdoors perspective (as a park

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

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ranger for 38 years, a tramper for 46 years, an NZ Mountain Safety Council bushcraft instructor for 24 years, and a SAR adviser for 27 years) and add some comments and pose a few questions.

Firstly, the whole issue of bolting confuses me. Are bolts added to a face to aid safety, or make the climbing easier? Isn’t there greater satisfaction achieved, and skill required, in climbing an unbolted face?

If a face is deemed unable to be climbed without aids, what is the difference between ‘trad’ bolting (a minimum of bolts), ‘retro’ bolting (a lot of extra bolts), and a fixed ladder?

Where do you draw that line?

Isn’t a profusely bolted face just an outdoor climbing wall? My perception is that climbing walls provide an environment where skills can be gained safely in a formal setting, then practised in the outdoors in a more challenging and pure form.

It seems to me that rock climbing is an inherently risky activity, which is why it appeals in our cosseted culture of today.

By dumbing it down with a plethora of aids, doesn’t that diminish the original appeal?

–John Walsh

[Editor’s note: here at The Climber we certainly presume a fair amount of climbing knowledge from our audience. Making sense of convoluted climbing debates and terminology must be a challenge for non-climbers. A quick glossary of bolting-related terms might clear things up a little here: ‘trad’ climbing refers to climbing routes using removable protection (there are usually no bolts on a trad route), ‘retro-bolting’ means to add more bolts to an existing route, and a ‘sport’ route is a climb that is fully bolted.

The debate about bolting our crags is concerned primarily with ‘free-climbing,’ which is climbing with an aim to complete a route using only your hands and feet (or other body parts that might be deemed appropriate) for upward progress. So you could reasonably say that bolts are usually installed to make climbing safer, not to make it easier.

The question of how many bolts a route should have and who should have the final say in that matter is not so easy to answer!]

WHEN TO PUSH THE BUTTON AM I the only club member with my knickers in a twist over someone activating their

personal locator beacon because they thought they were likely to become overdue on a solo trip?

In February, according to media reports, a 67-year-old, Nelson-based, NZAC life member did exactly this and tied up the West Coast rescue helicopter and crew for two and a half hours, at a cost of $10,000.

At the time of the rescue, Maritime NZ, which holds overall responsibility for such recoveries, was quoted as saying: ‘If the beacon activation was simply because the man was late, then it was entirely inappropriate, potentially dangerous, and a clear breach of the radio regulations that apply to emergency distress beacons.’ They went on to say that they were not providing a taxi service.

Unaccountably, in June, after an investigation, Maritime NZ determined that the tramper should neither be named nor fined. It said he ‘had encountered more difficult terrain than anticipated, despite carrying out extensive research of the area, and felt that he would be putting himself at considerable risk by attempting to walk out of the area.’

Maritime NZ added that they were ‘satisfied that in the particular circumstances this person was justified in activating their emergency beacon.’

I disagree.

I believe PLBs should be activated in circumstances that involve threat to life or serious injury. Misuse of the rescue service should be accompanied by sanctions to discourage this. To do otherwise will create a scenario where a desperate need for rescue will not be met because the chopper and crew are answering a trivial call-out.

Being overdue or in this case being likely to become overdue should never be accepted as a reason for activating a PLB. If we stuff up, we should ‘fess up, take what comes and at least in this case publicly express thanks to the rescuing service and staff.

–Stewart Robertson

FLUBBING IT GOOD ON Paul Hersey for tackling the vexed issue of retro-bolting in the last issue of The Climber, but the article was disappointing for mealy-mouthing around an issue that goes to the heart of climbing’s future and demands strong emotions. What’s with all the evenhanded niceness? I know New Zealand is a small place, but so is any climbing community. Stop flubbing it! Find the passion! Let’s have some proper biffo! Here’s my contribution (and a declaration of interest: some of my 1980s routes in New South Wales have been retro-bolted without my permission).

Adding extra bolts to established routes is disrespectful, offensive and unacceptable.

The only concession might be where the first ascentionists have agreed—but even then the logic and morality are dubious. Bold routes of earlier times are heritage that belongs to everybody, and an essential part of the rich diversity of climbing that we all blab on about but rarely think deeply about or defend.

What if some Pommie wanker wanted to bolt over Master’s Edge? Has anyone tried to

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THE SHARP END

tame the Bachar-Yerian? Closer to home, what about Sorenson’s Aslan (Kaputar), Ewbank’s The Minotaur (Blue Mountains), or even Labyrinth or Homegrown in the Darrans? They’re too bold for many, so are they a ‘waste of quality rock’? (as some anonymous bolter said to Paul, in what I would regard as an unnecessary release of carbon dioxide). I agree that good rock is a precious and limited resource, which is why lots of it should be left in its natural state.

It’s not as if there’s a shortage of sport climbs. If bolters want to go and reclaim a trad or lightly-bolted line, then its only fair that those of us with modest abilities and retrograde tendencies can also liquidate sport routes we don’t like. Then where will it all end? How is adding bolts logically different from chipping holds to make a route easier for us poor, under-muscled masses? This is an aesthetic and environmental issue too. It might be cute to joke about bolting Rambandit, but don’t think it can’t happen just because the climb is protectable and popular—which is why many people fell for the gag. Once the basic premise of retro-bolting is accepted, everything becomes possible.

All this was predictable. We’ve been heading this way for years, and unless we resist it’s going to get a whole lot worse.

Who are they, anyway, these retro-bolters? They seem very reluctant to openly defend themselves. A few reasons for this come to mind: a) they know in their guts they’re wrong, because a conscience

is whispering quietly down there, b) they know they’ll win anyway, because they don’t need to justify it, just do it, and c) they don’t give a shit about us old fogies, only their own fun.

This is bigger than climbing. It’s the same as bushwalkers cutting new tracks in the Blue Mountains because they don’t like scrub. All this is a symptom of the modern malaise—everything must be converted into a quick and easy commodity, and the highest value is your own personal desire. The cliff is no more than a convenient facility.

The climb is to be ticked and forgotten. Bugger history. Bugger the environment. Bugger the bigger experience. Bugger other climbers.

Just when it’s become imperative for society to ditch the dinosaur consumer mentality, climbers are embracing it. We supposedly revere the hills and climbing as havens of freedom and individuality. So why are some climbers wanting to bring everything down to the lowest level of conformity?

–Ian Brown

THIS ISSUE’S PRIZE GOES TO: JOHN WALSH

EDITORIAL

A NEW ZEALAND CLIMBERS’ JOURNAL? FINDING THE latest issue of The Climber or New Zealand Alpine Journal in my letterbox has always been one of the highlights of belonging to NZAC. The NZAJ has a 121-year tradition of compiling and reporting New Zealand climbers’ accomplishments here and around the world. It tells compelling stories of new routes and wild adventures, showcases the best local climbing photography, runs in-depth articles on all aspects of mountain culture, and records the lives of club members. In 1992, one hundred years after the first NZAJ appeared, the club published the first issue of The Climber magazine. Editor Murray Cave wrote: ‘We don’t care if you are mainly a mountaineer, a climbing wall jock, or someone who loves the hills. This magazine is for you and it will grow and develop if you give it your support.’ Well, we all did, and now we have two publications that match each other for quality of content and production.

In fact, there’s a good case for saying that The Climber now surpasses the NZAJ in some respects. One reason for that is the workflow of our publications editor: at around this time every year he needs to have begun producing the 140-odd page NZAJ in addition to the last issue of The Climber for the year. It’s a challenging set of deadlines to face at the end of each year. In addition, it’s often difficult to decide which publication a particular article should be in. If NZAC’s premiere publication is the NZAJ, then should that be where articles about the most significant routes appear? What about significant non-alpine achievements? Do they have a place in an ‘alpine’ journal?

Another reason for starting The Climber magazine was to raise the profile of NZAC among non-member climbers and also make climbing more visible to the outdoor community and the general public, while continuing to provide effective and rapid (in 1990s terms) communication about news, events and club matters.

We think it’s time for another look at the aims of our publications.

For example, we now have effective website and email communication with a majority of members. How has the internet affected what The Climber and NZAJ l do? Does the club need—and can it sustain—two flagship publications? If we were starting now, how would we design and implement a publishing programme that gave the most benefit to members for their subscription money?

The staff at the Home of Mountaineering, along with the publications committee and others, have begun to think about these questions. We think it’s essential that members continue to receive a regular print

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

publication of the highest possible quality that showcases and records climbs, climbing and mountain and crag-related activities and ideas in New Zealand. Something that you’ll still be excited to find in the letterbox, but equally that can take pride of place on your bookshelf and that you’ll return to in years to come.

Our current thinking is that the best way to secure those ambitions might come in the form of a single, quarterly journal—the New Zealand Climbers’ Journal. If we chose this option, we think each issue would be larger than the present format of The Climber, probably around 100 pages in total, but it would be bound not stapled. It would be the flagship publication of record for the club and New Zealand climbing, and be inclusive of all climbers, of whatever persuasion. It would complement the ways we now communicate online, but we would also look at the options of producing an epub version(s) for reading on tablets and similar. And we’d be able to use the current online publishing and archiving system at climber.co.nz to ensure that over time climbing information remains searchable and accessible (initially, as now, with access limited to members only).

These are only ideas. But they are ideas about matters extremely close to most, if not all, members’ hearts when they think about the club. There may be better options. Would a larger, bi-annual journal be better? Would it be best to do nothing? We want to have the widest possible discussion among members before we make any change—if indeed change is needed! I’m writing to all sections to seek their views and I hope there will be spirited discussion at the next Club Committee Meeting in October. Please get in touch with Kester or me, write to The Climber, talk to your section committee, discuss online at climber. co.nz or on Facebook. We look forward to hearing your views and doing our best to answer your questions.

–Richard Thomson on behalf of NZAC Publications Committee

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CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

2013 REMARKABLES ICE AND MIXED FESTIVAL

THE 2013 Remarkables Ice and Mixed Festival provided over 150 climbers with an opportunity to share a love of climbing, skills, build on old friendships and make new partnerships. Climbers rallied around the festival in support of the advancement of winter climbing in New Zealand and the climbing community, which suffered a serious blow just days before the start of the festival this year with the tragic death of well-known climber Jamie Vinton-Boot. This context demanded that participants focus on how they could support each other and do what they love safely, while having a great deal of fun as the best tribute to Jamie. The achievements of the festival cannot be best measured by the number of new routes, but in the stories they tell of friendship and enthusiasm for life by overcoming challenges, forging new partnerships and sharing skills.

Many new routes came out of the festival as teams tackled projects that had come into condition.

Steve Fortune, Peter Harris and Ari Kingan chanced upon Sgian Dubh (M4, 90m), on the Telecom Tower, in great condition.

Allan Uren celebrated his birthday by climbing a ‘fairly run-out’ direct start to the left of the popular classic Friday’s Fool, with Daniel Joll. The climb is called Half Century Celebration (M6, 60m).

Snorre Sulheim, Gon Nido and Martine Frekhaug climbed a new route, Yeah, Yeah, Nah, Yeah (M5, 60–70m), on the west face of the Telecom Tower.

Ari and Peter also climbed a new route, Ari-an Supremacy (M4, 50m), which follows an obvious gully to the right of Force It. Ari had opted out of the obvious line on the first ascent of Ari-an Supremacy, so Jono Clarke and Frazer Attrill came back and ‘smashed’ out a direct finish, which they named Ari-an Retreat (M4, 60m).

Danny Murphy and Owen Davis climbed The Aussie Potato Farmer (M5, 40m), an overhanging crack straight off the deck, to the left of Saturday Morning Special.

Tri Nations (M5, 150m), just to the right of Recessionary Downgrade, is a three-pitch route put up by Ben Dare, Danny Murphy, and Federico Callegari.

Jaz Morris and Frazer Attrill teamed up with Danny Murphy to complete On General’s Orders (M3+, 70m) at Lake Alta. Frazer says the route got its name ‘due to the fact that “General” Joll gave strict orders that this new line needed to be sent.’

Daniel and Jono also had a crack at a futuristic project pre-named The Fly (M12, 30m, 6 bolts) at the Terminator Crag. According to the festival’s Facebook page, The Fly is ‘the hardest unclimbed pitch of dry-tooling ever tried in New Zealand.’ It begins with a 15-metre crack ‘around grade M9–10’ on gear, followed by some ‘very hard face climbing’ on bolts for another 15 metres … and then it keeps going for another 30 metres.

Adverse conditions for the Osprey Packs Double to Single Cone Traverse Race left organisers wondering if any of the teams would be able to finish, but Danny Murphy and Mike Buchanan prevailed with a good time of 4 hours and 15 minutes.

Guy McKinnon won the 2013 Black Diamond Alpinist of the Year award for his first ascents of the west face of Mt Tutoko and Triple Direct on Mt Sefton (among others). Daniel Joll won the Macpac Hardest New Route award for his ascent of Half Century Celebration (M6). The Macpac Hardest Repeat awards went to Diane Drayton for her ascent of Sgian Dubh (M4) and Jono Clarke for his redpoint (placing the gear) of Blow Up (M8).

The festival raised approximately $16,500 for the NZAC Expedition Capital Fund, to help cover the cost of future expeditions—the balance of the fund is now around the $25,000 mark. Next year, in addition to the current snowcraft, ice and mixed climbing clinics, the festival will feature a clinic for learning to lead traditional climbs, plus introductory backcountry ski touring and avalanche awareness courses.

PHOTO Diane Drayton on a second-try ascent of Sgian Dubh (M4), shortly after taking a ground-fall on her first attempt. DANIEL JOLL

THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

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CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

Alex Schweikart on the crux pitch of Weather Spell. CHRIS IGEL

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

ABOVE Guy McKinnon on the summit at dusk. GUY MCKINNON FACING PAGE The west face of Mt Tutoko from the Tutoko Valley, the first third of Guy’s line is visible. This photo was taken the day before Guy climbed the face.

GUY MCKINNON

INSET The photo of the west face of Mt Tutoko that appeared in issue 72 of The Climber. Taken from Grave’s Couloir in winter 2011. CRAIG JEFFERIES

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AN ASCENT of the legendary, unclimbed west face of Mt Tutoko has figured in the imaginations of Kiwi climbers for many years. The prospect of climbing this giant face in winter has lurked in the background of our collective psyches for some time, always there, just beneath the surface and on the edge of our imaginations—a standard to which prospective alpine goals are routinely held to.

On the evening of Thursday 11 July, Guy McKinnon realised an elusive dream when he stood on the summit, having made the first full ascent of the face.

Climbing this 1900m face in winter was one of the greatest remaining challenges in New Zealand mountaineering.

Guy summitted after eight and a half hours of climbing, starting from a bivvy at the base of the face. He took advantage of excellent weather and ‘utterly superb’ conditions to climb the central weakness on the face. Guy comments that he encountered ‘endless good ice climbing’ en-route and that the climb ‘was classic Kiwi mountaineering style—gully and couloir ice with snow sections now and then, nothing overly hard just a lot of it.’ Guy climbed two sections of technical grade 5 ice and mixed, but says that as he considered himself off-route for both of these sections, he hasn’t considered them in his given grade of VI, 4+. He does add that if the Darrans grading system was open-ended, the route would be grade VII. Guy bivvied on the North West Ridge, just down from the summit headwall. The next morning he attempted a descent of the ridge, but was bluffed out near the bottom and was forced to climb most of the way back up the ridge so he could then descend the north face to the Ngapunatoru Plateau. From there he walked out via Grave’s Couloir and the Tutoko Valley, arriving at the road after 21 continuous hours on the move. Guy says the long descent and high bivvy were ‘extremely punishing,’ doubtless not helped by the fact he was also suffering a bout of tonsillitis.

Guy received the Black Diamond 2013 Alpinist of the Year award at this year’s Remarkables Ice and Mixed Festival, partly in recognition for this ascent.

A winter ascent of the west face of Tutoko is one of six routes that were profiled in the winter 2010 issue of The Climber, in an article titled ‘The Great Unclimbed’. After three years, this is the first of the six routes to be completed.

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013 ClimberNZ_TIKKA-RXP HP.indd 1

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CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

No shame in air-flagging in crampons. Jono Clarke sending Zapata (M9). DIANE DRAYTON

VIVA ZAPATA! WELLINGTON CLIMBERS Jono Clarke and Mike Buchanan were busy early this winter establishing a few good new mixed sport routes at Mangaturuturu Cirque on Mt Ruapehu.

Mike raced up the first ascent of Coyote the Crazy Clown (M7), a slightly overhanging, technical companion route to Roadrunner.

Jono was the first to tame the newly minted Mrs Brown (M7), a demanding affair that starts out on ice, but quickly warms to some enjoyable climbing on beautiful rock.

Jono also nailed his project, Zapata (M9).

By far the hardest route in the cirque, Zapata is a sustained and pumpy climb that is consistently overhanging and includes a couple of roofs and some sporty run-outs.

Gigante Grande. ERIK MONASTERIO

NEW ROUTES IN BOLIVIA

During a brief visit to Bolivia, between 28 July and 15 August, Erik Monasterio and ex-pat Kiwi Gregg Beisly climbed three new routes and made a very fast ascent of the Parinacota volcano (6340m).

ON 1 AUGUST, Erik and Gregg, along with Chris Clarke (USA), climbed a new route on the 650metre west face of Gigante Grande (5750m), in the Quimza Cruz range. This is one of the more isolated and difficult climbs in the country and has a fearsome reputation, with a particularly difficult descent. Erik, Greg and Chris climbed the right-hand couloir, aiming straight for the summit. There were vertical sections of thin ice, interspersed with complex mixed terrain and long sections of moderately steep ice and névé snow. Intermittent rock showers were a real problem after the sun hit the face in the early afternoon, forcing the team to shelter and belay from behind overhanging rocks, but despite this they all took minor hits. In order to avoid the most serious rock-fall, they exited slightly right, 50 metres below the summit, after 12 pitches, and got back to base camp after midnight, 18 hours after setting off.

On 10 August, Gregg and Erik added another new route to the east face of Pico Italia (see The Climber, issue 81). Gregg and Erik were keen to find an easier line directly to the summit (5740m) and started about 800 metres north of their previous route. The climb proved to be harder and longer—although the hardest pitch was only about grade 18, the line was generally steeper and challenged by difficulties with route-finding and navigation around a series of false summits and overhanging sections, which was difficult with heavy alpine packs. They completed the route in 12 sustained pitches and 17 hours.

Both routes were sustained and serious, of Mount Cook grade 5+.

On 5 August Erik and Gregg made the first completed traverse of the three Milluni peaks in the Huayna Potojsi area (5400m) in seven hours.

–report by Erik Monasterio

Ruari Macfarlane above the crux on Home Turf.

JAZ MORRIS

HOME TURF A GROUP of southern climbers went in search of early season new winter routes in the Darrans in June. Finding thin conditions, Ruari Macfarlane and Jaz Morris called on the Scottish wisdom of Alastair Walker. Al steered them in the direction of a new line to the right of Midnight Cowboy, which they called Home Turf (II, 4).

The route was true to its name, with no ice but some excellent turf and tussock climbing.

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PATIENCE PAYS OFF ON GASHERBRUMS Triumph on Gasherbrums I and II expedition.

DESPITE HIGH winds that had 'seen tents blown right off the mountain' above Camp 3 in the days leading up to their summit bid, Chris Jensen-Burke has reported on her blog that after a change in weather, she and Lakpa Sherpa safely summitted Gasherbrum I on 29 July (chrisjensenburke.com).

This triumph completes the pair’s expedition to summit Gasherbrums I and II, making Chris the first New Zealand woman to summit both peaks. Chris was the recipient of a 2013 Sport New Zealand Hillary Expedition Grant for this expediton.

Chris and Lakpa on the summit of Gasherbrum II. K2 is in the background.

JENSEN-BURKE COLLECTION

CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

John Yu climbing at Margaret’s Leap during the meet. FRASER CRICHTON

TUKINO MEET THE NZAC Central North Island Section hosted its annual ice and mixed climbing meet based at Tukino, Mt Ruapehu, over the weekend of 6–7 July. Over 35 climbers from the Auckland, Central North Island and Wellington sections participated along with a few South Islanders who made the journey north. A short approach from Tukino Lodge enabled attendees to sample routes at Margaret’s Leap, the northern bluffs, south face, and Cathedral Rocks on Mt Ruapehu.

DARRANS WINTER CLIMBING MEET 2013

PHOTOS BY JAZ MORRIS

The Wall of Evening Light. Charmer is the left hand line, Afterglow the right. BEN DARE

MORE REMARKS

‘The original, and still the best!’ – Al Walker MATERIAL ON the ground was a bit thin over in the Darrans earlier this winter. However, a moderate snowfall and lower temperatures in the week prior to the meet hinted that things might look up. As it turned out, the weather was the poorest we’ve had on a meet since the first one, but it was still a very productive and enjoyable time. Four new routes were climbed, but, more importantly, more folk were introduced to the area, new friends were made and lots of knowledge was passed around.

There were two new icy routes made on the left-hand end of the upper Macpherson Cirque, The Elusive Leprechaun (Ben Dare, Stephen Skelton and Danny Murphy) and Schoolboy Error (Paul Clarke and Huw James). In the same area, Snorre Sulheim, Martine Frekhaug and Synne Bertelsen made the second ascent of Bombay Sapphire.

An oversized party of five took the short walk option and headed for the Tunnel Bluffs to claim the first ascent of Double Vision (Frazer Attrill, Anna Seybold, Rose Pearson, Jaz Morris and Al Walker), a moderate mixed climb on the right-hand side of the cliff, up through the large snow amphitheatre and up mixed terrain to the ridge.

Allan Uren and Heather Rhodes got higher than has been managed previously on one of the (not-so-secret) secret lines, one that is usually avoided like the plague.

Jaz and Rose managed to swim to the right end of the Tunnel Bluffs and took care of a short but fun new mixed climb: The Grovelly Chimney of Joy. Plenty of folk had a whale of a time at the Gertrude Ice Park and the the short icefalls on the lower tier at the back of Cirque Creek.

The original and still the best? Aye, well, this year we had 28 people through the hut, so we’ll keep it going for a wee while yet. The few real Darrans Winter regulars do mutter a bit, feeling slightly aggrieved at seeing other people at Homer during the winter, but for that short time when the place is humming, every July, we know that something special is going on.

–report by Alastair Walker

IN LATE June, Queenstown climber Ben Dare soloed two new winter routes just left of the Wall of Evening Light on the west side of the Remarkables—Charmer (M3, WI2+, 3 pitches) and Afterglow (M4+, WI4, 3 pitches).

Ben climbed Charmer in thin conditions, which made the climb more challenging than if the gully would have been filled in. Afterglow’s ice pillar was four to five metres from the base of the route, so Ben had to traverse left to reach the ice. Ben named Afterglow after the ‘amazing sunlight behind the clouds’ that he saw after he topped out on the ridge. According to Ben, Afterglow ‘has the potential to be a real classic.’

On 20 July, Ben teamed up with fellow Queenstown climbers Stephen Skelton and Danny Murphy to climb another new winter route—Gatecrasher (M4, WI3)—at Border Crag. Gatecrasher starts to the right of Enema, in a snow and ice gully before heading left at the bottom of a slab and ending with some mixed climbing through a corner system on the right.

THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

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CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

Sian Moffitt, Erica Gatland and Aiyana Grigsby on the podium.

OCEANIAS

Wiz on Garth’s Arête (V11). ROMAN ALEXANDER-HOFMANN

ELEVEN

THE NUMBER 11 is very special: did you know that it is is the largest prime number with a single-morpheme name, and a complete eleventh chord includes almost every note of a diatonic scale? Who would have thought? And now, thanks to Wiz Fineron, we can add to the list of very special things about the number 11, as it has recently become the hardest bouldering grade to be flashed by a New Zealander.

Wiz flashed the right-hand variant of Garth's Arête (V11), in the Blue Mountains, Australia in June. Garth's Arête has three variations which all share the same start. The left-hand version is graded V8, the straight-up is V9 and the right-hander is V11.

SIX OF the nine New Zealand climbers who competed at the International Federation of Sport Climbing's Oceania Championships in New Caledonia, back in May, walked away with a medal.

Auckland climber Erica Gatland swept both the Under-18 lead and speed girls' climbing competitions, with Sian Moffitt of Taupo coming in second in both disciplines.

Rotorua climber Aiyana Grigsby took third in the under-18 girls' lead climbing, giving the New Zealand team an all-out sweep of that category.

Auckland climber Daniel Newth brought home the silver medal for the Under-18 lead competition for the boys. In the Under-16 category, 13-year-old Carly McIlroy snagged the gold in lead climbing and National Park climber Lucy Whitehead won the silver for speed climbing.

YOUTH CLIMBING CAMP 2013 JANUARY SAW the inaugural Youth Climbing Camp take place over six superb days in Wanaka, with 19 participants from all around New Zealand attending.

Organiser Tony Burnell brought together an impressive team of instructors: John Entwisle, John Hammond, Nic Harvey, Francis Main and Luke Faed, who all volunteered their time to pass on their knowledge and experience to the next generation of climbers and without whom the camp would not have been possible.

The participants were aged between 13 and 15-years-old and drawn from various New Zealand climbing clubs.

The majority of the participants were from an indoor sport climbing background. They were put through their paces with skill sessions held at Mt Aspiring College and outdoor climbing sessions around Hospital Flat. The week started with top-rope, anchor set-up and falling practise, followed by some closely supervised lead sport climbing. After the second skills session on Wednesday it was back out into the fresh air, and by the end of the week pretty much all of the students had gained some experience with lead trad climbing and multi-pitch climbing, not to mention the exhilaration of their first 50-metre free abseil from the top of Little Big Wall.

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There was one minor set back during the week, one of the girls from Wanaka took a fall on the Diamond and needed to be brought out by Search and Rescue. The rescue could not have been carried out without the help of our other young climbers. It’s a bit ironic that on one of the previous evenings the team had been invited to the Search and Rescue command centre to look at the equipment and organisation involved in a rescue followed by a brief talk from Mike Johnson from Wanaka Police, and Roy Bailey.

Other evenings were taken up with a gear session at Mountain Outdoors, hosted by Kay and Steve Hart, and a talk and slide show by Pat Deavoll on her career in climbing and her recent trip to Afghanistan.

The final function of the week was the camp barbeque, held on the lakeshore—a great end to a great week.

In summary, it was a fantastic week with an enthusiastic team of young climbers who will hopefully have learnt skills that will serve them well throughout their climbing careers. Finally, I want to say a big thank you to our team of volunteer instructors, Mt Aspiring College and its staff, Allison Christie our parent volunteer, and the New Zealand Alpine Club for their support.

–report by Tony Burnell

CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

Round one Open Men’s winner Zac Orme in action at The Roxx. JAMES MORRIS

Zac Orme on Moby Dick (V12). JAMES MORRIS

THE NATIONAL INDOOR BOULDERING SERIES (NIBS) kicked off at the Roxx in Christchurch with a great turnout of over 80 climbers, who all had fun competing in the event. Nic Harvey acted as the master of ceremonies, overseeing over $2500 worth of prizes from Bivouac Outdoor, Motiv and Uprising Climbing Holds. Cirrus Tan won the Open Women's competition and Zac Orme prevailed in the Open Men's.

Kent Chevallier and Ella McArthur were victorious in the Under-18 Men’s and Women’s contests respectively, with Cameron Mitchell taking home the Masters’ category of round one.

Hangdog Climbing Gym in Wellington was at full capacity for round two, with a high-energy event that left everyone well stoked. It was all about the Jo’s as Josie Broadbent and Josiah Jacobsen-Grocott took out the Open categories in an exciting final. Big thanks to Brook and the Hangdog crew for a great event.

For mid-season results and rankings see nbs.org.nz.

ZAC ORME has made the first repeat of Moby Dick (V12) at Flock Hill.

The problem was established last October by James Morris, who suggested a grade of V11, but Zac thought that was a little stout, so gave it the phat upgrade to V12.

Moby Dick was one of Flock Hill’s long-standing projects. It follows an obvious line on the popular boulder which also houses Psychic Tea Lady. The problem starts with very hard moves through a steep bulge, and continues with very hard span moves between some very awful runnels.

There are seven claimed V12s in New Zealand, and one V13.

Conditions have been excellent in the basin this year, due to a mild winter. There are so many unclimbed projects in the area, here’s hoping it continues so the locals can tick a few more of them off.

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Looking back down the East Ridge of Mt Eaton from the summit. The foresummit on which Paul Knott and Derek Buckle were trapped for eight days is on the left. PAUL KNOTT.

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

PAUL AND DEREK summited the previously unclimbed Mt Eaton (3336m), in the St Elias Range, on 10 May. The pair then descended, in deteriorating weather, to their high camp on a foresummit at 2651m, and decided to spend a night there in anticipation of one more day of reasonable weather. During that night a storm hit with full force, half burying their tent in wind-blown snow.

Paul and Derek attempted to descend the following morning but were forced back to their high camp. In Paul's words: 'Despite limited visibility, we packed to descend. We felt our way almost blindly down from the foresummit, desperately looking for cues in the white-out. The terrain was crevassed and corniced, and we could see too little to stay safe or navigate. We climbed back up to the top and threw up the tent. We had a day’s spare food, but in the ensuing nightmare scenario—the kind the St Elias is known for—this place was to become home for the next eight days.'

During their eight-day ordeal, Paul estimates that over six metres of snow fell. Unable to shovel snow away from their tent, Paul and Derek had to keep digging their tent out and re-pitch it on top of the snowpack.

Paul and Derek again tried to descend on 15 May, but again found themselves in difficult and dangerous conditions: 'We packed up our ice-caked tent and attempted to descend. Again, we found ourselves in white-out, only this time wading the steep slope in thigh-deep powder. We also felt alarmingly weak. We concluded our only prudent option was to raise an emergency with Kluane National Park,' Paul said.

The pair were hopeful of a forecasted weather clearance that day and the chance of a rescue, but the storm continued unabated. Eventually, on 19 May, the weather cleared and rescuers Dion Parker and Scott Stewart were able to reach Paul and Derek and fly them out to Haines Junction, where they were greeted by the words: 'Are you the ‘back from the dead’ climbers?'

This was Paul's eighth trip to the St Elias Range. He comments that he's never seen anything like this storm before, but that it won't stop him from going back!

CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

The New Zealand climbing community suffered the loss of three prominent and much-loved climbers this winter, in two separate climbing tragedies.

SCHMIDT COLLECTION

MARTY SCHMIDT (1960-2013) DENALI SCHMIDT (1988-2013)

SENDING AN ANGEL Kiwi-American Graham Zimmerman is back in the news again with another first ascent of a new route in Alaska, this time with his frequent American climbing partner Scott Bennett.

GRAHAM AND SCOTT made the first ascent of the east buttress of the Angel (2822m) in the very remote Revelation Mountains, a subrange of the Alaska Range in the United States. The Revelation Mountains lie around 209 kilometres south-west of Mt Denali and the central Alaska Range, where Graham made another first ascent recently. Graham and Scott's climb was only the third ascent of the mountain by any route.

Graham and Scott flew by helicopter to the Revelation Mountains, outside of Denali National Park, as the lack of snow this time of year impedes ski-plane access. After setting up camp at the foot of the east buttress, Graham and Scott set off on 13 July and cleanly free-climbed 600 metres up what Graham describes as 'a beautiful granite wall with cracks and corners aplenty' at grade 5.10 (19–21). After a few hours rest in a bivvy on a convenient ledge while waiting for a small storm to pass, the pair continued their climb 500 metres up a ridgeline in stunning weather. Graham and Scott then simul-climbed through ice and snow to where the east buttress meets up with the previously ascended south-east buttress. From here, they managed to reach the summit at noon and then abseil 600 metres to the eastern side of the north ridge to a hanging glacier and trek back down to the Revelations Glacier. Graham and Scott decided at this juncture to wait for their lift out, since their ropes were a bit shredded. Storms pelted the pair for the next five days. On 21 July their helicopter arrived to take them back to civilisation. After five days of being tent-bound, that helicopter would have seemed like an angel!

IN LATE JULY, news emerged that Marty Schmidt and his son Denali Schmidt had been killed by an avalanche while they slept in their tent at Camp 3, high on K2 in Pakistan. Marty was a respected mountain guide and New Zealand’s most successful high–altitude climber. To lose such a larger-than-life character is a huge blow to the New Zealand and international climbing communities. Denali lived in San Francisco and had just graduated from art college.

A memorial service is being planned for early December, at which Marty and Denali’s New Zealand-based friends will be able to celebrate their lives.

JAMIE VINTON-BOOT (1983-2013) FURTHER TRAGIC news came in early August. Jamie VintonBoot, 2012 New Zealand Mountaineer of the Year, was knocked off his feet by a small avalanche on the Remarkables and fell to his death.

Jamie was one of the outstanding climbers of this generation and one of New Zealand’s most gifted alpinists.

His death is a tragic loss for the climbing community and, of course, his friends and family. Jamie is survived by his partner Jess and their sixmonth-old son Mahe. A fund has been set up to support Jess and Mahe, if you’d like to donate please contact Sam at sam@alpineclub.org.nz.

MARK WATSON

View of the Angel from the helicopter, with the east buttress just left of the prominent ridge in centre-frame. GRAHAM ZIMMERMAN

THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

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CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

THE CLIMBER

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE NEW ZEALAND ALPINE CLUB

ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

THE CLUB AGM will be held on the evening of Friday 4 October at 7:30 pm at the YMCA in Christchurch. As has become recent tradition, it will be held in conjunction with the annual ‘Great Debate’ between prominent members/degenerates/geriatrics/egos of NZAC. This year’s topic will be: ‘Competition is a fundamental aspect of climbing’.

NEW ZEALAND’S CLIMBING MAGAZINE

Editor Kester Brown kester@alpineclub.org.nz Design and Layout Kester Brown Sub-editor Nic Learmonth Climbing News Editors Polly Camber and Kester Brown Gear Editor Graham Johnson Proofing Rachael Williams, Nic Learmonth Printing Spectrum Print, Christchurch Musical Inspiration David Bowie – The Next Day Contributors Shaun Barnett, Michal Bednarak, Jeremy Beckers, Nic Bendeli, Jonny Bowman, Rob Brown, Tony Burnell, Charlie Catt, Fraser Crichton, Ben Dare, Richard Davies, Diane Drayton, Rob Frost, Danilo Hegg, Paul Hersey, Lee Howell, Tom Hoyle, Barry Hughes, Brad Jackson, Craig Jefferies, Chris Jensen-Burke, Daniel Joll, Mehmet Karatay, Paul Knott, Daniel Krippner, Troy Mattingley, Simon Mills, Guy McKinnon, Erik Monasterio, Colin Monteath, James Morris, Jaz Morris, Andrew Peacock, Salparadis, Heather Rhodes, Cory Richards, Janis Russell, Anna Seybold, Geoff Spearpoint, Derek Thatcher, Rina Thompson, Richard Thomson, Alastair Walker, Simon Waterhouse, Mark Watson, Graham Zimmerman.

Advertising enquiries Kester Brown tel: (64) 03 377 7595 | fax: (64) 03 377 7594 e-mail: adverts@alpineclub.org.nz Subscription information Published quarterly. Copy deadlines 2013: Summer (86) 28 October ‘13 Autumn (87) 1 February ‘14.

Winter (88) 2 May ‘14, Spring (89) 6 August ‘14. $9.95 per issue, $28.00 per year (incl. GST & NZ surface mail; overseas p&p at cost). subscriptions@alpineclub.org.nz Contributions are welcome THE CLIMBER is published by the New Zealand Alpine Club. We welcome contributions in the form of photography, features, short articles, news, reviews, comment and letters. Please get in touch if you’d like to submit some material—we are always keen to hear from potential contributors.

Contact us for payment rates.

THE CLIMBER climber@alpineclub.org.nz PO Box 786, Christchurch.

Unit 6, 6 Raycroft Street, Opawa, Christchurch. tel: (64) 03 377 7595 | fax: (64) 03 377 7594 alpineclub.org.nz

SUMMER INSTRUCTION PROGRAMME AS IN previous years, the NZAC National Instruction Programme will be offering its suite of courses over December and January. The High Alpine Skills Course (HASC) is an intermediatelevel course, for those wishing to learn techniques such as glacier travel, crevasse extraction and pitched climbing. Instructed by quailfied NZMGA guides, it is conducted on the Sealy Range at Mount Cook. A female-only version of this course is also being run.

The Advanced Alpine Skills Course (AASC) is the most technically advanced course offered by NZAC and is designed for those wishing to climb Grade MC 4 or MC5 routes.

Instructed by qualified NZMGA guides, it is conducted at Plateau Hut at Aoraki Mount Cook.

NZAC courses are very good value for money and are very popular. If you would like to participate in a course this summer, please register your interest with Sefton Priestley: sefton@alpineclub.org.nz.

CALL FOR INFORMATION FOR AORAKI MOUNT COOK GUIDEBOOK UPDATE NZAC IS currently working on a new edition of the Aoraki Mount Cook guidebook. The new guide will be expanded to include the Cook, Copland, Douglas and Karangarua catchments.

Publication is planned for summer 2014. Editors Rob Frost and Allan Uren are currently seeking information on new routes and corrections or amendments to the previous editions. If you can contribute any relevant information, please forward details to aorakiguide@gmail.com.

THE QUEENSTOWN ROCK, ICE AND MOUNTAINS GUIDEBOOK IS OUT EVERYONE IS welcome at the launch party on Saturday 21 September at The Find (53 Shotover street, Queenstown) from 6.00 pm. There will be a special deal on the guidebook available on the night, plus drinks and nibbles.

ORAL HISTORY OF MOUNTAINEERING Limbo Thompson is planning to conduct an oral history of New Zealand mountaineering project. Limbo writes: I HAVE had the pleasure of listening to older club members reminiscing about past climbs and adventures. Many of the incidents described have missed out on official accounts. This has lead to undertaking an oral history project to capture memories. With the support of NZAC, I will be undertaking the recordings for inclusion in the club archives held by the Hocken Library. The first project will be recording Ed Cotter, Norman Hardie, Bill Beaven and Geoff Harrow on their involvement in the golden era of New Zealand climbing: 1948–1955. This project will be completed in the remainder of 2013. Due to the time involved in obtaining outside funding, we are already turning our minds to possible future projects and would welcome ideas from club members. If you have ideas, relevant skills or an interest in oral history and would like to help please contact Sam Newton: sam@alpineclub.org.nz.

MACPAC ADVENTURE PARTNERSHIP NEW ZEALAND ALPINE CLUB

NZAC—we climb Our vision: NZAC champions the pursuit of climbing, enabling skilled and active adventurers.

We provide inspiration, information and seek to enable a vibrant climbing community.

Our core purpose is to foster and support climbing.

DISCLAIMER Material published in The Climber is obtained from a variety of sources. While all care is taken, neither The Climber nor the New Zealand Alpine Club nor any person acting on their behalf makes any warranty with respect to the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information published nor assumes any liability with respect to the use of, or for damages arising from the use of, any information disclosed within this magazine.

© NEW ZEALAND ALPINE CLUB | ISSN 1174-216X

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

JUST A REMINDER that when making a purchase at Macpac, let the staff know you are an NZAC member and receive a 20 per cent discount.

Additionally, Macpac will donate ten per cent of your payment as in-store credit to NZAC and the New Zealand Alpine Team (NZAT).

Through this initiative the NZAT will be able to support its young trainees with NZAC-branded apparel and base camp equipment. Hopefully, in time, NZAC will be able to treat its volunteer section instructors with some clothing as a thank you for their service.

However, it all depends on the degree to which the partnership is supported, so please make sure you identify yourself as an NZAC member at the counter to receive your 20 per cent discount and to trigger the donation from Macpac.

Even if Macpac is having a sale and the item on sale already has more discount than the discount given under the partnership programme, you can still ask for your purchase to support NZAC.

CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

CLIMBERS PASSIONATE TO RETAIN RECREATION AND LANDSCAPE VALUES WHILE THE latest implementation phase of the 2012 Resource Management Act (RMA) Reform Bill is defined by a discussion document entitled ‘Improving Our Resource Management System,’ NZAC believes there is much improvement still required! This being the case, the NZAC Recreation Advocacy Committee lodged a submission with the Ministry for the Environment on the RMA reform.

The NZAC submission focuses on opposing changes that diminish the recognition of recreation values in the resource consent process by deleting the need to have regard to them in clause 7(c) of the RMA, which has a very close relationship to recreation experience and landscape values. If approved as part of this RMA reform, council planners will not consider recreation values when considering whether or not a development should proceed.

The issues raised in the club’s submission are in line with other organisations, including the New Zealand Environmental Defence Society. In total, 14,000 submissions were received.

Notably, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright, has had plenty to say on the proposed changes that are dear to the heart of climbers: ‘There are many improvements that can be made to the RMA. But the proposed changes to sections 6 and 7 are in an entirely different category and should not go ahead.’

‘These changes are far more radical than any previous amendments to the RMA.’ The RMA’s focus is, and should remain, on the protection of New Zealand’s natural and physical environment.’

While it’s still too early to tell what changes the Government would make when drafting the legislation, changes could pass into law in early 2014.

CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES UP FOR REVIEW IN LATE June, the Department of Conservation publicly notified the upcoming review of the Conservation Management Strategies for Canterbury, Otago and Southland. Conservation Management Strategies (CMS) are reviewed every ten years; they are strategic documents that set the direction for how DOC manages the DOC estate and focus its work over the next decade.

Being such important documents, it’s critical for users groups such as NZAC to get involved in the process, to ensure the CMSs are drafted accurately and appropriately. These documents are well overdue for review. The NZAC Recreation Advocacy Committee is working with Federated Mountain Clubs to identify submission points, and make a club submission. Thanks to NZAC members who have contributed.

BLIND KIWI SOLOS EL CAP SCOTTISH NEW ZEALANDER Steve Bate, a legally-blind climber, recently aid-soloed Zodiac on El Capitan in Yosemite, becoming the first person with substantially impaired vision to solo the route. Steve, formerly from Auckland, has been living overseas in Scotland and trained for a year before climbing Zodiac with British climber Andy Kirkpatrick in preparation for the solo, which he completed in June.

Prior to this undertaking, Steve had never led a pitch on a big-wall before. It is understandable that he felt more than a little nervous!

Steve has the degenerative condition retinitis pigmentosa, which has currently reduced his vision to only ten per cent as compared to a fully sighted person.

In this quest to solo Zodiac, Steve also managed to raise £5000 for charity.

Steve is not stopping at this incredible feat. Despite the fact that he will likely lose all of his sight within five years, Steve is planning on tackling more epic outdoor challenges. With Steve's enthusiastic attitude, he is sure to do well, in whichever task he decides to embark upon. For more on Steve's climb and future plans see the Scottish television channel STV's interview with him at news.stv.tv.

BADEN NORRIS AWARDED NEW ZEALAND ANTARCTIC MEDAL ANTARCTIC SOCIETY member Baden Norris has been awarded a New Zealand Antarctic Medal for services to Antarctica, heritage conservation and polar education.

Norris has visited Antarctica 14 times, beginning in 1964 with an expedition to dig out and retrieve items from, Captain Scott’s Terra Nova hut and Shackleton’s Cape Royds Nimrod hut. Since then he has worked as a guide and lecturer aboard the MS Lindblad Explorer, helped develop the Antarctic Visitor Trail in Christchurch and was instrumental in a major oil clean-up at the Cape Hallett penguin colony.

Norris is currently curator of Antarctic History at Canterbury Museum.

SEND US YOUR EMAIL! CLUB COMMUNICATION continues to rely more and more on electronic means. The NZAC Facebook group is a great resource for up-to-theminute news and links to items of interest. Monthly club-wide emails from National Office keep everyone up to date with recent happenings at NZAC. Most section newsletters are emailed to members, and they’re also available to download from alpineclub.org.nz.

Email is a great way for NZAC to distribute information—it saves on printing and postage costs, and is better for the environment.

If we don’t have your email address and you’d like to be kept in the loop, please send it to Margaret: margaret@alpineclub.org.nz.

–Pete Barnes, NZAC Recreation Advocacy Committee convenor peterbarnes4@gmail.com

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

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PEOPLE

PEO PL E LEFT Sefton at home, climbing in the Port Hills, Christchurch.

LEE HOWELL

FACING PAGE Cory Richards on Gasherbrum II. CORY RICHARDS COLLECTION

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We are very excited here at NZAC to welcome Sefton Priestley on board as our newest staff member. The newly established role of programme manager is the key outcome of the recent review and restructure of NZAC’s professional staff. As such, appointing the right person into such a crucial role has been paramount.

Sefton brings a unique mix of event management, instruction and commercial experience to the role. His enthusiasm for climbing and the climbing community is obvious to anyone who has met him. Sefton will be well known to many people in the climbing community, especially amongst the rock climbing scene.

Sefton is no stranger to NZAC, he has been the driving force behind the National Indoor Bouldering Series (NIBS), and has contributed regular technique articles to The Climber.

Professionally, Sefton has established his marketing and commercial credentials by establishing the very successful climbing hold company Uprising Ventures Ltd. Prior to that he was a successful facility manager, coach and instructor within the indoor climbing industry.

For more about Sefton, see Troy Mattingley’s profile of him in issue 76 of The Climber. n Congratulations Sefton and welcome to NZAC. Could we start by getting a little background on you—what’s your story?

Thanks Kester. I started climbing in Joshua Tree on a trip to the States when I was 11 and never got over it. Although I learned to climb on trad gear, back in Christchurch the YMCA boulder room became my second home and sport climbing my main staple. Since then I’ve dabbled in bouldering, competition, multi-pitch climbing and a bit of alpine rock climbing as well. n Christchurch has quite a robust outdoors industry. What aspects have you been involved in?

I’ve always liked being involved in lots of different areas. Outdoor retail was first, then I took on the wall manager role at the YMCA until I jumped ship to the newly set-up Roxx Climbing Centre in 2004.

Instruction, event management and route-setting were aspects about working at the climbing walls that I particularly enjoyed. I took a year off to study high performance sport and started coaching, both for private clients and as the head coach of the Flying Geckos kid’s climbing club. Then in 2008 I let my fascination with climbing holds get the better of me and set up a hold manufacturing company called Uprising.

Now, after five years, the operation is run completely by my employees, giving me a chance to take on a new challenge. n How do you see yourself fitting into NZAC? What will you bring to the role of programme manager?

I’ve always enjoyed working with NZAC. In 2010 I approached NZAC 20

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with the concept for a national indoor bouldering series and the club was really supportive. NZAC decided to put its name to it, and its support has been instrumental in it becoming the largest series of climbing events in the country.

I knew that the team at NZAC runs a tight ship and are committed to supporting and fostering climbing in New Zealand, and that this would be an amazing chance for me to help in achieving that aim. Evidently they sensed my enthusiasm and offered me the job! Taking on the responsibilities previously held by Pat Deavoll is a real honour—she has done an amazing job in the activities and events co-ordinator role, especially her work on the national instruction programme. It will be a steep learning curve, but that’s okay, I like steep.

I would like to see the club increase its interaction with and relevance to young climbers. There is a massive pool of talent and experience amongst our members and with my background working with youth, hopefully I can help find new ways to realise this. n How’s your climbing going? Have you been getting out much climbing or training?

I had a low-key 2012 on the climbing front. My partner Kirsty and I welcomed our first child Tobin, and I had a couple of wee operations which meant I wasn’t allowed to climb. But in the last few months I’ve been able to get back into it. I’ve been training three times a week and I’ve already had a couple of missions up to Flock Hill, as well as helping out at each of the NIBS comps. This summer it’s all on for sure!

PEOPLE

Watch the movie Cold and you'll quickly realise two things about American climber Cory Richards: he's apt to swear and cry on camera. In Cold it only takes three words before he drops his first f-bomb, and his crying scene is the most intimately powerful moment in the movie.

For those who haven't seen Cold, it is a riveting watch. Cory filmed a very difficult, successful first winter ascent of Gasherbrum II, which he completed with Italian Simone Moro and Denis Urubko from Kazakhstan. Over the past 26 years, 16 expeditions have tried and failed to climb one of Pakistan's 8000m peaks in winter. The 2011 climb on Gasherbrum II nearly killed the trio. After summitting in intense cold, they were hit by a storm, and then a huge avalanche, during the descent.

The success of Cold propelled Cory's photography and climbing career onto the world stage. He won the 2012 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year award, and now spends up to nine months each year away from home filming and climbing.

Cory was a guest speaker at this year's New Zealand Mountain Film Festival. After being entertained by his extremely funny presentation (he does great impersonations of Simone and Denis) PAUL HERSEY shared a couple of beers with him and fired a few questions his way.

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n Welcome to New Zealand. Is this your first time here?

Yeah it is, and I've got to say I'm instantly blown away by two things. First is the landscape. We were flying into Queenstown and had an aborted landing, which was like, holy shit what's happening?

We were literally a few feet from the ground, but then powered off again. But I got to see a bunch more scenery as we flew around the second time. And the second thing is how nice everyone is. You can't walk anywhere without someone saying hi and being friendly.

I was in New York last week and pretty much everyone there wants to kill you. n So how is life being famous?

Wow, I don't know that I am. I think maybe in a microcosm, but it all comes with a little bit of bullshit anyway. I was really lucky with Gasherbrum II, I guess it’s the climb I've become known for. But it's also scary because I can never really top what I've done. I figure I will, or hope to, technically, but will anyone appreciate that in the same way? Fame in the climbing world doesn't have much meaning attached. It's pretty shallow and fleeting. The hard thing is navigating the pitfalls of buying into your self-image, drinking your own Kool-Aid, too much. I'm still trying to figure out what it all means, how to stay true to my own goals. All this other stuff can be really detrimental. At times, I struggle with that a lot. n I guess it must be pretty difficult trying to meet all your sponsorship and media commitments, but not let it get in the way of good decision-making in the mountains.

Yeah, it is something that takes a lot of consideration. I try to make a decision on an external factor, think about it and then in a way disregard it. I understand what a sponsor wants, I understand the notoriety this climb might get me, but is it the right decision for me to do this? Is it the right thing for my trajectory as a climber? I think we have to look at the big picture, always.

Climbing is an interesting paradigm. It's only recently that money has come into personal climbing. Before, it was all about nationalism and how money and sponsorship brought teams together. It's only in the past decade or so that we have seen the influence of money towards individuals. They've become branded, and there are examples where decisions have been based around that. That can be a really dangerous influence. It can kill you. n Did the success of Cold surprise you? And how does it feel being the most famous crying climber on the big screen?

The success was completely unanticipated. It was a movie made on a whim. I mean, we were lucky on so many levels. Lucky it was that year. Lucky that Simone was leading the expedition, and that we had Denis as the muscle. And we were lucky that I had the camera.

Photography has always been my vehicle, whether it's photos of me or by me. I find something that needs to be documented. And yeah, when I filmed the crying scene, it seemed like the right thing to do.

What I realised at that moment was that I needed to be that subject. I

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felt an intense release from the stress and exhaustion. It was like, fuck, I'm going to cry. So I turned the camera on myself. And it was the crying footage that made Cold what it was.

My dad's a crier. He cries at films all the time. I learnt it from him.

Yeah, I certainly cry when things affect me. I think tears are an incredible expression.There are times for them and then there are times to hold them back too. n It seems that the Cory Richards brand has become pretty mainstream. You've got a polished routine going, especially up on stage. But you're a bit of an f-bomb hog, eh? What's with that?

I use swearing as a tool. It's part of my vocabulary. I use it with my regular conversations. In a way it's the parlance of our time. It's the way we speak. When I'm not using it on stage I feel that I'm being dishonest. The person I am swears. Why would I change that? I've had a few complaints, but I think ultimately it helps me connect with people.

They realise the person in front of them isn't someone different but is very much the same. Some people get offended but most end up enjoying my talks more. n You come across as being pretty honest, both on stage and in your movies, like you're putting it all out there?

The irony here is that, whether it's swearing or crying, by exposing yourself with that emotional vulnerability, it can mean that people put you on a pedestal even more. What we've been taught is to not show our vulnerability, especially as men. We have this idea of a strong man, but no, I fuckin’ cry, I get scared and it hurts, and I bleed. All of these things mean that people start to connect. They get it, you know. I'm going to show you everything, all of my weaknesses, and yet they think I'm strong because of it. n So where to now? What new opportunities have opened up?

Oh a lot of doors have opened for sure. But I think perspective is one of the things that I've recognised the most. Success grants you possibilities. But it also grants you a tremendous amount of pressure and responsibility. How do I want to live up to those expectations? Do I care? Opportunities and pressure come into play equally. Things are expected when you go on trips now. And to be honest we were just really fuckin’ lucky with that climb.

Things have drastically changed since then. I'm married and have a house and all those grown-up things, but it also means I'm away nine months of the year with my commitments. There are a lot of different things to manage and try to keep together.

I guess ultimately I'm so grateful to have walked away from that experience on Gasherbrum, grateful to have had a camera, but much more, what makes me so fuckin’ happy is people celebrating the humanity of it. I don't give a shit that I was involved in it or not, rather that it's an opportunity to celebrate being human. I get a kick out of seeing this.

People are saying, 'I'm going to go out and I'm going to try, just fuckin’ try.' As climbers especially we're so lucky that we can have the opportunities to do this.

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NEW ZEALAND ALPINE CLUB

PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION

2013

Thanks to all who entered the 2013 New Zealand Alpine Club Photographic Competition. Some outstanding images competed for the top awards and trophies in this year's competition. Judges Rob Brown, Lee Howell and Colin Monteath commented that overall the standard of entries was very high this year in most categories. Thanks to previous competition winner Mark Watson for administering the competition. Competition sponsors Scarpa, Marmot, Alpine Recreation and Imagelab provided some fine prizes, including $1200 worth of print vouchers from Imagelab, $3000 worth of boots and clothing from Scarpa and Marmot and for the Youth prize, a four day introductory climbing course with Alpine Recreation, valued at $1575. The NZAC 2012 Photographic Competition Calendar features the best of the winners and can be purchased online from alpineclub.org.nz.

Khumbu Cloud Formation, by Andrew Peacock ERICA BEUZENBERG TROPHY FOR JOINT CHAMPION ALPINE NATURE JOHN HARRISON MEMORIAL TROPHY FOR OVERALL CHAMPION

p Extraordinary moments like this don’t come along every day, and you need all your senses attuned to what is going on around you to make the most of them. Most great photographs are about three things: light, the moment and the frame (how the photograph is composed). Even though the light is pretty straight in this photograph, it is a great composition of a great moment. I wondered about whether this photo would have had enought impact if the yellow-billed cloughs were not soaring on the left-hand side.

I came to the conclusion they were a pretty critical part of the photograph. (RB) Cosmic Ice Bubbles, by John Palmer ALPINE NATURE CHAMPION

u I love this shot. Actually, all the judges loved it. I would say we spent more time looking at this shot than any other. It did what all great photographs should do—it sparked in-depth conversations. This one got us talking about the start of the universe, the big bang, and how on earth John actually managed to photograph such an event. It was only when I was told the title that I started to get my head around it. Congratulations John for not walking past this little patch of ice and for taking the time to capture and edit it so well. (LH)

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Rhyolite Ridgeline, by Janis Russell ALPINE GENERAL CHAMPION

pp The very best photographs often transcend their subject to illustrate an idea or feeling. In this case there was a very strong sense of the subject being on a journey, which surprisingly few photographs of the outdoors successfully convey. It also stirred up all the feelings of what it is like to be up on the tops in the moody New Zealand landscape. (RB) A Gentle Stroll on Tasman,

by Heather Rhodes ALPINE ACTIVITY CHAMPION

p Classic Tasman ridge, classic West Coast cloud drama. Cropping to the panorama format has really helped the composition, creating just the right scale to the small figures in a powerful alpine landscape.

Even though the light is middle-of-the-day (when else do you get to the top of Tasman?) we all felt the image has a sense of exploration of the unknown and a sense of pleasure as the climbers would descend to the security of a hut. (CM) Kiang, by Andrew Peacock ALPINE NATURE HONOURS

p Composition and light are key here. The animal positioned on the side so that it appears to be moving into the scene always seems to work. Ladakh looks like one of those places full of photographic opportunities, but you still have to be patient enough to look for the good light. I also like the positioning of the line of the blue lake in the composition. It’s not quite following the so-called rule of thirds. (‘Guide’ is probably a better word to use in photography—I’m not sure there are supposed to be any ‘rules’ as such).

But it’s close enough that it works. (RB) THE CLIMBER ISSUE 85, SPRING 2013

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Paiju Peaks, by Brad Jackson ALPINE GENERAL HONOURS

pp Some photographs just seem to suit black and white. The strong form of the peaks in this photograph, as well as the light and shadow, makes for a strong black and white photograph. If anything, when it comes time to print this for the wall, it could handle a tad more contrast, but it all depends on the sort of look you are going for, and this is the sort of photograph you could endlessly re-interpret. (RB) Night Climb, by Andrew Peacock ROCK CLIMBING HONOURS

p Good light makes or breaks many photographs. But what is good light? When you haven’t got much to play with you have to think hard about what you are doing. Here, of course, it was key to light the rock climber, but without the person doing the belaying having a head torch on and a bit of light as well, the story would not be complete and it would have been just another photo. (RB) De Fences Best, by Daniel Krippner ALPINE RECREATION YOUTH AWARD FOR YOUTH CHAMPION

t It’s all in the eyes. Even though I am not usually a fan of modern rock climbing images cluttered with rubber mats and arms praying to Mecca, we all felt this young photographer had made a great effort to lean over the edge or rope down to get into position to catch the moment. (CM) 24

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Coma, by John Palmer ROCK CLIMBING CHAMPION

p John has hit the nail on the head with this shot. It ticks all the boxes—my eye happily travels around the image taking in all the aspects, from the climber’s hand, to the look on his face, to the line that he has climbed, and all the way down to the belayer, who is ready and waiting to catch a whipper. It has good composition and the treatment complements the shot.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the Rock Climbing category this year. It is normally a very strong category, and one which I look forward to judging. There is a wealth of great climbing shots out there—you just have to look in any issue of The Climber. I would love to see some more effort from up-and-coming photographers (and experienced ones) with finding different ways to showcase rock climbing, be it with off-camera flash, different perspectives or awesome portraits, to name a few. (LH) Extraction, by Jeremy Beckers PHOTOJOURNALISM HONOURS

u The Photojournalism category is always a bit weak. Just because you have a nice, shallow depth of field shot of a child from Nepal smiling doesn’t make it photojournalism! The image needs to tell a story, I want to see that the photographer has thought about the composition, the light, that decisive moment that the shutter was pressed. This is what makes a good, compelling image.

I feel that Jeremy’s shot of this extraction is very well captured. The composition is great; the helicopter and subject are positioned perfectly. I could see this shot being used as an opener in any magazine. The only criticism I have is how the image has been treated. I like the black and white conversion and there is detail in the highlights but this has made the overall image very dark. I would increase the exposure by two stops and then gently mask to bring back the detail in the highlights. (LH)

THE JUDGES Colin Monteath Since 1983 Colin Monteath has run Hedgehog House, www.hedgehoghouse.com and www. colinmonteath.com, a Christchurch-based photo library with work from 40 of New Zealand’s best photographers.

Hedgehog House is dedicated to increasing the awareness of looking after the polar and mountain regions of the world.

Colin has been enamoured with mountain travel since the 1960s, and has taken part in 21 expeditions in the Himalaya as well as others in the Andes, Alaska, Greenland, New Guinea, Svalbard and more. He has had 31 seasons in Antarctica since 1973.

Lee Howell Growing up in the UK, Lee first embarked on a career in automotive engineering, which took him to Formula One as a race team mechanic. After moving to New Zealand in 2006 Lee put down the spanners in favour of a fulltime career behind the camera. Since then Lee has developed a reputation for producing high quality, professional images for corporate, editorial and advertising clients like Bentley Motors Ltd, Audi, Porsche, Top Gear and Autocar. Lee’s work has graced the pages of numerous NZAC publications and when he’s not working, he likes to splash mud on his bike in the Port Hills or unwind amongst the tranquility of the slopers and swimming holes at Paynes Ford.

Rob Brown joined NZAC while still a student, some 20-odd years ago. He’s a skier with little style but reasonable enthusiasm, an appalling rock climber and was once fit enough to scramble up more than half the 3000m peaks in the country. He does take the odd nice photo and still enjoys looking at big mountains and climbing little ones.

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Aerial shot of Mt Pembroke, Fiordland. The north ridge, running from centre-left of frame to the summit, is unclimbed.

COLIN MONTEATH/HEDGEHOG HOUSE

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NO RECORDED ASCENT

‘Nothing has really happened until it has been recorded.’

-Virginia Woolf

There seems to be a common misperception in the mountaineering community that all the ‘easy’ routes in the Southern Alps have already been climbed—that if something is unclimbed it must be really difficult. Nothing could be further from the truth. First ascents in our mountains are far less elusive than many realise. There are unclimbed lines and unexplored peaks out there, still waiting to be claimed. ROB FROST opens the door on a world of possibility in the New Zealand mountain ranges.

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THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GO WHERE NOBODY HAS EVER BEEN BEFORE. You can make first ascents of untrodden ridges and faces. Can you imagine what that would be like? You reach up for the next hold, savouring the feel of the rock for a few seconds, knowing that no-one has ever made that move before. You get to a nice wide ledge, pull out a muesli bar, sit and look back down to the valley. Nobody's eaten a snack on that ledge before, or seen that view before. Ever.

Whether you want to tell people about what you've done, or just keep the experience to yourself, it can't be denied that the feeling of travelling over a piece of landscape that has previously never known anything of humankind is pretty special.

Have you ever found yourself looking at a map and wondered what a particular mountain would be like to climb from one side, only to read that the existing routes are all elsewhere on the peak? Or maybe you've seen more blatant announcements in some guidebooks, such as descriptions proclaiming: ‘no recorded ascent’. There you go! That's your project! You may get only part-way up, find it's too hard, and have to retreat. Well done—you've survived your introduction to the explorative world of first ascents. Even if you didn't complete the climb, I bet it got the blood tingling in your veins and fueled the desire for further attempts on that peak or elsewhere.

New routes are not just for ‘hard’ climbers. I wanted adventure in the form of climbing new routes, but I couldn’t climb very hard, and I wasn’t very efficient, but that just meant I had to do some research. Now I’m stoked with some of the new mountain routes I’ve managed to do over the last few years. The hardest (the North Rib of Mt Grave) was just a long scramble with five pitches on the way and none of them were harder than grade 16. All it took was the desire to go somewhere different.

I’ve made the start easy for you. The routes in this article have been chosen because they’re unlikely to require strong technical ability. Give one of them a go. If you enjoy the experience, do some research—you’ll be amazed what you’ll find. As Phil Castle recently commented, ‘It’s always surprising how few people are interested in getting off the beaten track, but if they do they will find unclimbed routes all over the place.’

TOP The north-west ridge of Mt Burns from the Karangarua River. SHAUN BARNETT MIDDLE The north-west ridge of Mt Burns from the ridgeline between The Gladiator and Mt Howitt. SIMON MILLS BOTTOM A third angle on the ridge, this time from near the head of the Landsborough River. BARRY HUGHES

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MT PEMBROKE NORTH RIDGE ABOVE Mt Pembroke (left) and Te Hau, from the northern slopes of Mt Grave. ROB FROST

Mt Pembroke is a beautiful peak, named in 1851 by JL Stokes of the Acheron, after the town of the same name in his home country of Wales. The peak rises 2000 metres straight out of the Tasman Sea immediately north of Milford Sound.

It is the highest point on the range (let’s call it the Pembroke Range) that separates the Thurso and John O'Groats catchments from that of the Harrison. On a fine day Pembroke is clearly visible from the cruise boats in Milford Sound, and it has been an alluring abjective for mountaineers for 100 years now.

The standard route on Pembroke is the Lippe Couloir from Pembroke Creek. This is possibly the only existing route on the mountain that has been climbed more than once. There has been no recorded ascent along the crest of the Pembroke Range itself to the summit of Pembroke (the north ridge).

The route appears to comprise a moderate rock scramble along a blocky ridge. There will almost certainly be some exposed steps that will require a rope.

The best way to access the ridge would be to get dropped off at (or row or kayak to) Harrison Cove and head up the Harrison Valley—stay on the true right—and climb the peak between Pembroke and Te Hau. This peak was climbed by Conway Powell and party in the 70s. They proposed the name Gully Peak, after John Gully, the New Zealand artist.

The most straightforward descent would be down the standard route (the Lippe Couloir) into Pembroke Creek.

It would be best if the ridge is free of snow, but snow in the couloir would make the descent easier. I think a good combination of weather and conditions is likely to occur in late summer after a big snow season.

MT BURNS NORTH-WEST RIDGE I really wanted to keep this route to myself, but that wouldn't be fair!

Mt Burns is surprisingly overlooked for such a big mountain. The north-west ridge absolutely dominates the head of the Landsborough River, with impressive overlaps and slabs rising above Rubicon Torrent and the Spence Glacier. A one-kilometre section of the ridge forms a series of serrations—rising on slabs and dropping down broken steps— which is followed by what looks like a straightforward final 500-metre section to the summit.

The only attempt at the north-west ridge I've managed to find a record of was made in 1937, by WS Gilkison, EO Dawson, AK Ibbotson and BN Challis. At that time, maps showed a peak on this ridge called The Dwarf, which, if it had actually existed, would have been one of the highest unclimbed peaks in New Zealand at the time. This party climbed from the rock biv at the Rubicon–Landsborough confluence up to the crest of the ridge near where The Dwarf was supposed to be, only to find themselves on the massive north-west ridge of Burns.

Gilkison recorded that ‘We were completely held up by a narrow

rock ridge which we could neither traverse, straddle, nor turn—with sheer rock faces on the north [and] smooth slabs on the south.’ This is precisely the ridge that I believe is the most worthy objective in this article.

The base of this ridge is remote. The shortest approach is over or around Mt Scissors from Barron Saddle, then down steep slabs to the Spence Glacier. This would take two days from Mt Cook Village (unless you fly to Barron Saddle Hut to save a day). This approach is a bit tricky and requires fine weather. Other feasible approach options are: a) from the Karangarua or Douglas valleys, b) all the way up the Landsborough Valley, or c) into the mid-Landsborough from the Hopkins catchment.

Anytime between early to late summer will probably be good for an attempt. I'm not sure if snow on the slabs would make it easier or more difficult overall.

Descent would be down moderate snow and gravel slopes to the McKerrow Glacier, or to the head of the Mueller Glacier via the southwest ridge or the Welchman Glacier.

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TOP The northern aspect of Mt Hooker from the Mahitahi, with the Strachan Range in the foreground and Mt Jack behind (on the right). RINA THOMPSON ABOVE The north faces of Hooker and Jack from Harker Torrent. RICHARD DAVIES

MTS HOOKER AND JACK FROM THE OTOKO Mention of Mt Hooker should make the old hands sit up in their armchairs. It’s the only mountain in this article that features in Classic Peaks of New Zealand. Many parties have been in the Otoko Valley over the last few decades with the intention of climbing the north face of Hooker—most have been thwarted by weather. Hooker also has a smaller brother, Mt Jack, which has been unfairly ignored. All available sources indicate that the entire northern half of Mts Hooker and Jack host no routes to the summits. The approach offers typical South Westland access issues, including big bouldery rivers, dense bush and remoteness.

There's a route to be done from the head of the Otoko Glacier, up 200 metres of moderately steep rock to the summit snow-shelf. This would probably be the easiest way to climb Hooker from the Otoko, but it's a bit of a scrappy route. The 'little north face' to the east is impressive and is directly under the summit, but is difficult. Jamie Vinton-Boot and Shelley Hersey did a line up to the snow shelf in 2012.

The best line on this face would lead directly onto the rib under the summit, but the rock is reportedly too rotten to be conducive to safe climbing on terrain that steep. The 'big north face' to the west is very aesthetically pleasing and doesn't look too hard. It’s this face that I’m going to tell you about. The north-east spur of Mt Jack is also particularly impressive and may offer more consistently-angled climbing.

Both climbs will be approximately 1000 metres long. You’re likely to be mostly soloing, although there are several steps that you’ll want a rope for. There are a number of potential routes on Hooker, but I consider the most striking to be the obvious buttress near the highest part of the face, immediately right of the small, steep icefall. On Jack, I would gain the prominent shoulder at 1460m from either the north or 30

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the east, then head straight up the spur.

Descending back to the start of either route will be impractical. Go lightweight, and carry all your gear on the climb. You would need to be extremely efficient to make it from the base of the route to Marks Flat in one day.

The shortest possible trip—by somebody really gunning it (solo)— would go like this: • Day one: from Paringa Bridge, travel most of the way up the Otoko.

• Day two: climb the route to the summit and bivvy on the Hooker Glacier.

• Day three: either a) descend to Marks Flat and get an afternoon heli’ pick-up from the Solution Range, or b) descend Jack Creek and out to the Paringa Bridge.

A more likely scenario however, might go something like this: • Day one: walk in to Stag Flat.

• Day two: walk to the base of the route.

• Day three: climb the route and bivvy near the summit.

• Day four: descend to Marks Flat by early afternoon, then decide which route to take out (see Moir’s Guide North for options, most take two days). Alternatively, descend from the summit to Jack Creek and walk out to the Paringa Bridge.

What’s the best season to give this one a go? You’ll want the north face to be dry, which it probably will be by early summer. On Hooker, you don't want the summit snow-shelf to be too broken, so late summer might be pushing it. On Jack, things don't get too cut up, so as late as Easter could be fine.

ABOVE Mt Clark (left) and Mt Ward, from the south-west. DANILO HEGG RIGHT The south face of Mt Clark, viewed from Mt Ward in November 2011, with Aoraki in the distance. The south-face gully is prominent from this perspective. ROB FROST

MT CLARK SOUTH FACE Mt Clark is an unassuming peak on the Main Divide, between Thomson Stream and the Landsborough River, immediately north of the dominant Mt Ward.

The south face of Clark has a pleasantlooking, moderately angled gully that will offer approximately 300 metres of climbing, with a steepish couple of pitches near the top. I have been unable to uncover any records of an ascent.

The best access will be to approach from Elcho Pass, sidling around the western slopes of Mt Ward. The best descent is probably down the South East Ridge.

The face could be done in a really big day from the head of the North Elcho, or in a comfortable day from Elcho Pass.

You’ll want the gully to be filled with snow or ice, and you’ll want to avoid serious avalanche conditions. Late spring to early summer will probably be the best time to make an attempt. As well as snow and ice protection, you’ll want a small rock rack (including some knifeblade pitons) in case the upper pitches are a bit thin.

Note that Clark's west ridge is also probably unclimbed, and could likely be done any time of year.

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TOP The north-eastern aspect of Lyttle Peak, from the Fox Range.

ABOVE Looking up the Cook River valley from Cook Rd Flat. Mt Copland is on the left and Lyttle Peak on the right, with the western slabs above Architect Creek catching the evening light. BOTH PHOTOS: ROB FROST

LYTTLE PEAK WEST FACE AND NORTH-WEST RIDGE If you visit Lake Matheson on a clear day and spend some time after your walk sitting outside the local café, look up again at the Southern Alps. You'll see a striking rock peak to the right of Tasman and Aoraki that isn’t visible in the image reflected on the lake. This is the view up the lower Cook River to Lyttle Peak, described by several people as the most spectacular mountain on the Navigator Range.

Lyttle was first climbed in 1931, from the Ruera Valley, by T Sheerhan and George Bannister. (The bivvy rock near the DarkwaterLyttle confluence is named Bannister Rock.) Since then Lyttle has been ascended a handful of times from the Ruera, once as part of a Shiels to Fang traverse, and once from the Cook Valley, starting from near the La Perouse Glacier terminal moraine.

By far the most striking feature on Lyttle is the unclimbed west face, which comprises steep slabs that rear out of Architect Creek and look wonderful and golden in the West Coast evening light.

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An easier unclimbed route would be the pleasant looking northwest ridge from Whale Saddle. A rope and rock rack may come in handy near the summit. It's hard to say if Architect Creek or the Cook Valley would offer the best route to Whale Saddle. They're both a bit of a bash. The head of Architect Creek looks like a grand place, but there's nothing resembling a marked route to get there—you'd have to bash through bush on the true-right well above the river to get around the lower gorge, then hope for low creek levels in order to avoid the scrub and boulders of the upper basin. The Cook is known for rough travel, and the climb up to Whale Saddle is reasonably steep, but at least the majority of the valley route has recently been re-marked (but not re-cut).

Allow three days minimum for the trip. Lyttle would probably have a long climbing season. I suspect any time from November to April would offer good conditions.

WORDS TO

THE WISE Talk about spilling the beans! Here are some other notable routes and features that appear to be unclimbed. Of course there are many, many more than this— these are just a few that have become apparent to me over the last few years of wandering and wondering. Most of these aren’t too hard! u s u

Aoraki region Banks Range traverse from Sybil to Dilemma (hard) Torres-Tasman traverse in winter (tough) Livingston, north peak (unclimbed) u s u

South Westland Splinter Peak from the Copland

PT 1875M SELBOURNE RANGE

McGloin (can’t have many routes)

This is the most remote of the peaks described in this article, and would probably involve a trip of at least one week to climb it and return home. The peak does have one very appealing feature: I think it is completely unclimbed. I haven’t been able to find any record of anyone ever climbing it.

Almost two years ago, Claire Gibb, Geoff Spearpoint, Tim Church, Yvonne Pfluger and I climbed onto the northern end of the Selbourne Range from the Waiatoto River, and several days later reached Mt Dispute, at the far end of the range. It was a tough trip through some beautiful country. For six days we figured out our own way—nobody, it still seems, had been along the range before.

As much as we would have liked to remain on the crest of the range, that was impossible due to several razor-sharp sections, gaping slots in the bedrock, and the need to shelter from the weather at night.

Late in the day on New Year’s Eve, we were on Pt 1864m, and I looked briefly along the spectacularly exposed ridge to Pt 1875m. It was not much higher than us, but far more dramatic, and the highest point on the range after Mt Dispute. There would not have been time to climb it anyway, as we were aiming to get to a decent campsite by nightfall, but if I’d known then that Pt 1875m is probably unclimbed, I would have gone for it!

The terrain on and around the Selbourne Range is the sort where you need to travel as light as possible to make decent progress, and you’ll want a light rope to get through a few little tricky sections. You’ll need to be spot-on with your navigation, and have a long weather window (making mid to late summer the most reliable time for this).

This is a climb for the transalpine enthusiasts out there—your very own opportunity to climb a virgin peak. I can’t even imagine all of the possibilities for accessing this one, just pull out Moir’s Guide North, a few topomaps, and do your own research to confirm that it’s unclimbed. Then it’s time to start scheming!

ABOVE Looking north across Swelter Ravine to Pt 1875m from Pt 1569m. GEOFF SPEARPOINT LEFT Looking south along the Selbourne Range from Pt 1800m.

Pt 1875m is the shadowy peak where the range drops out of sight.

GEOFF SPEARPOINT

Crystal Peak or Pk 2259m (the actual Query Peak) from the Mahitahi Strachan, south-west face Hawkins, west ridge (see the 2012 NZAJ article, Morse Code) Enderby from the Wills Souter Peak. There must be something unclimbed here Sombre/Rosy from the Waiatoto u s u

Ohau region Hammorack, south-west face Nihokohatu, north buttress Humphries, west ridge Huxley, north face (See 2010 NZAJ Spotlight on Mt Huxley) Mt Cran, unclimbed gully on south face and unclimbed west face u s u

Aspiring Pickelhaube, north-west ridge u s u

Fiordland Mills Peak, south ridge (see The Climber issue 76) Ongaruanuku, from the Kaipo or John O’Groats Little Matterhorn, south ridge (see Mountain Men of Milford by Jack Ede) Mitre Peak in winter (scary!)

AXES OF Whatever, whoever, wherever— climbing has only two dimensions: difficulty and danger. Don’t believe the hype when people tell you that climbing is about communion, with nature and each other. Or that it transcends mind and body. People who say that stuff are usually trying to sell you hemp shoes (a bad idea, on so many levels). Climbing is none of those things. It may be a medium for self-expression and selfabsorption, but really, climbing, in all its declensions, is only about the axis of difficulty and the axis of danger.

Against those two axes, climbing history and progression can be plotted. And so the various sub-genres of climbing can be ranked, to determine which is king amongst kings. Whichever achieves the highest intersection of difficulty and danger must, by definition, be the ultimate expression of the art form that is climbing. Sure as eggs.

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EVIL HIGHBALL BOULDERING IS THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF CLIMBING

THE RUNNELS, FLOCK HILL No name, no grade, no falling off. This Flock Hill landmark is a line that cries out to be climbed—not because it’s particularly hard or particularly famous or particularly infamous, but because it’s there. Now there’s an irony! Joshua Merriam, padless and committed. PHOTO: MARK WATSON

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da n g e r

and the winner is DIFFICULTY

ICE

ALPIN E

H IGH BALL boulderi n g

SO LO ING

tramping

s po rt

Some may be surprised by the results, but the numbers do not lie. Highball bouldering is the ultimate form of climbing, SEAMONSTERS (V7) TURAKIRAE HEAD A week out from deployment to the Korean DMZ, Ewan ‘Secret Service’ Sinclair gets spooked on the crux of Seamonsters. This problem has two of the features that make for a great highball: a terrible landing and a dynamic crux six metres off the ground. Only one repeat to date.

combining extreme difficulty with extreme danger.

PHOTO: JOHN PALMER

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JAWS (V8) FLOCK HILL Looming above you like a wall of blue water, Jaws has close-out written all over it. One of the first of a violent new breed of highballs at Flock Hill, this problem offers technical face climbing leading to big spans and big drops, as Justin Wood demonstrates.

Rarely repeated. PHOTO: JOHN PALMER

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Not convinced?

I’m no mathlete but here’s how I see the graph shaking down: Tramping A venerable pastime, with much to recommend it. But two legs, a heavy pack and wet socks are all you need to do New Zealand’s most demanding tramps.

Hazards include burning your fingers on the billy teapot, snorers and huts full of tourists. Sure, people die tramping, but then people die playing golf too.

Bouldering Common garden variety bouldering gets to the top of the difficulty axis, but next to nowhere on the danger axis. A code in which sitting and lying-down starts are regarded as legitimate practices is always going to struggle for supremacy. Have you ever seen a picture of a boulderer unleashing the fury mere inches above the ground and thought Cripes, get down from there! No. Next.

Sport Unlike the other codes plotted, sport climbing actually gets less dangerous as it gets more difficult. That is because the number of bolts per metre tends to increase as the grade increases. And because most people who get hurt sport climbing usually do so when they’re still learning—or when their belayer is!

Alpine Most alpinists were probably expecting alpine climbing to top the table. There is no denying the extreme levels of danger that can be found in the mountains (if you look hard enough). The problem is that it just isn’t very difficult. Exhausting, yes. Hard, no.

It’s mostly walking, sometimes scrambling, occasionally sketching. Yet blind people, old people and people with no legs can do it, all the way to the top of the earth in fact. And the ‘hard’ stuff is mostly just long, dangerous, exposed, dangerous, cold and dangerous.

Ain’t no moves that your average V4 boulderer couldn’t pull. Just saying.

Ice Climbing ice is dangerous, especially in New Zealand, where it might more accurately be described as almost-stationary-water climbing. Again, however, it just isn’t that hard. And ice climbers know it too—they even dispensed with ice tool leashes in recent times, in a vain attempt to improve their ranking. Fail. Ice is barely vertical at the best of times. And all that mixed malarkey just looks like rock climbing for people with weak fingers.

Soloing A serious contender for the ‘ultimate’ code, but it falls short because of a lack of high-end difficulty. It may be splitting hairs but (to paraphrase Matt Pierson, writer, boulderer and bon vivant) the difference between soloing and highball bouldering is falling. When soloing, the climber does not accept the risk of a fall. With highball bouldering, that risk has to be accepted, embraced even. That is borne out in the stats: the hardest solo in New Zealand that I know of is Toby Benham’s ascent of Moment Of Greed (29), a staunch route with a crux at mid-height in the V7/V8 range and a trickyish top-out. That’s so many notches below the difficulty of the hardest highballs, it’s not even funny. Plus, you could see the harness under Toby’s trousers in the photos!

Highball I don’t know anyone who has died highball bouldering, and I hope I never do.

But it has happened. I have seen people climb boulders from which a fall would be fatal.

And I’ve seen broken arms and legs. Not on goat tracks or cake walks either—on proper hard, proper high problems. I sometimes wonder if the rest of the New Zealand climbing scene has any idea about the supreme acts of skill, strength and bravery that our top highball boulderers have produced in recent years. Probably not. They probably still think climbing the Bowen-Allan Corner on Moir’s Mate is ‘badass’.

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what does i t a l l The earnest amongst us might well be wondering. Well, Ton Snelder once wrote of Roland Foster: ‘Foster’s achievements were

mean?

little understood by the climbing community. Rock climbing was polarised from its bigger brother, mountaineering, and apart from a handful of devotees there was no recognition of his achievements.

Had Foster been climbing new routes on Himalayan peaks in an equivalently up-to-date style, and if rock climbing was as respected as that noble pursuit, he may well by now have been Sir Roland.’

Foster’s bold, difficult routes inspired those words, and they are equally apt for a new generation of gung-heroes who have eschewed the ropes but not the verticality or difficulty in their search for something proud, something that will inspire fear and desire in others, something that may take only minutes or seconds to complete but which may go unrepeated for years.

Some will dismiss such deeds as party tricks. As if risking life and limb on some Weet-Bix ridgeline in the Southern Alps or rolling the dice on some nearly (but not quite) vertical snow pile is more remarkable. To those people I say: think what you will, but the numbers do not lie.

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MINNESOTA FATS (V10) QUANTUM FIELD ‘Not much point in spotting, might as well just stand here with my arms folded amd wait for the train wreck.’ Undeterred, Zac Orme hustles his way through the slippery exit moves on this no-fall problem. Unsurprisingly, this problem has only had a few repeats. PHOTO: DEREK THATCHER

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T HE T W IN TE A TS OF

NIC BENDELI

CLIMBING MOUNTS KILIMANJARO

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AFR ICA SALPARADIS

AND KENYA

BY NIC BENDELI

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M OUNT KILIM AN JARO The email from Julian was simple in its message: ‘We’re looking for an adventurous soul or two who might like an all-expenses-paid trip to Africa’.

Treading upon snow on the equator holds a fascinating attraction.

The contrast between equatorial jungle and snow-clad summits is a magnet to involvement. I had been offered a caretaking position for three months and thence leave to roam in Africa with a guaranteed ticket home. This was a definite signal to play and tick off a couple of dreams.

The standard route itineraries on Mt Kilimanjaro (5895m) are organised to minimise time spent on the mountain as the daily fees imposed by the Tanzania National Parks Authority are enormous. These quick trips might reduce costs but they often result in climbers not summiting, and sometimes even dying. The word amongst the porters is that approximately 20 people per year die of altitude issues or, more accurately, lack of acclimatisation. A definite proportion does not summit due to fatigue or acute mountain sickness.

I had the time and the means to afford a more leisurely and pleasurable ascent. The safari company I used organised a private safari as I wanted a gentler pace and a rest day for recovery prior to summiting. I ignored the suggestions for timings and did it my way.

Moshi is the more economical centre of Tanzania for Kilimanjaro ascents compared to exclusive Arusha. The town of Moshi was dry, hot, dusty and the view of snowy Kilimanjaro from my hotel window belied the dryness, heat and dustiness. The safari started at the Machame gate with the regulatory weigh-in of the porters’ loads. It was interesting to note that the maximum weight allowed was 18kg whereas Sherpas regularly carry 30kg, over more difficult terrain.

The upward path was well traced and progressed through some beautiful jungle landscape, arriving at the tree-line at 3000m and the first camp. The novelty of the experience and the dense tree cover minimised impact with other trekkers and made it a comfortable social outing.

During the night I got an altitude headache as a result of the rapid ascent. I had to walk slower and ensure that I took Diamox to help.

It worked and I was able to continue to the campsite at the edge of the snowline (at 4000m). The conga line of trekkers became evident over the mostly barren landscape. The continuous line of walkers and porters stretched the length of the ridge and proceeded slowly. We continuously overtook other groups and arrived at the campsite in good time to secure a good site. I relaxed and watched a beautiful sunset while the cook and porters busied themselves with camp chores and produced a respectable meal.

It snowed overnight and the porters were uneasy. ‘It is unusual to have snow at this height at this time of the year,’ explained the guide.

Naturally the porters were anxious given their poor clothing and mostly

non-existent warm gear. Their defence against the cold was to crowd together in one tent and keep warm with body heat during the night.

Gradually they would thaw out and we would repeat the previous day’s activities. We continually overtook other parties as they slowed down to ascend to 4600m and then descended to the next campsite, back at 4000m. Sanitation was starting to become an issue. The occasional squat toilets had to accommodate hundreds of developed-world guests, and required good aim, being much smaller target than many were used to. The surroundings were putrid and produced impressions of abandonment, profiteering and maladministration by the Parks Authority.

The guide showed his lack of knowledge of acclimatisation when he tried to change our itinerary. The arrangement was very clear at Moshi that we would ascend to the last camp at 4800m, rest a full day and then start our summit-bid. During the trek he wanted to break the fifth day into two half days instead of a normal day and a rest day. It took some bargaining and convincing to change his mind. The routine that he was used to was re-organised and he was uncomfortable with the idea. Eventually he agreed to stick to the original plan and we proceeded to the top camp to spend the night there, relax the following day, recover and then go for the summit push.

At 1:00 am my alarm sounded and I readied for an alpine start. We had agreed to move at 1:30 am rather than the usual time of 11.00 pm.

‘Bwana, you are faster than the other people, we can sleep more,’ our guide had claimed. At 1:30 am I became concerned because breakfast was still missing and our guide had not appeared. ‘He is still asleep and we are waking him up now,’ one of the porters informed me. After a quick breakfast, and trying to calm down my negative impressions of the guide, we started. The lamps of the previous parties showed a clear line of ascent towards the rim of the caldera. Slowly, slowly, slowly we started to overtake people. Party after party were left behind as we gradually ascended. The guide wandered upwards with his hands in his pockets and no pack or emergency equipment. There was no point in arguing or discussing anything with him. He had his ways and I had mine. Maybe this is why there are so many fatalities on the mountain, I thought. I carried food, liquid and spare gear in case.

We arrived at the rim well in advance of our anticipated schedule.

We were one of the first groups to summit that day. Our guide was jubilant, ‘I have never been up the mountain so quickly,’ he said and then became crestfallen when we had to wait half an hour for the first ray of sunrise and the obligatory early-morning photographs. The wind was blowing at 30km/h and the temperature was –10°C. He was lightly clad, was gradually getting cold and was highly uncomfortable when standing still. He greatly appreciated the gloves, parka and foam mat that I lent him. He sat behind a rock for shelter whilst I roamed with joy at summiting and the glory of dawn’s colours on the snows of Kilimanjaro.

LEFT Conga line of climbers on Mt Kilimanjaro. RIGHT Moonset on the southern glacier on Mt Kilimanjaro. BOTH PHOTOS: NIC BENDELI

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Mt Kilimanjaro. MICHAL BEDNARAK

beta

Maps Wikipedia provides a good overview of Kilimanjaro. Check kilimanjaroroutes.com or climbmountkilimanjaro.com for an overview map of Mt Kilimanjaro. The approach starts from one of two towns: Arusha or Moshi.

Equipment Kilimanjaro is high and can be windy. Expect temperatures to –10°C and a definite windchill. Trampers experienced in New Zealand winter conditions should have adequate experience and clothing. Do not underestimate the effects of the cold, especially when coupled with low oxygen. Thick mittens, windproofs and light down jackets are a blessing. No technical climbing equipment is required.

Season Tanzania and Kenya are close to the equator and have two seasons: a wet season (November to May) and a dry season.

Note that during the wet season there is a dry spell mid-February to mid-March.

Health Malaria and other diseases are endemic. Take precautions against mosquitoes as well as the usual sanitary precautions for cooking and water. Double-check that the cooks wash their hands and boil water properly. Quality restaurants in towns are usually fine.

Climbing The standard route on Kilimanjaro is a well-defined tramp. However, a guide and porters are obligatory. Your tour operator will organise it all. Note that the guides are guides in name only and carry no qualification standards, unlike in New Zealand. Be wary and use your judgement based on your experience in New Zealand.

Tour organiser I recommend contacting Amanda from africanscenicsafaris.com. Amanda is an Australian who married a Tanzanian and she now runs the business while her husband guides.

Other info Visas are obtainable at the border as you enter the country. There is a fee. Check for updates on the internet before you go.

The standard currency is the Tanzanian shilling (Kenyan shilling in Kenya). American dollars are preferred. Do not bring NZ dollars. Money can be extracted from ATMs at a US$400 per day limit. You can be lucky, by swapping banks, to get more than $400 per day. Usual credit cards such as VISA and MasterCard work well.

Civil security is good and at no stage did I feel threatened. Check prior to your trip in case there is a coup.

A good hotel room is NZ$25 a night. Meals are less than NZ$10. Delicious fruit juice is NZ$1. Consider that most things will be half-price compared to New Zealand.

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beta

Mount Kenya from the south-west. Batian is the peak on the left and Nelion is on the right, with the famous Diamond Couloir between them. WIKIMEDIA CREATIVE COMMONS CC-BY-SA 3.0

Maps Wikipedia provides a good overview of Mt Kenya, including a good map. The approach starts from Nanyuki.

Equipment Mt Kenya will require general mountaineering equipment such as axes, crampons, harness and a light set of nuts, slings and cams for protection. These are available for hire at reasonable prices. Hiring will save you from carrying mountaineering equipment in steamy Africa.

Season See Kilimanjaro info.

Health See Kilimanjaro info.

Climbing Mt Kenya can be self-guided and the trails are well defined. Strong, experienced parties can ascend the South East ArĂŞte of Nelion in a day. Otherwise plan for two days with a possible bivouac half-way up. The standard route is complex regarding route-finding. An experienced guide can dramatically reduce the time to a good day out. The standard descent route is well bolted for single rope abseils, however the stations are not evident.

If you choose a guide, ensure that you get a well qualified and experienced guide. Charles Kimanthi (Tel: +254721222762) was recommended to me by Chris Mbogo and he was very good. Some others are amateurs and semi-experienced New Zealand mountaineers will quickly find worrying faults in their techniques.

Tour organiser Chris Mbogo at africaclimbing.com was extremely helpful and very efficient in responding. He obtained an experienced guide for me.

Other info See Kilimanjaro info.

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M OUNT KEN YA Mt Kenya (5199m) is a lower mountain than Kilimanjaro and technically much more demanding. The easiest route (the South East Arête of Nelion) is graded at 5.7/5.8 rock and is 500-metres long. It’s quite different to the gradual scree slopes of Kilimanjaro. Acquiring a guide who was rock climbing-competent was going to be difficult given the typical inflation by locals as to their abilities. Many emails were sent back and forth with the safari company before the decision to employ Charles was made. He had some training in Austria, was a member of the rescue team on Mt Kenya and had made innumerable ascents of Mt Kenya. At least this implied he would know the way.

We met at Nanyuki and proceeded to hire crampons, ice axes, mountaineering boots and planned the logistics. ‘Nanyuki’? The name was familiar, but why? Eventually I remembered Felice Benuzzi’s attempt to climb Mt Kenya, an attempt made in a spirit of liberty during his internment in a nearby WWII Italian POW camp.1 It’s a rather heartening story with a great ending. The British commander was bemused by the escape and forgave Felice for his mountaineering escapade attempt. Time had moved on and the locals did not know about the POW camp.

I was relatively fit, acclimatised and well-fed compared to Felice.

The trek through the park was a contrast in administration, policies and touristic encumbrance compared to Kilimanjaro. The daily fee was lower, there was the distinct possibility of seeing elephants and wild game, the tracks were maintained, the huts were welcome shelters after a day’s trekking and the long-drop toilets were much cleaner as a result of the low tourist numbers. Over three days we walked through valleys and scree slopes to arrive at Austrian Hut (4780m), by the Lewis Glacier. The landscape was photogenic and always dominated by the massive plug of the twin summits of Mt Kenya.

Our summit day dawned clear and still as we progressed across the Lewis Glacier. The glacier was old ice, very pitted with small debris and a definite coarse cheese-grater surface. We arrived at the base of

the climb at the same time as another guided group. Charles was the senior guide and thus held the privilege of starting first. He marked the occasion by lighting a cigarette and puffing away as he climbed. We had agreed to set belays and climb properly rather than simul-climb tethered together. The climbing was easy but I was cautious. We gradually rose up easy terrain at a grade of 5.3. Each belay was marked

by Charles lighting a new cigarette and enjoying the downtime while he gathered the slack.

Halfway up the climb Charles mentioned that we were climbing too slowly to summit, traverse the Gates of Mist, and return to the start of the abseils and complete our descent in a single day. The climbing was going to increase in difficulty and our ice gear would be superfluous.

We could leave it to be retrieved on the descent and continue. I was disappointed; however, Charles knew better. We continued upwards and the terrain steepened. The difficulties increased but were always within my ability and we maintained a smooth progress. Eventually the summit was achieved. ‘We arrived early. We did not slow down in the harder sections and we have plenty of time to traverse and return,’ Charles said. Unfortunately the necessary ice tools were lower down the mountain. Fifteen single-rope abseils later we were back at the base and walking across the glacier to return to the hut.

The walk out was uneventful and easier compared to the onslaught on the knees on Kilimanjaro. The famous Diamond Couloir slowly came into view, an emaciated ice line curving up the mountain’s face. The ice line was a thin and dangerous streak in the African sun. Global warming has played havoc on Mt Kenya and the surrounding glaciers are receding dramatically. The trekking guide mentioned that in the ten years that he had been guiding, the Lewis Glacier had shrunk by half. The couloir was now closed and climbing was forbidden. I continued down the trail, reflecting on my adventure and dreaming of new ones.

1

No Picnic on Mt Kenya. By Felice Benuzzi. EP Dutton, 1953.

LEFT Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance, viewed from the South East Arête of Nelion at dawn. NIC BENDELI RIGHT Austrian Hut, with Nelion behind. The South West Ridge is in profile on left. The South East Arête can be seen in full, running left to right and starting at the toe of the buttress (just above the hut’s aerial). MEHMET KARATAY

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KIWI WORDS JONNY BOWMAN PHOTO TROY MATTINGLEY

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I DEATH MATCH a t al e of su p e r s t i t i o n a n d i n t r i gue THE HYPNOTIC pulse of white lines under the wheels gave way at last to the orange glow of a town—pavements, parked cars and an intersection. A building on the corner winked at them.

‘The Mussel Inn? I thought that was in Golden Bay somewhere … ’ ‘The place must be new. Wanna give it a try?’

‘Yeah why not. If nothing else, it will at least assist the morning’s dump prospects.’

The three mountaineers snickered, then clambered out of the car and shuffled towards the bizarre-looking establishment with it’s peeling weatherboards and blinking neon mussels.

‘I could have sworn this used to be just a normal Kiwi tavern,’ said Jim hesitantly.

‘Yeah, it does seem a bit strange,’ replied Justin. ‘I mean, why would you open a mussel restaurant so far from the coast?’

‘Yeah well, it beats gas station pies at least,’ finished Phil as they entered.

Inside was dimly lit, with wooden trestles and alcove seating. Mussel memorabilia crowded the lintels.

‘It’s a bit primitive,’ said John, peering through an archway in search of a staff member. His eyes met only shadows.

‘Yes. I’m beginning to think perhaps I was wrong about those pies,’ said Phil, fiddling with a mouldering cardboard menu.

‘Let’s get out of here.’

But at that moment, a waiter materialised through an archway and informed them that they were just in time and to please be seated.

Before long they were all tucking into an improbable meal of mussels. Jim and Justin ate heartily, scoffing and joking, talking about the weekend’s remote objective, a little-climbed peak, a fair hike away from a little-used roadend. ‘We’ll have to go as far up tonight as we can. I hope the route-finding’s not as bad as it looks from that photo.’

‘Nah, she’ll be right, the only way is up, right?’

‘Yeah, I guess so.’

The three returned to their mussels, the silence interspersed with the cracking of shells and the slurping of juices.

‘I thought the adventure wasn’t supposed to begin until later,’ complained Phil suddenly. Jim and Justin looked up to see a wave of horror receding from his face. This was quickly replaced by a stubborn, glum look that settled uneasily on his already hauntedlooking features. In the low light of the inn, this expression looked positively portentous.

‘What is it P-Man?’ asked Jim. ‘There’s a … There’s a crab in my mussel!’

‘What? Don’t be stupid.’ Jim and Justin could barely contain themselves.

‘Seriously. It must be some kind of parasite, look.’ Phil offered an open shell for the inspection of his friends. And indeed, inside the shell, attached somehow to its host, was a small, transparent, gelatinous crab. ‘I’m not getting a good feeling here guys,’ Phil muttered self-consciously, his eyes cast downwards.

‘Maybe it’s another omen P-Billy.’ Justin’s rebuke was delivered in a mock-ghostly murmur. His Action Man-like features were rendered cruel by his words and the light.

His eyes searched out laughter in Jim’s face as he continued. ‘Maybe it’s like the time you refused to buy a Grigri because it was named after voodoo magic. Or wait, no, yes that’s it, I remember’—He was warming to his mockery. ‘Maybe it’s like the time you dreamed of tomatoes and thought one of us was going to die. Or the time you stayed in a snow cave because you couldn’t muster up a suitable dump that morning. So let’s see now. What’s this a sign of?’ he asked, squinting at the culinary oddity. ‘Does the shell represent some kind of prison? Does the crab signify … ’ ‘Come on Justin, give the lad a break,’ Jim cut in at last, his features obscured beyond the candlelight. ‘You’ve got your own superstitions. You’re very particular about your gear, won’t buy it off TradeMe. “Dead men’s gear,” I think you call it.’

‘Yes, but I don’t let that get in the way of my objectives. Even if that were a superstition, which it’s not, I don’t have to worry about it when I’m on a climb.’

‘But you’re always on about trusting your gut when it comes to the conditions. Isn’t that a form of superstition?’

‘No. That’s a reasoned sensory response. Superstitions have no basis in reality.’

‘So you’re telling me that when you were in the Himalaya you weren’t moved by the prayer flags and stuff?’

‘That’s a culturally-grounded shared belief system.’

‘But the people who thought it up must have been fairly superstitious?’

‘So would you be if you were an immigrant cave-man lost in the Hindu Kush. This is the twenty-first century. You think because Phil got freaked out by a crab, tomorrow we’ll all be members of the crab cult?’

‘No that’s not what I’m saying,’ replied Jim. Justin’s arrogance was stretching the limits of Jim’s famous level-headedness. ‘All I’m saying is that there are blurred boundaries between reason, gut feelings and superstition. One man’s inherited quickdraw is another’s mussel-eating crab, if you will.’ Jim winked at Phil and flashed him a smile from behind the inscrutable haze.

‘Thanks Jim,’ said Phil, relief in his voice. ‘But you’re right Justin. I’m not going to let this get to me. This is completely rational. I once watched a whole documentary about the weird forms of parasitism found in nature. Perhaps I should mail them the crabmussel combo.’ A hint of a smile established itself on Phil’s wan features, though his fingers were still trembling.

‘That’s the spirit pal,’ boomed Justin. He scraped his chair back on the flagstone floor. ‘Now let’s get out of here or we’ll be walking all night.’

They continued driving, at first on tarmac, then on gravel, steadily winding upwards.

Phil sat in the back seat trying for some sleep. He peered out at the fog through halfclosed lids, trying in vain to zone out on the crunching of stones and the tinny beats whispering from the forgotten stereo. But his thoughts circled like vultures. He couldn’t stop thinking about the crab. Was he being a wuss? Surely Justin had doubts. Sure, they may not manifest as superstitions per se, but weren’t superstitions just innate doubts triggered by unrelated happenings? What ‘entirely reasonable processes’ triggered Justin’s doubts, he wondered. And what about good omens? Superstitions could be positive too. Climbing always involves some kind of surrender of control to the environment. Something needs to fill that void. Gods vs men. Physical vs mental. He spiralled towards dark snatches of sleep, spiders dropping down silk spun from his slumping lids.

At last their vehicle topped out through the fog. The valley was there in front of them, and their mountain, a deep black cardboard cut-out against the luminous night sky. The base of the peak was located far out of sight within the chasm’s crouching shadows.

‘Righto lads, nearly there,’ announced Jim at last. ‘Looks like a long walk in. We’ll be glad of the full moon, that’s for sure.’

Phil lagged behind. Never the fittest, he struggled more than usual to keep up with his companions, and their headtorches disappeared from time to time behind distant boulders.

‘Must be getting old,’ he thought. But he still felt young, just drained of strength by something he couldn’t pin down. The cold air had invigorated him when he first got out of the car and he thought he had put the business of the crab behind him, but perhaps he had merely internalised his demons—that would account for the extra weight he felt now. Cold sweat trickled down his neck and back, his shirt peeling and reattaching itself to his body with the rhythm of his steps. ‘Why do I always go climbing with these Energiser bunnies anyway?’ he thought. ‘Could be warm in bed with the missus right now. Oh well, no choice now but to carry on to the biv.’

He noticed that Jim and Justin had stopped up ahead, their torches scanning the outlines of an abandoned hut. He hurried to catch up and the three of them were soon reunited.

‘This isn’t on the map,’ said Jim. Phil tried to read Jim’s face, but it was washed out by the impossibly bright glare of Justin’s beam. ‘Come on mate, don’t shine that thing straight at me, I swear it’s getting like Star Wars these days with some of these modern headtorches. Head-sabres more like. Make yourself useful and shine it at that placard, I can’t read it.’ They followed the scythe of light as it cut the darkness to reveal an old sign on the door.

WYN WIN UT brave m n in the spirit of adv RIP 94 ‘Huh?’ ‘What?’

The three stood pondering this riddle, hunched in mutual perplexity within the shifting margins of torchlight. ‘It’s another sign,’ joked Justin at last.

‘Ha bloody ha,’ Jim intoned as he made to try the door, rattling the rusty handle as condensation billowed from his mouth.

A voice from within: ‘Who’s there?’ All three recoiled at the voice, which was accompanied by a clanking, shuffling sound. The combined power of their torches on the door reflected light almost too bright to look at. The only other visible shapes were

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the seething plumes of their own breath. For Phil, the scene conjured up memories of sci-fi films, when the spaceship doors open to reveal a bright interior. Except now the shining portal was edged on three sides by expanding slits of darkness as the door began slowly to open. Phil glanced at Jim and Justin, looking for signs of the fear that was beginning to grip him, but all was obscured by light and fog. ‘Come in, come in, what do you weary travellers want at this hour? Great Scott!’ came the voice again as a figure appeared in the doorway.

‘He looks like some sort of relic,’ thought Phil to himself at last, once they had been ushered into the hut. He and the others sat down, their sweat warming in the fug. They sat in silence and stared at the inhabitant, who rummaged through a pile of discarded polythene bags in a corner.

‘Check this dude out, he looks like Bachar,’ Justin whispered loudly, his sides creasing. ‘Love the lycra, mate,’ he tried, but the occupant merely glanced at them with gimlet eyes through unkempt locks before continuing with his search.

‘Yo Justin, check out the rack bro,’ chuckled Jim. He pointed to a nylon sling of allmetal Friends and strung hexes that were laid out neatly on a table by the door. He and Justin struggled to contain their laughter. Phil had started to notice other things: woollen socks hung over a piece of wire by the fireplace, an oily anorak over the back of a chair, a canvas steel-framed backpack with an ancient ice axe and crampons attached by leather straps.

‘Been doing much climbing lately?’ ventured Justin.

‘What?’ bellowed the occupant, sending a flurry of plastic bags through the air as he swiped his arm towards them. ‘Arr, there it is!’ he said, grabbing a paper bag from underneath where he had been searching. Animated now, he jumped into a crouch and pulled back a curtain under his bunk: ‘Here keekeekeekeeeearrr … ’ he cooed gutturally, shaking the bag like a rattle. ‘Here keekeekeeearrrr …’ He turned his body towards the cubby-hole, took some pellets out of the bag and placed them in the palm of his outstretched hand. ‘There’s a good boy. It’s just some visitors, that’s all. Nothing to be afraid of.’ Justin, Jim and Phil looked on in amazement as a kea stepped out into the room and

Eventually they reached the corrie. ‘See pal, I told you we weren’t doomed,’ said Justin to Phil. The way up had been easier than Phil had expected, but he was desperate to get some sleep before the big climb ahead. So it was to his dismay that Jim suggested pushing on through the night.

‘If we slept we’d only get a couple of hours anyway, it’s that late. And besides, the climbing will be easy with this moon, not to mention fun.’

‘Yeah, let’s do it,’ replied Justin breezily.

Bloody Energiser bunnies, thought Phil to himself, and then out loud, ‘Nah, you guys push on, I’ll stay here I think, just take it easy.’

‘Are you sure mate? You’re not still freaked out by that weirdo are you?’

‘No. I’m just really tired, that’s all. My gut feeling is to stop here and rest while you two machines carry on up. It’s a beautiful spot anyway, I’ll just sift. You guys can wave to me from the top.’

‘Well if you’re sure. It’s up to you.’

Phil said nothing more, allowing the other two to finish their preparations for the climb and disappear into the night with a curt farewell.

At first he was cold, sitting with his back against a rock, willing the sun’s rays to arrive and warm his bones. Too cold to sleep, but not cold enough to bother with the sleeping bag, he waited patiently as shoals of thoughts swam across his brain, leaving in their wake images of crabs, riddles and apparitions. He couldn’t remember feeling so emotional on a trip. Was he really just a victim of superstition? Or was someone or something really trying to tell him something? These questions broke, repeatedly, like waves in his mind. At length daylight arrived, but the sun brought no warmth.

Then he was restless, so set off up the hill towards an outcrop that seemed to promise good views. It turned out to be an excellent perch, an incut ledge surrounded by tumbling jagged rock. A proper eyrie, he thought, and admired the vista with heightened senses. He recognised the clumsy dives and stalls of a flock of rock wrens, their tail-less bodies halfway down the evolutionary spiral to flightless status. He’d heard they were pretty rare and that you should report sightings to the authorities.

WYN WIN UT B RA VE M N IN THE S PIRI T O F A D V RIP 94 began pecking nonchalantly at the offered titbits. The hut’s mysterious human denizen withdrew completely into his admiration of the bird, oblivious to his guests, who shuffled awkwardly.

‘Er, excuse me mate,’ said Jim to the huddled figure. ‘What’re our chances of finding our way up the first set of bluffs in the dark? We were hoping to biv in the corrie tonight.’

Finally, once the kea had had its fill, the man looked up. He placed his knuckles on the floor and pushed himself out of his crouch, unfolding himself towards them. ‘Come again night-faring traveller? Your question?’ He inhaled sharply, infusing his lank frame with stale hut air, and shivered. He eyed Jim insistently.

‘Er, we’re just wondering if you could help us with a bit of route-finding?’

‘Rocks! Ice! Gaping zawns await ye there! Stay here the night, and tomorrow will see you safely back to your wagon.’

‘Have you never been to the corrie before? We thought you might know your way around this place,’ said Justin hopefully, mirth still suffusing his angled features.

‘I could tell ye to follow the less-loud stream unto the forked boulder, at which point ye strike out along the line of least resistance, taking care always to keep the Dog Star beneath the horizon, but then ye’d all be doomed!’ he roared.

‘Oh God,’ said Phil.

‘Leave God out of this!’ howled the apparition. With lightning speed he lunged for the shelf and propelled a tin of tomatoes across the hut at Phil, who ducked. Justin and Jim watched on as the tin hit the doorframe and burst with a wet, crumpling thud, squirting its contents at high pressure. Now the kea attacked them, screeching and grasping and pecking at the climbers’ tomato-spattered faces. A flurry of enraged wings drove them backwards from the hut and into the night.

‘Good God, what was that?’ asked Phil fumbling with his headtorch. ‘That guy shouldn’t … shouldn’t … be there.’ He trembled with agitation as he sought the lights of his friends, which came on, one by one. The three of them regrouped at last.

Jim attempted to reason with Phil. ‘He’s a fruitcake alright, but what do you expect when you venture this far from anywhere? I bet there’s a whole heap of folk like him living like that out there, somewhere, like here.’

‘Whatever,’ Phil cut in. ‘At the end of the day, he’s full of shit. I mean seriously, we’re doomed?’

‘Doooooooomed,’ moaned Jim. ‘Guys, cut it out,’ implored Phil. ‘Let’s just get out of here okay?

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The walls of his eyrie warmed in the sun. Justin and Jim would be a while yet. He’d just nap for a bit, he thought. Finally, he slept.

Two bear-sized kiwi circle each other in the dark depths of a dusty pit. Phil looks on helplessly as a dishevelled adjudicator appears at a crab-shaped lectern and reads from the rules of the death match that is about to ensue. ‘The time has come for one of you to pay the ultimate price for your actions,’ he concludes. Flashbulbs go off, revealing rivers of tinned tomatoes flowing down the earthern walls behind. The kiwi circle faster and faster, their enormous feet kicking up dust, their powerful necks seeking advantage in the combat. With a vicious snarl, one lunges at the other, its beak scything through feathers.

‘Phil, Phil mate, what’s the matter?’

‘What? How? Where? What time is it anyway?’ asked Phil, trying his best to conceal his lingering terror. He was back on his perch, he noted, and Jim and Justin had appeared in a flash of heat and brightness the instant he woke. ‘It’s like an oven in here,’ he gasped.

‘It’s time to go,’ said Jim seriously. ‘You’re lucky we came down this way. We might have missed you. What are you playing at, wandering off and falling asleep?’

‘I’m sorry, it was only supposed to be a nap. It got … extended.’

Jim and Justin rolled their eyes at each other as Phil got himself together. ‘How was the climb?’ he asked at last. ‘Did you get to the top?’

‘Yeah, no worries at all mate. It was mint. You should have come.’

Phil looked up at the pair and looked them over. They seemed real now. He could see the sweat on the brows and the stubble on their chins. ‘I guess that fella in the hut had it all wrong then,’ he laughed unconvincingly.

‘Hut Phil? Which hut?’ asked Jim looking concerned again.

‘You know, the one last night, the one with the ghost of John Bachar?’

Justin tapped Phil’s forehead moronically. ‘What are you talking about mate? You must have had a weird dream while we climbed that hill, eh?’

‘No, yeah, no. You’re right, it must have been,’ said Phil, and he dropped the matter. He fell into step some way behind his companions, who had set off rapidly down the steepening bluffs. ‘No point worrying about it now,’ he thought. ‘A slip here could be fatal.’ He focused on the task at hand, getting down the way he had come, and soon they were all back down in the valley and feeling alive with sights and sounds unimagined the night before. As they passed the spot where the ghostly Bachar’s hut had been, Phil vowed never again to mention a word of it to Jim or Justin.

STUFF YOU NEED

EDELRID JAY HARNESS

SPIRIT EXPRESS Just better to clip with....

Photo © Kalice

EDELRID IS one of the oldest climbing gear manufacturers in the game (1863). They made the first commercially available climbing harness in 1965, so you’d expect them to get it right. I have been using their middle-of-the-line rock harness, the Jay, for several months now and have been consistently impressed with the performance of this harness.

The harness packs a number of nice features into a comfortable, user-friendly package. It has all the standard features of a rock harness: four nicely sized, stiffened and appropriately placed gear loops, speedlock buckles on the waist and legs and a clip-in point at the back for a haul line or chalkbag, although it’s not a full strength haul loop. There are a few points that set the Jay apart from other harnesses in its class. The most notable feature is a plastic tie-in protector. This feature (only found on Mammut and Edelrid harnesses) is a piece of moulded plastic that fits over the leg tie-in loop to protect it from abrasion—a pretty simple and ingenious little device for protecting a high-wear point on harnesses. It doesn’t weigh much—I’ve never noticed it while using the harness—and if you really hate it, you can take it off. The other really nice feature is the moveable waistband—the strength of the harness comes from a bit of webbing that tunnels through the foam waist belt which allows the waist belt to be positioned so that the belay loop and the gear loops can always be centred, no matter how tight or loose the waist belt needs to be cinched. The four gear loops are a nice size for a full trad rack and are spaced appropriately.

Climbing, falling and hanging in the harness are all comfortable, but it is by no means a harness I’d like to have too many hanging belays in.

And now for a few niggling complaints. The speed-lock buckles are hard to loosen sometimes and, due to big plastic tabs on the ends of each bit of webbing, cannot be un-threaded if you’re putting the harness on over boots or skis. The sizing seems to run a bit large—I have comfortably worn a medium harness in every other brand I’ve owned but I’m only just big enough to fit the medium in the Jay. If I were to get another Edelrid harness, I would buy a small. There are no slots for plastic racking carabiners. I know this harness isn’t intended to be a winter harness, but surely it costs and weighs virtually nothing to add this bit of functionality to a harness. All harnesses should have these slots, but I digress. At 470 grams, this is not the lightest harness out there and is rather bulky when packing. The haul-loop on the back of the harness is just big enough to clip a carabiner into, but it’s not bar-tacked in. I wouldn’t trust it to hold much more than a chalkbag.

If I needed to have something heavy hauled behind me (like a rope), I would clip it somewhere else.

The bottom line: Edelrid doesn’t disappoint with the Jay. There’s nothing ground-breaking here, but this is a nice all-around harness. It has a number of excellent features like the sliding waist-belt and tie-in protector and does a good job with the standard features. This harness is definitely worth a look for anybody in the market for an all-around rock harness. The price is a little bit steep, however.

www.petzl.co.nz

Edelrid Jay harness. Available from adventureshop.co.nz. RRP $139.90. HHH H –Graham Johnson

ELIOS

IF YOU are thinking about getting one of these watches please note that the Suunto Ambit2 has only latitude and longitude navigation data, which is difficult to use with Topo50 maps.

Please email ambit@suunto.com to request an update with NZTM Datum.

Photo © Kalice

SUUNTO AMBIT2 GPS WATCH

Durable protection, with climate control.

www.petzl.co.nz

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STUFF YOU NEED

POWERTRAVELLER SOLARMONKEY ADVENTURER SOLAR CHARGER WHEN I was asked to test and review the Powertraveller Solarmonkey Adventurer (let’s just call it the Monkey), I immediately thought of one of those wind-up monkeys that stamp their feet and clap cymbals together. That’s not something I really wanted to review, but a little bit of research informed me that the Monkey was a portable solar panel, in the middle of Powertraveller’s simian-named solar panel range. I had an expedition coming up and thought the Monkey would be perfect for charging my iPod as we lounged in base camp.

When it arrived, I was pleased to find that the Monkey was two lightweight panels (weighing 265 grams total), which fold down to about the size of a book.

A handy padded carrying case, as well as several different types of adapters (for iPods, cameras, mobile phones and more) was included. The carrying case is padded and has a little pocket to store the charging cable. There is a line of daisy chains and some loops on the back of the carrying case so you can attach the Monkey to the outside of a backpack to charge the battery while you walk—a pretty handy feature.

There is one USB port on the panel that the adapters plug into, covered by a rubber flap for weather resistance. The unit feels robust and claims to be very weatherproof, although the rubber flap doesn’t seal very securely. I accidentally tested this out on the first day by leaving the Monkey outside in the pouring rain overnight. In the morning, the Monkey was wet but still worked perfectly. When the unit is charging, a small red light shows, and when the unit is fully charged, a small green light shows. The charging light lights up almost anytime the device is opened up during the day, regardless of direct sun or not.

It probably isn’t charging as efficiently as it would in direct sun, but still charging on a cloudy day is better than not charging at all. I won’t

bog this review down with the technical details of wattages and amps but this size of solar panel is the perfect size for charging iPods, cameras and mobile phones. It struggles to charge larger devices like tablets, however. It can charge an iPad-sized device, but it takes quite a long time.

Charging my iPod Touch from dead to a full charge takes about two hours.

There are two things I really like about the Monkey: a) The simplicity—while my mates have to flip switches and hook up external battery packs to use their GoalZero brand solar panels, all I have to do to set up the Monkey is plug the device in. b) The internal battery—most other solar panels of this size have external battery packs that need to be purchased separately, but the Monkey has a built-in battery. This allows devices to be charged when there is not direct sunlight. This internal battery stores enough power to recharge my iPod Touch two or three times, which was perfect for long flights and long layovers in airports where I didn’t have a chance to re-charge the Monkey’s battery. Another cool feature is that you can plug the Monkey into any USB port and charge the internal battery directly (in case you live in a cave where the sun never shines) so you can start your trip with a full charge. The Monkey can also re-charge itself while charging whatever device is plugged into it, and it automatically adjusts the charging rate for the device being charged. I don’t know how that works, but it adds up to the Monkey being fantastically simple for the user.

The bottom line: with all the electrical devices we bring into the hills these days, a solar panel is an essential piece of kit for any extended trip and this is an excellent, simple, robust and portable device. I am very pleased with it.

Powertraveller Solarmonkey Adventurer solar charger. HHHHH –Graham Johnson

READY-TO-EAT INDIAN MEALS I CAN’T say that when I started out I was very adventurous with my backcountry meals. I stuck to rather boring, but cheap and easy, meals like Lipton’s Sidekicks or instant mashed potato and cheese in my early years. Several years ago, however, I discovered a line of readyto-eat (not dehydrated and already cooked) Indian meals that have now eclipsed my previous choices of backcountry meals. There are a number of different brands available—I currently have MTR, Gits, Haldiram’s, Priya and Pattu brands in my pantry. Under the different coloured cardboard packaging, these meals universally consist of a foil packet containing about 300g of some delectable Indian cuisine. I can’t find much difference between the brands. Depending on where you buy them, they cost between $2.50 and $4 per packet. Most Indian and Pakistani grocery stores have them, although I originally discovered them on the shelves of a New World supermarket. They are all 100 per cent vegetarian and completely preservative free. I have tried over 20 dishes and the ingredients list on each different dish I have tried reads like a list of actual ingredients. There are no chemical preservatives and no food colouring, just vegetables and spices. Not all of the dishes are amazing—I definitely prefer some dishes over others, and you will have to do some experimenting to see which ones are your favourites.

My favourite flavours are the Dal Makhani and Ramja Masala. There is a ‘spice meter’ on each package indicating, by a number of chili peppers, how spicy each meal is. I have found this is not always accurate, or maybe the spectrum of ‘mild’ is quite wide. Because these meals are already cooked, you can eat them straight out of the foil packet if you are short on fuel or water. I prefer to make some rice or instant 52

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mashed potatoes to put them on as a filler.

With enough filler you can easily stretch one packet between two hungry people.

While some might argue that carrying ready-made dinners in the mountains makes for unnecessary weight, I like the simplicity, quality of food and ease that these meals offer. It’s true that these meals are heavier than the average dried meal, but I think the fact that these are real food, taste great (mostly) and are super-easy to prepare wins out. Simply plop the whole foil packet into a pot of water, bring to a boil and you’ve got a hot meal, plus all the water you’ve just boiled to use for a hot drink, rehydrating mashed potatoes, or whatever. Compare that to the powdered, artificial taste of most backcountry meals and the cleaning of pots and I’ll pick one of these Indian meals every time.

Bottom line: these are tasty, cheap, real-food, backcountry meals that are quick and easy to prepare. They are an easy way to bring real food into the hills. While they are heavier than dehydrated options, they are much tastier, arguably healthier and are a welcome break from the monotony of other similarly priced options. I even eat them at home sometimes!

Ready-to-eat Indian meals. HHHHH –Graham Johnson

BOOKS AND FILMS

CONDITIONING FOR CLIMBERS: THE COMPLETE EXERCISE GUIDE

By Eric Hörst Reviewed by Nic Learmonth AMERICAN CLIMBER Eric Hörst sets himself—and his reader—some hefty goals in his Conditioning for Climbers: The Complete Exercise Guide. With a comprehensive climber’s self-analysis test, a string of exercises—to warm up and to increase flexibility, base conditioning, core strength, finger strength, upper body strength, antagonistic muscles conditioning, endurance and stamina, and strategies for weight loss—together with illustrative photos, and a full run-down on training programmes, this 208-page book is fairly bursting at the seams. But if anyone can pull off a project like this, it’s Hörst.

Eric Hörst (pronounced ‘hurst’), the pen behind the pain in this book, is well positioned to write a how-to as complete—and as gruelling—as Conditioning for Climbers. Since he started climbing, back in nineteen-sev–[cough],1 Hörst has put up some 450 first ascents, mostly in the eastern USA, written a virtual library of books and articles on climbing performance, and developed and utilised many training tools and programmes for climbers. He is also the inventor (and non-too-subtle promoter) of the Hypergravity Isolation Training (HIT) grip-training method. Now at an age where any shortcuts or calculated physiological abuses will start to show, Hörst still climbs hard—nowadays for La Sportiva; he is also the online training expert for Nicros Climbing Wall Consultants. So it’s safe to say he’s a leading authority on climbing performance training.

Hörst has divided the content of Conditioning for Climbers into four sections: in addition to that self-analysis test I mentioned earlier there are sections on general and climbing specific conditioning, and a section I would sum up as being on ‘training planning’. This last section is a gold mine of information on how to use all the exercises described in sections two and three, how to put together training programmes that will suit your level of expertise and weekly schedule, how to plan

your eating around your schedule and goals, and how to avoid getting injured. (This last how-to is really a re-iteration of points Hörst has made earlier in the book: don’t skip rest days, don’t forget to warm up and cool down, don’t forget to train your antagonist muscles too—you get the picture.)

There are a couple of things I want to flag before you rush off and buy this answer to your climbing dreams: First, Hörst assumes you share his goals, that means you want to climb as hard as you can. That’s not an unreasonable assumption for a how-to of this nature, but just be aware, there is no moderation in these training programmes. If you’re not aiming for world domination, you will need to add your own salt to your programme. And second, many of the exercises in this book could cause injury if you do them before your body is strong enough to handle them. Hörst does include warnings and cautions about this, but he usually places them at the end of his exercise descriptions, or even at the end of a cluster of similar exercises. So read the whole shebang on exercises and training programmes before you try launching into a regime of campusing and HIT or you will end up spending more time on the couch than a teenager with an Oprah addiction.

Get Conditioning for Climbers and get in touch with your inner-Horst!

Conditioning for Climbers: The Complete Exercise Guide. By Eric J Hörst. How To Climb Series. Guilford, Connecticut: Falcon Guides, 2008.

1

Hörst started climbing in 1977, when he was 13-years-old.

AVALANCHE AWARENESS

NEW EDITION

in the New Zealand Backcountry

New Zealand’s go-to avalanche awareness handbook is now fully updated, reflecting the best in current avalanche knowledge, applied to New Zealand’s unique mountain environment. Everyone who visits the mountains needs to have an understanding of avalanches and the threat they pose. This book provides simple strategies for identifying avalanche terrain and avalanche conditions, explains how to make wise decisions and teaches rescue techniques. Well illustrated with colour photos, diagrams, and a New Zealand regional guide, this book is an essential companion for climbers, snowboarders, skiers, snowmobilers, trampers and hunters. It also serves as a reference text for New Zealand Mountain Safety Council avalanche training courses.

photo: www.alpinerecreation.com

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FILMS BOOKS AND FILMS

SHACKLETON’S CAPTAIN Leanne Pooley, Making Movies, 2013. 85 min.

Reviewed by Charlie Catt LEANNE POOLEY’S documentary offers a refreshingly different perspective on Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Most accounts of the expedition have, understandably, been described from a rather Anglocentric viewpoint. The main focus of the documentary is on Akaroa-born Frank Worsley, who was appointed captain of the Endeavour, and without whom it is unlikely that any of the men on the expedition would have survived.

The story begins when the Endeavour sets sail from Buenos Aires. On arrival in South Georgia, Shackleton was informed by the Norwegian whalers there that the sea ice was 1000 miles further north than usual. He was advised by the whalers and by Worsley that the expedition should not proceed.

Had Shackleton heeded this advice, the story would have been very different. Presumably Worsley thought his main task was to get the Endeavour to Antarctica, but the closest they ever got was about 50 miles offshore, where the ship got stuck in the ice and eventually sank.

It was at this point that Worsley’s navigation skills really came to the fore. First of all, he was able to determine how far and in what direction the pack-ice was carrying them. Once they reached open water, it was Worsley who decided that they should head, in their three lifeboats, to the ‘tiny dot in the ocean that is Elephant Island’, rather than head for the closer South Shetland Islands. Arguably the most well-known leg of this hazardous journey was the 16 days it took to get to South Georgia from Elephant Island—a remarkable feat of navigation in appalling conditions.

It was again Worsley’s decision that they should head for South Georgia and not the Falkland Islands, which were closer.

Pooley cleverly weaves the story around a dramatised lecture that Worsley is seen giving after the expedition’s return, in 1922.

Woven into this thread are clips of a number of expert ‘talking

heads,’ including Stephen Venables and Colin Monteath, plus a number of recent shots of the raging Southern Ocean, collapsing icebergs and a few glacier-clad islands. There are further dramatised versions of events, along with stunning still and moving pictures taken at the time by the Australian photographer Frank Hurley. It is interesting to note that Shackleton realised even back then that without pictures, the sponsorship and fame he sought would not be forthcoming.

The journey is told in chronological order and the different footage styles mentioned above work together seamlessly to recount one of the great Antarctic survival stories of all time, but with a clear focus on the man who should be credited, at the very least, as an essential influence in the eventual success.

By all accounts, Shackleton was a very competent leader, and perhaps one of the best decisions he made on this expedition was to appoint Frank Worsley as his captain.

Leanne Pooley, originally from Canada but now living in New Zealand, has made a number of other documentaries on wellknown (in New Zealand) Kiwis, including the Topp Twins and the choreographer Douglas Wright. At the time of writing this review her latest work, Beyond the Edge, is showing at the Toronto Film Festival. The central character of that film is a Kiwi who needs no introduction.

Shackleton’s Captain is available as a digital download (£10) from steepedge.com.

LIFE ON HOLD Nick Brown and Richard Sharpe, Outcrop Films, 2012. 71 min.

Reviewed by Simon Waterhouse LIFE ON HOLD is a British bouldering film. I’ll be honest: I had low expectations about this film—the trailer features some arty timelapses set artfully to that M83 track that everyone uses in film trailers, followed by footage of some thrutching Brits.

This film has it all: big boulders, little boulders, wet boulders, boulders that you don’t top out on, and boulders covered in moss.

However, Life On Hold is essentially devoid of story or narrative, with the exception of the occasional inane rambling from a bored boulderer. Some would say this is how climbing films should be— distilled down to their very essence. In this film there is climbing and very little else.

When it comes to the action, one particularly dull soundbite partway through sums up the film nicely: I think the problem with gritstone is it’s all very short … so if you start using gear then you’ve only got one piece of gear on a route anyway, so you might as well put some pads under it and take some lobs.

This film isn’t short on lobbing Brits, which is generally what they do after all that thrutching. The boulders are often certifiably tall, and there’s plenty of tense moments, which the filmmakers use to anxiety-inducing effect.

Fortunately, half-way through, Mina Leslie Wujastyk’s appear-

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ance helps to improve things.

Unfortunately she’s gone again two minutes later.

To give the filmmakers some credit, the UK isn’t really known as a bouldering destination, but they’ve managed to make it look pretty damn good at times. The cinematography is fantastic and the climbing is technical and stylish. Life on Hold was shot over two years, and pulling together footage from that span of time is no easy feat.

One of the sections that stood out was Italian phenom Michele Caminati climbing The Angels Share (7C) which can only be described as the UK’s answer to Nasal Slip, just harder, higher and mossier.

Personally, I like a bit of narrative and human interest in a climbing film. More dedicated boulderers might enjoy this from a purely technical ‘boulderporn’ point of view, of which there is plenty.

Life on Hold is available as a digital download (£12) from steepedge.com.

THE LAST PITCH The Last Pitch: continued from page 56

described as an attempted lynching. And yet, you had a finger pointed ourselves and about the environment around us,’ you explained. At at you as an instigator by some, as if you could be used as a scapegoat times, this meant 'piggybacking' on the infrastructure already set up by for the wider issues of unrest that were threatening to undermine the big companies for their many clients, but you accepted that as part Western guiding on Everest. From all of my own experiences with of the challenge. you over the years, and from those who I had contact with in regards ‘I’m flexible with it,’ you said. ‘Maybe on summit day, I might sugto Everest, it’s clear you should be called a hero, and certainly not an gest my client uses O2. But it’s a style I like to stick to if I can.' aggressor.

This approach saw many of your clients stick with you for 20 years, And this wasn't the first time you acted heroically in the mountains. an ongoing relationship that most high-altitude guides would be jealous In 2010 you single-handedly rescued three Ukranian climbers from high of. But recently you had begun to use oxyon Makalu, before going on to complete a gen for your clients more frequently, a safety successful solo ascent. This was an amazing BUT K2 PROVED ONE CLIMB TOO concession, you explained to me. feat of strength and bravery, and yet another It's fair to say that you ruffled a few example of your endless drive and energy.

MANY. AS ALWAYS, THE LOSS SEEMS feathers over the years. Your individualistic But K2 proved one climb too many. As approach didn't always fit within the more always, the loss seems pointless. I somePOINTLESS. I SOMETIMES WONDER regimented systems of the mountain guiding times wonder at the worth of chasing our fraternity. And this was exacerbated further dreams, especially when the cost can be AT THE WORTH OF CHASING OUR on the world's highest mountains. so goddamned high. But then I remember DREAMS, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE During my research on the recent punchsomething you said to me: ‘If you know who up on Mount Everest, I was stunned to you are at any given moment, you’re more COST CAN BE SO GODDAMNED HIGH realise that some chose to try and taint your likely to be able to cope with whatever situaactions of bravery. (For those who have been tion is thrown at you.’ in an Everest news vacuum, three European Thinking of you makes me want to strive climbers had an altercation with a team of Nepalese Sherpas on the to be a better person, to step forward more often, be less afraid, or if I Lhotse Face, and were then assaulted by a large group of Sherpas am afraid, to still be able to act with that knowledge. back down at Camp 2. The three Westerners involved were high proAhh Marty … the world is a far lesser place without your energy and file climbers Ueli Steck from Switzerland, Simone Moro from Italy and enthusiasm and drive to squeeze every last, fulfilling drop out of life.

Briton Jon Griffith. Some foreign climbers and Sherpas intervened, tryRest easy mate. ing to calm the situation at Camp 2 so the three could escape through Marty and his son Denali were killed on 26 or 27 June by an avalanche as they slept in their tent at Camp 3, high on K2 in Pakistan. See page 17 for more. the Khumbu icefall to the base camp further down the mountain.

From firsthand accounts Marty was among the first to try to stop the aggrieved Sherpas from attacking the three Westerners.)

Rushing up to that group of angry men, you implored them to stop, and tried to knock the rocks from their hands. They attacked you too, but onlookers hailed you as a hero for trying to halt what could only be

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THE LAST PITCH

MARTY SCHMIDT

Marty and Denali Schmidt. SCHMIDT COLLECTION

WALKING YOUR OWN PATH

BY PAUL HERSEY AHH MARTY … reading that email felt like a knife being jammed between my shoulder blades. You and Denali had been killed on K2 by an avalanche that had blasted through Camp 3 where you were resting, waiting for your chance to finally summit the mountain that had been gnawing away on your thoughts. Last time we were in contact, soon after your climb on Everest, you had said you had big plans for K2. And you were relishing climbing with Denali, opening your son's mind to the high world you had known for decades.

Emotions and memories threatened to overwhelm me as I read the short report of your death. A long walk on a beach near home gave me time to reflect, to try and gather a faint sense of perspective through the initial shock.

In a climbing community that has had its share of larger-than-life characters, you stood taller than most. It was so many years ago now that I first met you—back in 1993 while we were both living in Christchurch. I was pretending to study at Lincoln University, and my classmate Glenn was boarding with you and your family. He said you were a hard task master at home. He reckoned he came to varsity to rest.

I remember going for runs and cragging on the Port Hills with you and having to share the babysitting of Denali and Sequoia while we took turns climbing. At five-years-old, Denali was already competent enough to clamber around safely on his own, but you would tie knots in the end of a rope around the younger Sequoia, hoping that you could complete a route before she managed to undo them and crawl away.

You offered to take us on an expedition, but Glenn reckoned you'd load our packs too much, expecting us to carry the same as the Sherpas. The tales you told of climbing overseas reminded me of the

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great expedition books I had read as a youngster. Your life seemed like one long, epic adventure.

Since then our paths have crossed a number of times, including during the terrible challenges of the Christchurch earthquakes. We both had our stories of near misses, and shared them over coffee in your broken kitchen, and over wine in our sharply-leaning lounge, each of us listening and offering support where we could. At a potluck dinner, you accidentally threw a glass of wine everywhere while retelling another expansive adventure story. I was reminded again of your intense enthusiasm for everything, along with your bottomless tank of endurance and obvious talent as a climber and guide. I felt incredibly privileged to consider you both a friend and a mentor.

Since moving to New Zealand from the United States, in 1988, you always thought of here as your home. ‘Everyone has a calling inside,’ you told me once. ‘For me it was to live here in this beautiful land.’ And you explored it piece by spectacular piece, living in various locations— sometimes out of your van—as you climbed our mountains and rocks.

One of the many things I admired about you was the philosophy you had developed over your years of guiding. In the big-money game of high-altitude guiding, the large commercial companies chase increasing numbers of clients. Ropes are fixed and piles of oxygen cylinders are cached by high-altitude Sherpas. You chose to follow a different, more difficult path. Rather than reducing the mountain to the standard of the client, you tried to raise the client’s skills to match the mountain.

No Sherpas above base camp, no oxygen and no drugs was your guiding motto. 'It’s how we grow, how we understand more about Please turn to page 55

BERNARDO GIMENEZ

Adam Ondra, L’Ètrange Ivresse des Lenteurs (9a+), Céüse, France.

FIGHTING GRAVITY

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