The Climber issue 90 preview

THE CLIMBER

SUMMER 2014/15 $9.95

90

NEW ZEALAND’S CLIMBING MAGAZINE

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF THE NEW ZEALAND ALPINE CLUB

B U G A B O O S , B.C. A U G U S T 13, 2 0 13

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ON THE COVER Jane Morris at the head of the Hoophorn valley, with the south face of Mt Sealy in the background, Aoraki Mount Cook National Park. GAVIN LANG

CONTENTS ISSUE 90

FEATURES 18 YOUR CLUB—BY THE NUMBERS Results from the 2014 NZAC Membership Survey

20 FLYING ON AUTOPILOT An account and analysis of an accident on Mount Talbot

BY KIERAN PARSONS AND REG MEASURES

24 NZAC MID-TASMAN HUT PROJECT

BY JOHNNY MCFARLANE

30 PUMP ACTION The real Kentucky experience

BY JOHN PALMER

38 HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES A rock climber takes to the mountains

BY NIC LEARMONTH

44 COOK TO FOX A traverse from Aoraki Mount Cook village to Fox township via the Low Peak of Aoraki Mt Cook and Mt Tasman

BY STEVE DOWALL

REGULARS 4 Exposure 10 The Sharp End

Comment and opinion

14 NZAC News 16 People 50 Stuff You Need 54 Books and Films 56 The Last Pitch 2

THE CLIMBER ISSUE 90, SUMMER 2014/15

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Image: John Mader

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exposure

With well-featured boulders set in grassy meadows, offering bullet stone and a setting like this, it's curious that the Hooker valley, near Mount Cook Village, isn't a more popular bouldering destination. Despite the fact local mountain guides have been bouldering here since the 19th century, and the area has been documented in more than one guidebook, pad-people are rarely seen mixing with the hordes of tourists on the flat, graded walking track that takes you past most of the blocs.

Here, John Palmer sends this un-named, three-star V6 compression problem beneath the east face of Mt Sefton.

PHOTO: MARK WATSON

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 90, SUMMER 2014/15

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THE SHARP END

KAWAKAWA RUBBISH I’VE JUST had the privilege and pleasure of introducing a group of impressionable young tertiary students to the delights of climbing at Kawakawa Bay. We kayaked over in calm conditions, and took advantage of the excellent camping and superb facilities provided by the Department of Conservation (thanks DOC).

Our students excelled at Cracks Wall, fine-tuning their natural pro placements and use of double ropes, and enjoying the excellent climbing.

One of my philosophies in regard to teaching this style of climbing is to inspire the students to do more and push themselves further. So with that in mind a mission out to the Point was called for. There is some superb climbing in this area—big committing routes in an awe-inspiring location.

You can only imagine my disgust when venturing into the caves to discover large piles of rubbish. This rubbish could only have come from climbers, climbers who have taken the time to develop new routes and have their names associated with this great climbing area.

How do I know the culprits are climbers? In the rubbish pile were old climbing shoes, an old petrol drill, mixing tubes from glue for bolting, empty Ramset boxes, a pile of half burnt foam mats and a tent. This was not your usual tramper's or hunter's equipment. The smashed alcohol bottles all over the place could have come from anyone, but seeing as the cave is just under the climbing area, it seems probable that those came from the same people.

To the people responsible, my thanks for the vision in developing such a great climbing area, but what where you thinking?! Just imagine the response the climbing community would get if the landowner found this stuff.

Come on, take responsibility and clean up after yourselves. You know who you are— your names are associated with the climbs that have recently been developed there.

I cleaned up what I could, but a sea kayak has limited space.

So I hope this letter finds its way to the appropriate people, and that a clean up could be organised. I for one would be happy (well, not really) to help.

–Stu Arnold, chief instructor, Hillary Outdoors

[Reply from Kawakawa developer Dan Head: None of the beer bottles are ours. That’s

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probably boaties or, unfortunately, one or two silly climbers. All the climbers and developers now camp in the trees since the cave-in.

We didn’t really want to venture into such an unstable area, understandably. The stuff in the other cave is from the first developers and we had actually planned a big spring-clean event for mid-October to get rid of this stuff and reclean some of the climbs that have suffered over the winters before Labour weekend and the upcoming summer season. Due to weather, this got pushed back. Another reason it’s been there for a while is the new developers are walking and biking in, instead of boating in, which would make this job easier.

ALPINE ABSEILING I WOULD like to add some points to Daniel Joll’s article on abseiling in The Climber, issue 89.

John Entwisle once told me: ‘Rule number one of abseiling is, you have to hate it!’ If you hate abseiling, you will avoid it if possible. And when you must do it, you will pay close attention and take no short cuts.

I would like to emphasise that when building an anchor, your first option must be a bombproof anchor that uses two or three pieces. Backup is redundancy only, and if you are short of gear for a long descent, a singlepoint abseil is a last resort. I know three single-point abseil-failure survivors: Steve Venables on Panch Chuli V, Hugh Nicholson on Vampire and Heather May Rhodes on the Jagged-Upham Couloir. All three had their single-point anchors fail and had near-death

learning experiences. Single-point anchors fail, especially anchors made from wires, pins, stakes, screws or cams.

You should be especially careful about abseiling off cams as they can move and fail.

Back them up if possible.

The first person down must always test that the ropes will run.

Consider adding to safety by the first person down adding runners to the abseil line that can be removed by the second person down.

The last person down should consider not using a backup prusik but rather the team should employ a bottom belay (fireman’s belay) in a attempt to make the abseil smoother and less jerky on the anchor.

Accidents do not happen without climbers. Behaviour is the key—that means taking no short-cuts. Expect the unexpected—that means accepting at least a five per cent failure rate.

There are excellent free resources out there. Do your research. The big learning I’ve gone through in recent years is that you don’t know what you don’t know. Climbers are often the worst at this and, unfortunately, far too often we suffer the consequences.

–Peter Cammell

A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE WITH ALPINE PACKS STEVE FORTUNE’S experiences with alpine packs in ‘The Evolution of the Alpine Pack,’ The Climber, issue 89, contrast with mine in two respects.

Steve writes: ‘I wanted to try using a super light pack to climb, and leave the heavy one behind at the bivvy. No options for this were available at the time, so I made up my own solution.’ Had Steve been climbing 40 years ago he probably would have bought one of Jan Cameron’s early creations (see picture).

Jan made these herself on a sewing machine at her home. She was running a cottage industry that later become Alp Sports. The day-pack weighs 490g and has a capacity of 35 litres (excluding the large throat). It’s made of Cordura, and has attachments for ice axes, crampons, and even a map flap in the lid.

Okay, it’s considerably heavier than Steve’s little self-made number (200g) but unlike Steve’s, mine is still in fine shape.

In more recent times I went on a gear-

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 90, SUMMER 2014/15

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THE SHARP END

weight reduction binge. I too went for a super light sleeping bag and minimal extra clothes on a tramp up Mt Owen. Having wandered up to the summit on a blue-sky day, my partner and I decided to set up camp for the night near the summit. We had, of course, a super-light, very small tent. Much to our surprise, a cold southerly front came through, which dumped a heap of snow. I had on every bit of clothing I’d brought and had my legs inside my old, heavy pack, but I still shivered all night.

On the next trip I took a few more clothes.

I thus turned my attention to my heavy pack. I read a very positive review in The Climber of the Black Diamond Mission 75.

It was considerably lighter than my existing pack so I bought one. On the first climb a buckle detached itself. The second trip with it involved half a day’s walk in moderate rain, and my clothing and sleeping bag got wet!

I had no pack liner—I was saving weight remember. On about the tenth trip I noticed it was showing signs of significant wear, and something else broke. It was time to move on. I bought a Macpac Ascent and have been very happy with it. It’s heavier but better in all other respects.

I still have my old heavy pack. It’s an Outside 90-litre. If anyone wants to haul a serious load, they’re welcome to it. I still have Jan’s day-pack—it’s in excellent condition.

The only modification I have made is to add a toggle to the drawstring on the throat, but I am thinking of dumping that in the interests of saving weight. I have been considering

approaching Jan to see if she’s interested in offering me some serious money for it, as a memento of the beginning of what became a big business.

–John Langley

ROCK DELUXE NORTH WELL DONE to John Palmer, Tom Hoyle and Kester Brown on the release of Rock Deluxe North.

This is an extremely professionally puttogether guidebook. The photos and phototopos are worth a particular mention—no blurry bum shots here, and all the photos make you feel like you want to get out and climb the routes. The photo-topos are first class and easy to follow. Having personally tried and failed to get a set of photo-topos together for Waipapa, I have to take my hat off to the photographer behind the topos in Rock Deluxe North. I have a passion for North Island climbing and our

vast amount of unclimbed and newly climbed areas, and this guidebook does an excellent job of showing these areas off. Having read the guide, visits to Mangorewa, Wall of Sound and a trip back to Mangakara (the Gorge) are on my hit list for this summer.

Because it is a select guide, there is always going to be debate over what should have been included and what should have been left out. As something of a new-area freak, I would have liked to have seen Castle Rock’s Quiet Earth Wall and Buck Rock included, but outside of this the selection in Rock Deluxe North is spot-on.

The only real issue I have with Rock Deluxe North is its rather unusual protocol of alphabetically listing the names of those in the first ascent parties. I do not know the rationale behind this practice but I believe it is inappropriate. I believe the widely accepted practice of listing the leader’s name first, followed by those that seconded the route is far more fair.

There are a number of reasons I believe this protocol to be better: 1. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, the first person to lead the route is the poor sod who spent days cleaning and bolting it.

Add it up: at $10 a bolt, most single-pitch climbs cost the individual $100, while multi-pitch climbs run to many hundreds of dollars. Do I put up routes to get my name in guidebooks? No. But having spent days cleaning a route and many dollars bolting it, getting someone else’s name credited feels a little bit like having

THE CLIMBER ISSUE 90, SUMMER 2014/15

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your face rubbed in it.

Listing the climbing party alphabetically completely distorts the event. Case in point: Man Overboard at K2 Crag. Rick McGregor cleaned, bolted and flashed this grade 24 climb in a day, having just turned 50-years-old. I was extremely impressed by this achievement, especially seeing as Bryce and I then attempted to follow on top-rope, taking numerous falls as we dogged our way to the top.

Somehow, just listing the route’s first ascenders as ‘Cliff Ellery, Bryce Martin & Rick McGregor’ trivialises Rick’s achievement. I could go on, but believe me there is a story like this one behind nearly every first ascent.

3. I have been in the first ascent team of over 200 routes, and, have published information for over 2000 routes online.

To date I have not had one complaint about the convention of listing the leader from the first ascent party first.

4. Looking at the guidebooks I own, I can see that they either list the leader’s name first or the first ascent party is not named. This is a common approach for select guides and one I would recommend for Rock Deluxe North.

5. I believe most readers of guidebooks assume the first person listed was the person that first led the route.

As the editor of an online rock climbing guide that is full of typos, spelling mistakes and mis-information, I know first hand just how 2.

difficult it is to get everything correct. I tire of people telling me the number of bolts, grades or descriptions are incorrect but I simply smile and correct them at the next opportunity. So I have turned into one of those people that I hide from at the crag, but there are a number of mistakes I have identified related to this issue. Some routes have the leader listed first, including Te Punga, Short Man’s Shackles and Mojo Moan. This just adds to the confusion.

I would welcome the opinions of other New Zealand climbers on this issue and I would ask NZAC to state publicly what its listing protocol is for first ascents so that those who supply information for guides are at least aware of the situation. I would also request that NZAC adopt the leader-first or not-to-name protocols for future North Island guides and maybe print an online correction for Rock Deluxe North.

Other than that, John, Tom and Kester— thank you for going to all the effort of publishing this guide. I can see you put a lot of time and effort into it and you should be proud.

–Aaron Cliff Allery (aka Cliff Ellery)

[The authors’ reply: The first ascentionist listing convention in Rock Deluxe North was chosen, after much careful thought, to achieve consistency, clarity and fairness.

NZAC does not have a listing protocol for first ascentionists, currently it is left to the discretion of guidebook authors, but is something to think about for the future.

As is to be expected, there are a few typos in the book. Thanks Cliff for pointing out three, we smiled as we made a note of them.

WANAKA ROCK a comprehensive guide to Wanaka rock climbing

An online erratum is available at: alpineclub. org.nz/product/rock-deluxe-north.]

DOGGER IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING SURE, WE all have secrets. Whether they are little white lies or imprisonable offences, we keep these character-destroying treasures locked away deep in the closet. I recently attended a Canterbury Mountaineering Club meeting, and the evening’s entertainment was 'Spill the Beans,' which comprised a bunch of mountaineers sharing their secrets about unclimbed routes. My ego-driven purpose for being there was to gather information on the next possible up-and-coming hot spots. While I uncomfortably loitered before the meeting—my sheep costume beginning to itch—a fellow climber asked me where I had been venturing lately.

I was then in a bit of a bind. Should I have responded with, 'Well, the BFFs and I have rediscovered an obscure cliff around the way, we rocked up with ladders in tow and took to the mother f**ker! Only thing is we can't climb any of the routes … so until we can muster up the courage to send these illforgotten forms of geology, they are closed projects so hands off!' Or should I simply have replied, 'Nah, not much eh. You?' –Troy Mattingley

THIS ISSUE’S PRIZE GOES TO: JOHN LANGLEY

Full colour comprehensive guide Complete coverage of areas new and old New and updated topos Over 700 routes and boulder problems 200 pages Lavishly illustrated with inspiring photography

Tom Hoyle

A joint publication between NZAC and the Wanaka Rock Climbing Club

Order online at alpineclub.org.nz

As the proud owner of this book, you are directly supporting climbing in Wanaka. All proceeds are spent on preserving access, maintaining tracks, facilities and bolts, and developing new routes and crags.

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 90, SUMMER 2014/15

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Thomas Van Den Berg on Cocaine (28) Al Cap Wanaka

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Photo: Michal Karnik Photography

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www.bivouac.co.nz THE CLIMBER ISSUE 90, SUMMER 2014/15

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