Word up from Queenstown! As before, I will forewarn that this is A CLIMBING POST!
As Robin mentionned in the previous post, we have been in the Queenstown area for about a week and a half doing various things. Happily, this area is a route climbing meca! Queenstown has numerous crags all within 20 min drive and most involve a short 20-30 min hike. Wanaka is the lazy climber's paradise with the cliffs being right on the side of the road...literally. The rock is a compact schist which is super strong and creates some amazing features on the walls.
I have spent my time climbing at Wye Creek while in Queenstown and if anyone ever comes out this way for some climbing make sure you visit this crag for a couple of days as the exposure is unbelievable. Robin and I have been lucky enough hook up with a local couple, Sally and Aaron Ford, who have done quite a bit of the development in Wye Creek. We met Sally back in Wherapapa on the North Island and climbed together at Froggat. She invited us to call on her upon our arrival and said they would give us a tour of the best sport climbing in the area. Well, we contacted her and sure enough on our second day here, we were taken to Wye Creek and instantly knew that this was a special place. The hike is a moderate uphill trek which takes you to the north facing cliffs which were still seeping from the copious amounts of snow and rain. These cliffs have everything from insane roofs to super techie faces. Continuing past the north faces, there is a water pipe which climbers must practice their balance on for about 15 meters before reaching a narrow wood walkway and handrail built on top of the pipe. This track takes you to the waterfalls and onto the south side of the valley where the cliffs receive sun all day long and are bone dry. The lower tier walls are about 30 meters high but there are numerous walls above making this area awesome for single and multi-pitch climbing. This section of the south side is predominately sport climbing but there are many awesome cracks for gear-enthusiasts.
Our local guides sent me up one classic route after another and I was loving the rock! My hands were suffering though as some of the features can be very sharp on my palmolive hands...The real treat of the first day was a roof route called Dream Thing (21)! A 7 meter horizontal roof which then turns into a perfectly vertical face. The exposure of the roof and the views of the mountains around us is definitely a reason to chill for a bit at the anchors and really take it all in!
Happily I bagged that route on my second go and then was introduced to the mother of all aretes, Aratika (23). This is a proud, slightly overhanging arete which requires the climber to clamp, hook and weave along both sides of the wall and its unrelenting until the anchors which are a full 30 meters away. I gave it one go and fully got my ass handed to me. Wish I could stay here and project it and many others.
My second day in Queenstown would not be for another week (yesterday) and I was fully prepared this time. Sally and Aaron again took me to the south side where our warm-ups consisted of beautiful face climbs and some more experiences with the famous New Zealand run-outs! These run-outs are not for the faint of heart. The climbing is not very difficult but it is unnerving not being able to see your last bolt nor being able to see the next bolt....all on a fairly vertical face...After my warm-ups I was ready to do battle with the classic roof route called Drunken Monkey (24/25). This route has EVERYTHING. Long horizontal roof, into crimps at the transition and requiring a committing knee-bar, very balancy hand-jams to clear the transition and then very technical face climbing on schist crimps. I was super-psyched to get this route on my second go. Big thanks to Aaron for all the beta on it! Our last route of the day was a slopey face climb called The Vision (24). Aaron led it and I seconded it but the route definitely won that round as we were perfecting our hang-dog skills. I'm beginning to enjoy routes which require very balancy mantles because if you blow it...you're going for a ride....
Onto Wanaka. The crags near Wanaka are conviently located right next to the road. There are parking lots to service the crags and access trails to each of the cliffs. There is some great bouldering at the Hospital Flats parking lot but we were there for the routes. My first day consisted of some classics on the Tombstone boulder which is a 20 meter vertical piece of rock which has climbing on three sides of it. The main face has some easy warm-ups (17, 18), the "side" face has one arete climb and one classic gear crack. The back side of the boulder is overhung which three hard routes on it. I opted for the middle route on the back which is perfectly named "Lung Starter" (24) (or as Robin calls it "Huff and Puff"). Big cranks to moderate sloping scoops and side pulls for most of the route and then the crux is at the top which requires some serious crimping on sidepulls, very high feet and a desperate lunge for the sloping lip...and of course topping out the route is required to access the chains. I loved this route as it got the blood flowing and the confidence up as my shoulder held up quite well. We then hauled ass over to Headbangers Arete (17) which is apparently the uber-classic route to do. It is another arete but fairly easy as it only requires laybacks the entire way up. Unfortunately the top is somewhat of a disappointment with the chains being located in a very odd location. Apparently it used to be top-out route and walk-off but as it is a "beginner" crag, chains were added for safety purposes. We then moved onto the Roadside Attraction crag for shot at another classic arete; albeit much shorter. Aretenaphobia (21) is a 15 meter sloping arete with a committing top-out. Didn't get it on my first go and was going to lower off to rest when the rain moved in. I would like to add that cleaning a route in the rain BLOWS!
Our second day in Wanaka followed an awesome hike to the Rob Roy Glacier viewpoint. The spectacular views of a mountain glacier were only enhanced by seeing pieces of the glacier fall off and avalanche down the steep slopes. The sounds of cracking ice were like gunshots reverberating off the mountain walls....SOOOOO COOOOOOOOOL!! Anywho, back to climbing. We headed back to Roadside Attraction for a quick warm-up and then I quickly dispatched Aretenaphobia. I then moved onto another "classic" route called Up Your Scud (23). What I thought was going to be an enjoyable route turned into a shit-fest. So called crimps just did not exist and I was relegated to pulling on draws to haul my ass up. HATED IT! In retrospect, it was probably not the best idea to project this route after some intense trekking to the Rob Roy Glacier earlier in the day. I called it quits after this and we headed back to Wanaka.
That's all for climbing from Queenstown/Wanaka. A HUGE THANKS to Sally and Aaron Ford who were not only the best guides one could ask for but also for being such generous hosts to Robin and I.
We're now heading to Dunedin where there will be a bit of climbing but I'm now psyching myself up for my big showdown with Castle Hill later this week. I might be missing some skin by the time we fly off this rock.
L8r!
Adam
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Queenstown, Wanaka, Fiordland and Glaciers (oh my!)
We've been delinquent bloggers, (sorry about that), so this is a fairly long post. Might be best to get a snack or a cup of tea or something before reading on ...
When we signed off our last posts, we were heading south from Golden Bay to the glaciers on the west coast of the South Island, and beyond. I mentioned a little back injury that had occurred the day before, and prevented further climbing in Golden Bay. However, as often happens, things got worse before they got better.
Last Monday, Adam and I drove from Golden Bay through to Westland (unsurprisingly, on the west coast) and stopped overnight in Punakaiki (also known as Pancake Rocks), which is nothing more than a campground, a few hostels and a pub surrounding some oddly shaped rock-formations created by the pounding of the surf on soft limestone for millions of years. It's worth getting out of the car for 10 minutes, but not much more. Unfortunately, the long drive was tough for me, and I was in a fair bit of pain when we arrived and didn't want to drive any farther. I was only comfortable lying down, so we soon went to bed. On Tuesday morning, after I got up, I was in excruiciating pain. There are no facilities in Punakaiki though, so we had to continue driving down the coast. We stopped in Franz Joseph Glacier village, another tourist-driven outpost, but one with plenty of accomodation and a health clinic. To make a long story short, we stayed two days in Franz Joseph in a very nice hostel but didn't do much of anything at all. We were fairly gloomy, pondering how badly I was injured and how much of the rest of the trip it would put in jeopardy. I got in to see a nurse about a day and a half later. She was excellent, confirmed that it was just muscle pain and nothing more serious, and basically told me to 'walk it off'. Not only did she strongly discourage further rest, (I needed to stretch and strengthen the muscles, she said) but also did not give me any good painkillers. The nurse encouraged us to move on to Queenstown as soon as possible so that I could get further examination and treatment. I had a massage later that day, which helped enormously, and Linda (with the magic fingers) explained that prescribing drugs just isn't the kiwi way. She said that if you left a clinic or hospital with a prescription, you knew you were really sick or ill, as they are relied upon only as a last resort.
If I might digress a second, while I understand this approach to antibiotics and perhaps some other drugs, what harm would there have been in giving me a few days supply of good narcotics to ease my pain? I was in excruciating pain, from a temporary, unserious injury. I fail to see the downside to making me a bit more comfortable, particularly as the nurse, the massage therapist and eventually the physiotherpist all discouraged rest? The nurse did give me some ibuprofen, but I fortunately had slight stronger painkillers in the first aid kit, that I brought for just such an occasion. I wanted more (to replenish my depleting supply) and stronger ones, but that was not to be. Lesson to self: Bring lots of prescription painkillers when travelling, you never know when you might need them and whether you'll be able to get them when you want them!
Back to the story ... on Wednesday, we did go for a few short walks around Franz Joseph Glacier, as encouraged, but the weather was nasty (we got hailed on!) and the visibly was awful, so we couldn't even get much of a view of the eponymous glacier. On Thursday, we drove from Franz Joseph Glacier to Queenstown, which took all day because we stopped every 30 km or so to check out the various viewpoints and to let me stretch. The weather that morning finally broke, and we went back to the Franz Joseph glacier viewpoint before driving onwards, and Adam finally got to see the mountains that had been hiding behind clouds for more than 2 days. Down the road in nearby Fox Glacier township, we drove out to a panaramic viewpoint that provided some of the best views of the Southern Alps that we've had, then did the short Lake Matheson walk. The lake is famous for providing reflections of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman in its waters, but it wasn't calm enough nor clear enough when we went. The day remained sunny, but clouds were once again hiding the mountains by noon. The drive from Fox Glacier through Haast, Haast Pass, and on to Wanaka was spectacular -- there was an ocean view or mountain vista to stop and admire almost every 5 minutes. Although I was still uncomfortable sitting, it has been once of my favourite drives in NZ, and I strongly recommend it.
We arrived in Queenstown last Thursday evening, and I feel like Adam and I have been here for a very, very long time. It's only been a week and a half, but this is the longest we've been in any once place, and I'm starting to get anxious for something new. The weather has been nice, but not quite warm enough for my liking. We've been here so long for a few reasons: I've been going to physio every few days, which is certainly helping; Adam is climbing with Sally & Aaron Ford, which is fabulous since I'm not 100% yet; and we've used Queenstown as a base and done several side trips to Milford Sound in Fiordland and to Wanaka (more below).
Last Friday, I had my first physiotherapy appointment and we got our first real diagnosis/assessment of my injury. Turns out that I may have excruciating back pain, but I didn't injure my back ... When I fell on my ass on the trail, the muscle swelled, putting pressure on my sciatic nerve, which in turn sent sharp pain down through my hip and leg and up and across my back. The bad news was that this can be an excruciatingly painful injury (which I already knew). The good news is that it is not serious and generally clears up within 2 weeks, once swelling goes down and any muscle strain starts to heal. I was already starting to feel a little better everyday, and by the second week, I've been feeling quite a bit better everyday, especially after physio. We've had to adjust our schedule, not only to accomodate my limitations, but also my physio appointments which are in Queenstown, but it hasn't been as bad as I think either of us feared.
Last Saturday, Adam went climbing at Wye Creek just outside Queenstown with Sally & Aaron Ford, which was great. I went along for the views, as Wye Creek has a spectacular vantage point over Lake Wakatipu of Queenstown and the mountain ranges beyond. It was a great day, and I'm sure that Adam will post in detail about the great climbs he got to do.
Sunday, the weather was very good, and we spent the afternoon visiting wineries in the Gibbston Valley, tasting wine (including another pinot noir vertical that made Adam very happy), and eating fabulous food at one of those wineries on their sunny patio.
Speaking of food, if I might digress again, we've been enjoying ourselves while on vacation -- eating liberal portions, snacking constantly, sampling the wares of various high-end chocolatiers, and drinking copious amounts of the local aged grape juice -- and it has taken it's toll. A scale was recently brought out at Sally's house so that we could weigh the bag of climbing gear (because Emirates has raised their excess baggage fees), and we each made the mistake of getting on it. If extra kilos are any indication of a good vacation, Adam and I are having a fabulous time!
We then headed south from Queenstown, around to Te Anau into Fiordland, and back north to Milford Sound. Milford is actually a glacial fiord carved into the mountains, but was called a "sound" by European explorers who were unfamiliar with fiords. It's almost directly west of Queenstown, as the crow flies, but to get there you have to drive south, west and then north around the mountains. Milford Sound is sometimes criticized for being touristy, and certainly is a must-see for visitors to New Zealand, but it is still pretty remote and in the off-season, pretty desolate. We drove 100 km from Te Anu into Milford and saw only a handful of other cars. There is only one cafe in Milford and only one place to stay - Milford Lodge. The road ends at the boat terminal where tourists clamour aboard one of the many boats to cruise the fiord/sound. Adam and I weren't expecting much, beyond the infamous sandflies (which are really black flies) that swarm the area, but were surprised to find that Milford Lodge was one of the nicer campgrounds we stayed at. It poured (100-150mm / day) for the two days that we were in Milford Sound, but that also turned out to be a good thing. The rain keeps the sandflies down and also provides water for the spectacular waterfalls that come over the sides of the mountains into the fiords. We were warm and dry in the lodge lounge and the spaceship, and the next morning had a great, albeit damp, cruise around Milford Sound. Taking the first cruise of the day ensures that it's quiet, as non of the day-trippers from Te Anau or Queenstown have arrived. It didn't rain too hard in the morning either, and although we didn't have great views of the surrounding mountains, the fiord was 'moody' (as the locals say) and atmospheric. We saw a few fur seals, and best of all, we saw a fiordland crested penguin! These penguins are very rare and can't really be seen anywhere else in the world. Adam's favourite I think was the waterfalls. We took a small boat cruise, so the captain gets the bow of the boat right up underneath the falls. The water is being blown about by the wind, and looks like fireworks coming towards you. Definately cool.
On Wednesday, we then drove back from Milford Sound, through Queenstown, back to Wanaka, which is about an hour north of Queenstown. We drove past Wanaka on the way to Queenstown from the glaciers, but didn't stop because the main reasons for visiting Wanaka are climbing and tramping -- and I couldn't do either at the time. By Thursday, I was feeling okay to belay (but not climb myself), and Adam had a great day climbing at Hospital Flats on the Tombstone (especially 'Lung Starter', aka Huff and Puff, a 24) and out at Roadside Attration on 'Aretanaphobia' (21). The weather was clear and sunny in Wanaka on Friday, so we did a walk in Mt Aspiring National Park up Rob Roy Valley to a viewpoint of the Rob Roy Glacier. The views on the drive into the park are fabulous themselves, and it was a great walk. At the top, you can see the glacier overhanging the edge of the mountain. At this time of year, the ice is melting, and we were lucky enough to see two pieces break off the glacier and avalanche! (Safely on the other side of the valley, of course...) In the afternoon, Adam did some more climbing before the wind picked up and forced us inside.
Saturday was a rest day, and we drove back to Queenstown from Wanaka the long way, stopping in several wineries in Bannockburn on the way. The whole Central Otago region is famous for its pinot noir, and Adam really liked two of the wineries in particular (Bald Hills and Akarua), which make their wine more in the old-world Burgundian style than the fruit-driven style of many NZ pinots. We spent the afternoon in Queenstown sitting in the sun, drinking coffee, and eating chocolate. We made pizzas for dinner (thank goodness for GF crusts in grocery stores here) and drank a bottle of wine we had been saving from Marlborough. A good day.
Today, (Sunday), Adam is off climbing at Wye Creek again with Sally & Aaron Ford. I decided not to go with them, as I'm still not climbing, and Wye Creek is a bit of a hike just to go and belay (being a belay slave also gets a tad boring). Additionally, it's the first day in more than 7 or 8 weeks that Adam and I *haven't* spent together, and it's long overdue. We're both lovely people, but as I'm sure many of you are really to attest, each of us can get a tad annoying after long periods. Try 24/7 togetherness, jammed in a itty-bitty Spaceship, with no personal space ... for weeks. A day apart is lovely. We've adjusted to the Spaceship quite well, but I am looking forward to an entire hostel room (with bathroom!) once we get to Sydney. I am not looking forward to having to stuff all my things back into my backpack though. Everything has kind of oozed out into various nooks and cranies of the van after several weeks, and we've accumulated even more stuff.
But first, tomorrow after my last physio appointment, we drive to Dunedin on the east coast of the South Island. We'll spend a few days there and on the Otago pennisula hanging out with penguins (me) and bouldering (Adam). From there, it's north to Christchurch and Castle Hill (the bouldering mecca), which Adam has been looking forward to since .... probably since I've known him. Ironically, it will be one of our last stops in New Zealand.
Until next time,
Cheers!
Robin
When we signed off our last posts, we were heading south from Golden Bay to the glaciers on the west coast of the South Island, and beyond. I mentioned a little back injury that had occurred the day before, and prevented further climbing in Golden Bay. However, as often happens, things got worse before they got better.
Last Monday, Adam and I drove from Golden Bay through to Westland (unsurprisingly, on the west coast) and stopped overnight in Punakaiki (also known as Pancake Rocks), which is nothing more than a campground, a few hostels and a pub surrounding some oddly shaped rock-formations created by the pounding of the surf on soft limestone for millions of years. It's worth getting out of the car for 10 minutes, but not much more. Unfortunately, the long drive was tough for me, and I was in a fair bit of pain when we arrived and didn't want to drive any farther. I was only comfortable lying down, so we soon went to bed. On Tuesday morning, after I got up, I was in excruiciating pain. There are no facilities in Punakaiki though, so we had to continue driving down the coast. We stopped in Franz Joseph Glacier village, another tourist-driven outpost, but one with plenty of accomodation and a health clinic. To make a long story short, we stayed two days in Franz Joseph in a very nice hostel but didn't do much of anything at all. We were fairly gloomy, pondering how badly I was injured and how much of the rest of the trip it would put in jeopardy. I got in to see a nurse about a day and a half later. She was excellent, confirmed that it was just muscle pain and nothing more serious, and basically told me to 'walk it off'. Not only did she strongly discourage further rest, (I needed to stretch and strengthen the muscles, she said) but also did not give me any good painkillers. The nurse encouraged us to move on to Queenstown as soon as possible so that I could get further examination and treatment. I had a massage later that day, which helped enormously, and Linda (with the magic fingers) explained that prescribing drugs just isn't the kiwi way. She said that if you left a clinic or hospital with a prescription, you knew you were really sick or ill, as they are relied upon only as a last resort.
If I might digress a second, while I understand this approach to antibiotics and perhaps some other drugs, what harm would there have been in giving me a few days supply of good narcotics to ease my pain? I was in excruciating pain, from a temporary, unserious injury. I fail to see the downside to making me a bit more comfortable, particularly as the nurse, the massage therapist and eventually the physiotherpist all discouraged rest? The nurse did give me some ibuprofen, but I fortunately had slight stronger painkillers in the first aid kit, that I brought for just such an occasion. I wanted more (to replenish my depleting supply) and stronger ones, but that was not to be. Lesson to self: Bring lots of prescription painkillers when travelling, you never know when you might need them and whether you'll be able to get them when you want them!
Back to the story ... on Wednesday, we did go for a few short walks around Franz Joseph Glacier, as encouraged, but the weather was nasty (we got hailed on!) and the visibly was awful, so we couldn't even get much of a view of the eponymous glacier. On Thursday, we drove from Franz Joseph Glacier to Queenstown, which took all day because we stopped every 30 km or so to check out the various viewpoints and to let me stretch. The weather that morning finally broke, and we went back to the Franz Joseph glacier viewpoint before driving onwards, and Adam finally got to see the mountains that had been hiding behind clouds for more than 2 days. Down the road in nearby Fox Glacier township, we drove out to a panaramic viewpoint that provided some of the best views of the Southern Alps that we've had, then did the short Lake Matheson walk. The lake is famous for providing reflections of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman in its waters, but it wasn't calm enough nor clear enough when we went. The day remained sunny, but clouds were once again hiding the mountains by noon. The drive from Fox Glacier through Haast, Haast Pass, and on to Wanaka was spectacular -- there was an ocean view or mountain vista to stop and admire almost every 5 minutes. Although I was still uncomfortable sitting, it has been once of my favourite drives in NZ, and I strongly recommend it.
We arrived in Queenstown last Thursday evening, and I feel like Adam and I have been here for a very, very long time. It's only been a week and a half, but this is the longest we've been in any once place, and I'm starting to get anxious for something new. The weather has been nice, but not quite warm enough for my liking. We've been here so long for a few reasons: I've been going to physio every few days, which is certainly helping; Adam is climbing with Sally & Aaron Ford, which is fabulous since I'm not 100% yet; and we've used Queenstown as a base and done several side trips to Milford Sound in Fiordland and to Wanaka (more below).
Last Friday, I had my first physiotherapy appointment and we got our first real diagnosis/assessment of my injury. Turns out that I may have excruciating back pain, but I didn't injure my back ... When I fell on my ass on the trail, the muscle swelled, putting pressure on my sciatic nerve, which in turn sent sharp pain down through my hip and leg and up and across my back. The bad news was that this can be an excruciatingly painful injury (which I already knew). The good news is that it is not serious and generally clears up within 2 weeks, once swelling goes down and any muscle strain starts to heal. I was already starting to feel a little better everyday, and by the second week, I've been feeling quite a bit better everyday, especially after physio. We've had to adjust our schedule, not only to accomodate my limitations, but also my physio appointments which are in Queenstown, but it hasn't been as bad as I think either of us feared.
Last Saturday, Adam went climbing at Wye Creek just outside Queenstown with Sally & Aaron Ford, which was great. I went along for the views, as Wye Creek has a spectacular vantage point over Lake Wakatipu of Queenstown and the mountain ranges beyond. It was a great day, and I'm sure that Adam will post in detail about the great climbs he got to do.
Sunday, the weather was very good, and we spent the afternoon visiting wineries in the Gibbston Valley, tasting wine (including another pinot noir vertical that made Adam very happy), and eating fabulous food at one of those wineries on their sunny patio.
Speaking of food, if I might digress again, we've been enjoying ourselves while on vacation -- eating liberal portions, snacking constantly, sampling the wares of various high-end chocolatiers, and drinking copious amounts of the local aged grape juice -- and it has taken it's toll. A scale was recently brought out at Sally's house so that we could weigh the bag of climbing gear (because Emirates has raised their excess baggage fees), and we each made the mistake of getting on it. If extra kilos are any indication of a good vacation, Adam and I are having a fabulous time!
We then headed south from Queenstown, around to Te Anau into Fiordland, and back north to Milford Sound. Milford is actually a glacial fiord carved into the mountains, but was called a "sound" by European explorers who were unfamiliar with fiords. It's almost directly west of Queenstown, as the crow flies, but to get there you have to drive south, west and then north around the mountains. Milford Sound is sometimes criticized for being touristy, and certainly is a must-see for visitors to New Zealand, but it is still pretty remote and in the off-season, pretty desolate. We drove 100 km from Te Anu into Milford and saw only a handful of other cars. There is only one cafe in Milford and only one place to stay - Milford Lodge. The road ends at the boat terminal where tourists clamour aboard one of the many boats to cruise the fiord/sound. Adam and I weren't expecting much, beyond the infamous sandflies (which are really black flies) that swarm the area, but were surprised to find that Milford Lodge was one of the nicer campgrounds we stayed at. It poured (100-150mm / day) for the two days that we were in Milford Sound, but that also turned out to be a good thing. The rain keeps the sandflies down and also provides water for the spectacular waterfalls that come over the sides of the mountains into the fiords. We were warm and dry in the lodge lounge and the spaceship, and the next morning had a great, albeit damp, cruise around Milford Sound. Taking the first cruise of the day ensures that it's quiet, as non of the day-trippers from Te Anau or Queenstown have arrived. It didn't rain too hard in the morning either, and although we didn't have great views of the surrounding mountains, the fiord was 'moody' (as the locals say) and atmospheric. We saw a few fur seals, and best of all, we saw a fiordland crested penguin! These penguins are very rare and can't really be seen anywhere else in the world. Adam's favourite I think was the waterfalls. We took a small boat cruise, so the captain gets the bow of the boat right up underneath the falls. The water is being blown about by the wind, and looks like fireworks coming towards you. Definately cool.
On Wednesday, we then drove back from Milford Sound, through Queenstown, back to Wanaka, which is about an hour north of Queenstown. We drove past Wanaka on the way to Queenstown from the glaciers, but didn't stop because the main reasons for visiting Wanaka are climbing and tramping -- and I couldn't do either at the time. By Thursday, I was feeling okay to belay (but not climb myself), and Adam had a great day climbing at Hospital Flats on the Tombstone (especially 'Lung Starter', aka Huff and Puff, a 24) and out at Roadside Attration on 'Aretanaphobia' (21). The weather was clear and sunny in Wanaka on Friday, so we did a walk in Mt Aspiring National Park up Rob Roy Valley to a viewpoint of the Rob Roy Glacier. The views on the drive into the park are fabulous themselves, and it was a great walk. At the top, you can see the glacier overhanging the edge of the mountain. At this time of year, the ice is melting, and we were lucky enough to see two pieces break off the glacier and avalanche! (Safely on the other side of the valley, of course...) In the afternoon, Adam did some more climbing before the wind picked up and forced us inside.
Saturday was a rest day, and we drove back to Queenstown from Wanaka the long way, stopping in several wineries in Bannockburn on the way. The whole Central Otago region is famous for its pinot noir, and Adam really liked two of the wineries in particular (Bald Hills and Akarua), which make their wine more in the old-world Burgundian style than the fruit-driven style of many NZ pinots. We spent the afternoon in Queenstown sitting in the sun, drinking coffee, and eating chocolate. We made pizzas for dinner (thank goodness for GF crusts in grocery stores here) and drank a bottle of wine we had been saving from Marlborough. A good day.
Today, (Sunday), Adam is off climbing at Wye Creek again with Sally & Aaron Ford. I decided not to go with them, as I'm still not climbing, and Wye Creek is a bit of a hike just to go and belay (being a belay slave also gets a tad boring). Additionally, it's the first day in more than 7 or 8 weeks that Adam and I *haven't* spent together, and it's long overdue. We're both lovely people, but as I'm sure many of you are really to attest, each of us can get a tad annoying after long periods. Try 24/7 togetherness, jammed in a itty-bitty Spaceship, with no personal space ... for weeks. A day apart is lovely. We've adjusted to the Spaceship quite well, but I am looking forward to an entire hostel room (with bathroom!) once we get to Sydney. I am not looking forward to having to stuff all my things back into my backpack though. Everything has kind of oozed out into various nooks and cranies of the van after several weeks, and we've accumulated even more stuff.
But first, tomorrow after my last physio appointment, we drive to Dunedin on the east coast of the South Island. We'll spend a few days there and on the Otago pennisula hanging out with penguins (me) and bouldering (Adam). From there, it's north to Christchurch and Castle Hill (the bouldering mecca), which Adam has been looking forward to since .... probably since I've known him. Ironically, it will be one of our last stops in New Zealand.
Until next time,
Cheers!
Robin
Monday, October 6, 2008
Abel Tasman National Park
We didn't spend long in Nelson before deciding to move up Tasman Bay to Motueka, a smaller, cute little town close to the entrace of Abel Tasman National Park. We stayed at the Laughing Kiwi, a true backpacker place, rather than a campground in order to spend some time talking to people other than ourselves! We ended up hanging out with lawyers (from Australia) and medical students (from Britain). How much like home!
The weather remained mixed for a few days in Motueka so we did a day trip/drive up the coast through Kaitieri and Marahau to the start of the Abel Tasman coastal track. When the weather cleared, we drove through Takaka, into Golden Bay, and into the heart of the Abel Tasman national park to Totaranui campground. Remote and isolated are how I would describe it. The only way into the campground is along a 20 km windy dirt road that narrows to one lane in several places. We're told that tour buses sometimes make the trip, and that motorhomes regularly come to the campground in summer, but I honestly have trouble believing that they can make the corners. The drive was worth it, though, as we emerged onto a long, golden beach that was completely empty. At the height of summer, there can be over 800 tents, campers, vans, etc. packed into Totaranui campground. There might have been 3 when we were there, counting us.
We parked the Spaceship (campervan) at Totaranui and from there did a day trip south to Awaroa inlet, which empties almost completely at low tide allowing trampers to cross twice a day. We returned to Totaranui that night, and were able to have a nice dinner and wine, with only the Sandflies to bother us. The next day we went north from Totaranui through several amazing beaches, to Separation Point, over to Whariwharangi on Golden Bay, and back over Gibbs Hill, a nice little 405m hill that provides spectacular views of both Tasman Bay and Golden Bay. Although we did day trips, we ended up tramping most of the coastal track, while avoiding water taxis and the need to stay in DOC huts (which make sleeping in the campervan look luxurious).
From Totaranui, we headed back to 'civilization' and stayed on Pohara Beach (another long stretch of golden sand) in Golden Bay for one night before going to Paynes Ford to climb.
I'll let Adam post on Paynes, but I will say that I didn't really climb although I still got hurt - not on a wall but on one of the access trails to the cliff. We were hiking out and I slipped on a wet, mossy rock and ended up sliding down the trail with my knee under my chin and foot near the opposite ear. It wasn't too bad, but I pulled a hip flexor that has been nagging me for months. And the next morning my back seized up entirely. (I can't even bend to tie my shoes.) I might just be getting old and the two events (fall and back) unrelated, but I don't think so. In any event, it marked the end of Adam's time climbing at Paynes Ford, since I can't even put on a climbing harness much less belay him. We're both hoping I heal fast.
We're now doing the long drive south along the west coast of the south island. There isn't much from here until Wanaka/Queenstown in the southern end except for Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers, where we intend to stop for a couple of days.
Cheers,
R.
The weather remained mixed for a few days in Motueka so we did a day trip/drive up the coast through Kaitieri and Marahau to the start of the Abel Tasman coastal track. When the weather cleared, we drove through Takaka, into Golden Bay, and into the heart of the Abel Tasman national park to Totaranui campground. Remote and isolated are how I would describe it. The only way into the campground is along a 20 km windy dirt road that narrows to one lane in several places. We're told that tour buses sometimes make the trip, and that motorhomes regularly come to the campground in summer, but I honestly have trouble believing that they can make the corners. The drive was worth it, though, as we emerged onto a long, golden beach that was completely empty. At the height of summer, there can be over 800 tents, campers, vans, etc. packed into Totaranui campground. There might have been 3 when we were there, counting us.
We parked the Spaceship (campervan) at Totaranui and from there did a day trip south to Awaroa inlet, which empties almost completely at low tide allowing trampers to cross twice a day. We returned to Totaranui that night, and were able to have a nice dinner and wine, with only the Sandflies to bother us. The next day we went north from Totaranui through several amazing beaches, to Separation Point, over to Whariwharangi on Golden Bay, and back over Gibbs Hill, a nice little 405m hill that provides spectacular views of both Tasman Bay and Golden Bay. Although we did day trips, we ended up tramping most of the coastal track, while avoiding water taxis and the need to stay in DOC huts (which make sleeping in the campervan look luxurious).
From Totaranui, we headed back to 'civilization' and stayed on Pohara Beach (another long stretch of golden sand) in Golden Bay for one night before going to Paynes Ford to climb.
I'll let Adam post on Paynes, but I will say that I didn't really climb although I still got hurt - not on a wall but on one of the access trails to the cliff. We were hiking out and I slipped on a wet, mossy rock and ended up sliding down the trail with my knee under my chin and foot near the opposite ear. It wasn't too bad, but I pulled a hip flexor that has been nagging me for months. And the next morning my back seized up entirely. (I can't even bend to tie my shoes.) I might just be getting old and the two events (fall and back) unrelated, but I don't think so. In any event, it marked the end of Adam's time climbing at Paynes Ford, since I can't even put on a climbing harness much less belay him. We're both hoping I heal fast.
We're now doing the long drive south along the west coast of the south island. There isn't much from here until Wanaka/Queenstown in the southern end except for Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers, where we intend to stop for a couple of days.
Cheers,
R.
Paynes Ford Report
***Warning*** This post contains climbing information and jargon which most people will find boring or will make no sense at all.
Well, our weekend at Paynes Ford has come to a finish and we lucked out with the weather. The forecast had originally called for rain starting Friday and going all the way through until Tuesday...Not the case though...Saturday turned out to be a great day where we were able to climb in the morning until mid-day. Sunday we were able to get a full day and Monday...well I'll get to Monday in a bit...
Saturday - We arrived at Paynes Ford and started hiking up the DOC trail to the first climber trail which I though was about a couple of hundred metres away, but Robin immediately relieved me of guidebook and navigation duty and determined that the first trail was WAY back near the entrance. New Zealanders are all about the easy approach to crag. In the amount of time it takes to get to your first climb at Lion's Head, one would already have done three routes and be working on their first project of the day.
For my first warm-up I decided on a classic from the guidebook which was rated 16 (back in '91). Very easy route up to the slopers...slopers on a 16...wtf??? The limestone in NZ (in this area anyways) is very slopy and very few crimps. After lowering off the anchors, Robin roped up and found the climbing very different from home and very difficult. The slopers were very polished up top and she found it impossible. After I cleaned the route I did the classic slab route next to it "....Cream Poofters". If anyone ever comes to NZ to climb on the limestone here, bring your slab skills as well as your top-out on bulges skills. I did a couple more routes until the drizzle started and we hid underneath Rawhide Roof (which was to become Sunday's project). We met some "locals" and they gave us directions to one section of wall which was overhung enough to protect from the rain. We headed up to Tenuite Wall and happily is was quite dry...well dry for the climber but not the belayer (AKA...Robin). I ran up a great 20 and then immediately got on a 21 which I went up quickly until I lunged for what I though was the "victory jug". Turned out to be the "victory sucker hold" and the sloper spit me off for a beautiful 15-20 ft plunge...("Take...Nooooo, shit!")
After this route we packed up and headed out to the car and to get supplies for our evening stay at the climbers campground, Hangdog. Its a piece of property which sits right next to the DOC parking lot for Paynes Ford. A family has run this camp for years; essentially a "by climbers, for climbers" camp ground. There is tonnes of room for camping and a small bunkhouse which a kitchen and toilet facilities. It was very quiet this weekend but during the summer it is very difficult to find a place to pitch a tent. We met up with some NZ and Scottish climbers and chatted them up for beta and by 10pm we were back to our "spaceship" for night-nights...
Sunday turned into an unreal day. Sunny with a high of 20! PERFECT!!! We climbed with Richard (from Nelson) and we did a couple of the longer classics to warm up. Temple of Stone (18) is an awesome 27 meter warm up as is the route-I'm-not-quite-sure-what-the-name-is (20) just to the right of it is. The second route is a full 30 meters and as we were not using our rope, I bailed to the anchors of the previous route as I still had 2-3 meters to go I wasn't sure how new Richard's rope was...turns out I would have barely made it to the ground if I had gone all the way up.
Afterward Richard climbed a crazy runout route called "Elvis like in Takaka"...3 bolts...17 meters...I'm sure some of you can figure out the Elvis name based on that info...Thankfully he made it up sans fall and sans me launching into the woods to take up slack!
Afterwards I was off to my project....There is a route there called Rawhide (the roof mentionned above) and its a PERFECT ROOF at the start. Its a 15ft V4 boulder problem under the roof. The first bolt is at the lip and the landing is crap if you blow it...thankfully we train on roofs every day in Toronto. Scared the crap out of Richard as I ran out the roof easily. From there it lessens in steepness (only 45 degree overhang now...) until the 3rd bolt, then bring on the mantle top out on slopers. Did that very gingerly only to see then next bolt still 8 feet away...Now I'm on slopey slab where your hand-foot matching skills come into play..After I clipped that and a bit more slab I get to another bolt and smack into another mini roof...then another top-out...then more slab...where's the next bolt???? I can see the anchors about 10 feet above me but I still have to pull this crazy crack layback section (not technically difficult but after already having 15 feet of a run out and then this to the anchors.....yikes)...I pull this off and finally hit the anchors and clip in and yell to my belayer for slack...He (and Robin) can barely hear me and he thinks I say "take" and I almost get yanked right off the route. Thankfully they heard me the second time swearing at them and I was able to clip in. While cleaning the route, Robin had a mild heart attack when she realized how far run-out I was from the last bolt to the anchors...If you blew the anchors you'd take a 50+ footer and the route is about 65 feet long. Cleaning the overhang kinda sucked but got it done after taking both Richard and Robin for a bit of a drag....
After 2 more routes further down the crag, we hiked over to the Wall of Thugs where there is an AMAZING roof with 6 routes along it. I would loved to have given a go at one of them but there are no fixed draws and cleaning it would have required downclimbing (minimum grade of 23) or doing the route a second time on TR. Do a search on the web for pics of the route "1080 and the Letter G" and you'll see the awesomeness of this roof (and some cool pics of the no hands rest).
We were hoping for a third day today but as Robin was packing the van, her back seized due to a fall the previous day while hiking out. There was no way she'd be able to have a harness on a endure some of the falls that I would have probably taken today on the routes I was gunning for...so we drove right on out of Takaka and past Paynes Ford (waving bubye!!).
We now head down the west coast to the glaciers and afterwards we will be heading to Wanaka (I think) for some more climbing....
Wish I could post pics but the connections have been too slow and take forever...one day though!!!
Peace out!!
Well, our weekend at Paynes Ford has come to a finish and we lucked out with the weather. The forecast had originally called for rain starting Friday and going all the way through until Tuesday...Not the case though...Saturday turned out to be a great day where we were able to climb in the morning until mid-day. Sunday we were able to get a full day and Monday...well I'll get to Monday in a bit...
Saturday - We arrived at Paynes Ford and started hiking up the DOC trail to the first climber trail which I though was about a couple of hundred metres away, but Robin immediately relieved me of guidebook and navigation duty and determined that the first trail was WAY back near the entrance. New Zealanders are all about the easy approach to crag. In the amount of time it takes to get to your first climb at Lion's Head, one would already have done three routes and be working on their first project of the day.
For my first warm-up I decided on a classic from the guidebook which was rated 16 (back in '91). Very easy route up to the slopers...slopers on a 16...wtf??? The limestone in NZ (in this area anyways) is very slopy and very few crimps. After lowering off the anchors, Robin roped up and found the climbing very different from home and very difficult. The slopers were very polished up top and she found it impossible. After I cleaned the route I did the classic slab route next to it "....Cream Poofters". If anyone ever comes to NZ to climb on the limestone here, bring your slab skills as well as your top-out on bulges skills. I did a couple more routes until the drizzle started and we hid underneath Rawhide Roof (which was to become Sunday's project). We met some "locals" and they gave us directions to one section of wall which was overhung enough to protect from the rain. We headed up to Tenuite Wall and happily is was quite dry...well dry for the climber but not the belayer (AKA...Robin). I ran up a great 20 and then immediately got on a 21 which I went up quickly until I lunged for what I though was the "victory jug". Turned out to be the "victory sucker hold" and the sloper spit me off for a beautiful 15-20 ft plunge...("Take...Nooooo, shit!")
After this route we packed up and headed out to the car and to get supplies for our evening stay at the climbers campground, Hangdog. Its a piece of property which sits right next to the DOC parking lot for Paynes Ford. A family has run this camp for years; essentially a "by climbers, for climbers" camp ground. There is tonnes of room for camping and a small bunkhouse which a kitchen and toilet facilities. It was very quiet this weekend but during the summer it is very difficult to find a place to pitch a tent. We met up with some NZ and Scottish climbers and chatted them up for beta and by 10pm we were back to our "spaceship" for night-nights...
Sunday turned into an unreal day. Sunny with a high of 20! PERFECT!!! We climbed with Richard (from Nelson) and we did a couple of the longer classics to warm up. Temple of Stone (18) is an awesome 27 meter warm up as is the route-I'm-not-quite-sure-what-the-name-is (20) just to the right of it is. The second route is a full 30 meters and as we were not using our rope, I bailed to the anchors of the previous route as I still had 2-3 meters to go I wasn't sure how new Richard's rope was...turns out I would have barely made it to the ground if I had gone all the way up.
Afterward Richard climbed a crazy runout route called "Elvis like in Takaka"...3 bolts...17 meters...I'm sure some of you can figure out the Elvis name based on that info...Thankfully he made it up sans fall and sans me launching into the woods to take up slack!
Afterwards I was off to my project....There is a route there called Rawhide (the roof mentionned above) and its a PERFECT ROOF at the start. Its a 15ft V4 boulder problem under the roof. The first bolt is at the lip and the landing is crap if you blow it...thankfully we train on roofs every day in Toronto. Scared the crap out of Richard as I ran out the roof easily. From there it lessens in steepness (only 45 degree overhang now...) until the 3rd bolt, then bring on the mantle top out on slopers. Did that very gingerly only to see then next bolt still 8 feet away...Now I'm on slopey slab where your hand-foot matching skills come into play..After I clipped that and a bit more slab I get to another bolt and smack into another mini roof...then another top-out...then more slab...where's the next bolt???? I can see the anchors about 10 feet above me but I still have to pull this crazy crack layback section (not technically difficult but after already having 15 feet of a run out and then this to the anchors.....yikes)...I pull this off and finally hit the anchors and clip in and yell to my belayer for slack...He (and Robin) can barely hear me and he thinks I say "take" and I almost get yanked right off the route. Thankfully they heard me the second time swearing at them and I was able to clip in. While cleaning the route, Robin had a mild heart attack when she realized how far run-out I was from the last bolt to the anchors...If you blew the anchors you'd take a 50+ footer and the route is about 65 feet long. Cleaning the overhang kinda sucked but got it done after taking both Richard and Robin for a bit of a drag....
After 2 more routes further down the crag, we hiked over to the Wall of Thugs where there is an AMAZING roof with 6 routes along it. I would loved to have given a go at one of them but there are no fixed draws and cleaning it would have required downclimbing (minimum grade of 23) or doing the route a second time on TR. Do a search on the web for pics of the route "1080 and the Letter G" and you'll see the awesomeness of this roof (and some cool pics of the no hands rest).
We were hoping for a third day today but as Robin was packing the van, her back seized due to a fall the previous day while hiking out. There was no way she'd be able to have a harness on a endure some of the falls that I would have probably taken today on the routes I was gunning for...so we drove right on out of Takaka and past Paynes Ford (waving bubye!!).
We now head down the west coast to the glaciers and afterwards we will be heading to Wanaka (I think) for some more climbing....
Wish I could post pics but the connections have been too slow and take forever...one day though!!!
Peace out!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
