The Climber issue 86

THE CLIMBER

SUMMER 2013/14 $9.95

86

NEW ZEALAND’S CLIMBING MAGAZINE

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ON THE COVER Two unknown climbers approaching the summit of Aoraki Mt Cook. RINA THOMPSON

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

CONTENTS ISSUE 86

FEATURES 22 NZAC LIFE MEMBERS 2013 26 LORD SCHUSTER’S POSTSCRIPT TO ADVENTURE

BY DALE THISTLETHWAITE

28 VAN LIFE

The highs and lows of a year on the

road, living in a van

BY JON BUTTERS

36 DANCING TO THE TUNE OF HOOKER AND THE UNIVERSE

An ascent of Mt Hooker via the

Landsborough

BY JASON HOPPER

42 BIG STONES

Some climbing highlights at Buck

Rock and Castle Rock

BY CLIFF ELLERY

REGULARS 4 The Sharp End

Comment and opinion

10 Exposure 14 Climbing News and Events 20 NZAC News 24 People: Margaret McMahon 46 People: Lindsay Main, Peter

Cammell and Dick Seddon

48 Technique 50 Stuff You Need 53 Books and Films 56 The Last Pitch THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

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THE SHARP END

THE FUTURE OF ROCK CLIMBING? A RECENT trip to Long Beach highlighted to me the sad decay of rock climbing in New Zealand. Climbs that require natural protection or climbing a few moves beyond the protection of a stainless steel bolt are being slowly reclaimed by the elements. Sand and dirt fill the bases of many classics, and vegetation sprouts from cracks that once accepted friends and wires. Even the great Crime and Punishment had cobwebs over the bolts.

(Bolts that require a short section of climbing on gear to reach.) Further down the beach, at the cave, short, shiny bolted routes on loose basalt were covered in chalk.

Should I have been surprised? Over recent times, my climbing has changed to putting up limestone sport routes in the Fyfe. At Paynes, I have added new bolts to my own climbs that previously required gear. These routes had become neglected in a sport climbing paradise. I have even retro-bolted the neglected classic Jericho (apologies to Pete Hunt) giving rise to another Paynes classic.

Climbing appears to be changing from a sport of adventure and risk. In the recent past, climbs were not only technically challenging but also an undertaking involving calculated risktaking. It wasn’t always wise to even trust the fixed protection. Now crash pads sanitise bouldering and bold climbs are either retro-bolted or fade into obscurity. The element of adventure seems to have been lost to the domain of mountaineering. Is this a good thing?

–Alastair Mark

HIGH POLEMIC LIKE A trout snapping at a wriggling fly, I can’t resist a go at John Palmer’s polemic (see ‘Axes of Evil,’ The Climber issue 85). I liked its provocative tone.

A stirring polemic John, but what a load of pretentious bullshit: ‘[…] the highest intersection of difficulty and danger must, by definition, be the ultimate expression of the art form that is climbing.’ Consider the following: Swan Lake on high wires above the Niagara Falls, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony performed in a pit of vipers, and would Guernica have been any better if Picasso had painted it as it happened, amid the falling bombs and flying shrapnel? Since when does art need danger, and since when has climbing been an art form? I’ll grant that it has some of the attributes of art in that its top practitioners are highly skilled and have had years of dedicated practise. But let’s face it, the aesthetic appeal is mainly in the interplay of light on the rock formations and landscape, as is well illustrated in the fine photos accompanying your article. Climbing movement rarely flows like dance as even the best climber exhibits hesitations and the occasional awkward move, especially if they are climbing on-sight.

Are these highballs first practised on a top-rope? I don’t know as I’m now too fragile to boulder. As my granddaughter said after I limped away from a session of running and jumping: ‘Gagas don’t bounce like Tigger.’

I’ll agree there is drama in a highball in that

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

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a fall can have serious consequences, but I wouldn’t tend to rate that as art.

Your graph is mere opinion masquerading as science. What are the measurements for difficulty and danger? Do you have any statistical evidence to back up your assertions? I could suggest measuring difficulty using the Sherman grades on a scale of VE–V18. This allows two more grades than currently exist for difficult bouldering and then there is a need to incorporate how tramping, ice climbing and mountaineering movement skills—or lack of them in your opinion—can be fused into one scale.

Danger has data in that people get injured and, sadly, killed doing these activities, so perhaps some sort of accident-rate scale could be devised. But then there are complications in that some of these activities involve only brief exposure to danger, like the moments during a highball when the mat and spotters are distant objects, as distinct from, say, alpine climbing, when long exposure to potential danger must be faced. If these factors were combined into a scale then bouldering, highballing and sport would rate low on a time-exposed-to-risk scale, as distinct from extreme alpinism or big-wall Himalayan climbing. However, one could argue that as a percentage of time doing the activity, highballing could well be relatively dangerous.

When considering a few moments on a climb with a brief time of splat possibilities versus several hours on the Caroline Face exposed to avalanches and to say nothing of the descent, how does one balance out the variables? I suppose that one way would be to separate them into objective and subjective risks. Barring ridiculous events, bouldering risks are subjective. Can you do it? And if not, can you make the landing?

When distance and time enter into the equation then the environmental factors come crowding in. Complex. Worthy of more research?

You state that no-one you know has died highball bouldering, but if it is as dangerous as you claim, in time, given the numbers, someone will. Far too many of my friends and colleagues have died in the mountains so be careful as to what you claim is the ultimate.

Then ‘sure as eggs’ there’s an implied elitism, a ‘Hey guys, look at us; isn’t what we do the best and all the rest of you are cowardly plodders?’ Well yes I am and I’m proud of it.

I’ve climbed for over 50 years and would like to eke out a few more. At whatever grade I can manage. I recently met up with four of my old climbing friends from the UK in

Chamonix. We’d an average age of 68 but still creaked our way up climbs from grade 4 to 6c amid groups of friendly fellow climbers, beginners, families and children—all outside in beautiful settings, with most being challenged in their own way, and all having fun. There are more dimensions to climbing than just hard and dangerous.

–John Entwisle

JUST SAYING JOHN PALMER’S meticulous analysis of the dangers and difficulties of different forms of climbing was both very entertaining and compelling. I wish to put forward possible confounding factors in the calculations that may artefactually steepen the curve with respect to highball bouldering.

Would these feats be considered so dangerous if the climbers wore helmets instead of the oversized knitted headwear popular with today’s skaters and snowboarders? Or if they were too unfit to carry decent gym mats a whole 15 minutes to the crag? I respectfully put these factors forward for your consideration. ‘Just saying’ one might even say.

One should nevertheless be thankful these climbers aren’t pawning their mothers’ televisions to buy bolts. I sincerely wish them all the very best in their daring ascents.

–Dr Mic Cavazzini

EAST AFRICA I WAS interested to read your article in The Climber issue 85 entitled ‘The Twin Teats of Africa’.

I was fortunate enough to spend over two years in east Africa in the mid 70s and the first thing I noticed on seeing the pictures was the almost complete lack of snow on Mt Kenya and the very reduced amount on Kilimanjaro.

My experiences on Kilimanjaro were very different to those of Nic Bendeli. Even then you weren’t allowed to climb Kili without a guide, but it went against the grain for us to use one.

It was possible to go up one of the less frequented routes and not see anyone else, and our choice for our first attempt was the Umbwe Route, which goes up from the south. None of the guides would have known the way up this route so there was no point in taking one.

We made the mistake of starting from Nairobi in the morning so we didn’t get on the route until after lunch. Nightfall found us still in the forest, so we pitched our tent, only to be disturbed a short time later by the harsh sound of a leopard. It prowled around our tent for the rest of the night and we kept it away by making as much noise as possible. In the morning it appeared to have gone, so we packed up as quickly as possible and headed back down. We were too exhausted to carry on and just as we started down we heard the harsh growl again, fortunately further away.

That was early in my time in Kenya and afterwards I avoided going into the forest at night.

As the predators are nocturnal, it is considered relatively safe to go through the forest during daylight and to camp above the bushline.

Our next attempt was via the Shira Route, which is actually a four-wheel-drive track, so we were able to drive much higher.

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THE SHARP END

Fortunately we were already well acclimatised from living at over 2000m, and from frequent trips up Mt Kenya, otherwise we would have been at considerable risk of altitude sickness.

We stayed in a couple of huts en-route, the second one being the Arrow Glacier Hut and at that time there were still a few large chunks of ice which were the remains of the glacier.

We started a new route on the Great Western Breach by climbing a steep couloir to a large terrace where we bivvied. The next morning we had a closer look at the route ahead. It was a huge icicle and appeared to continue most of the way to the crater rim, 1000 metres above. We had a tentative look and could see that the icicle was rotten ice, so it didn’t take long to decide that it wasn’t for us. We traversed right along the terrace to the Heim Glacier, which we followed to the rim and then continued to the summit.

A few years later I met Reinhold Messner in the Himalaya and found out that he had climbed the icicle to the top a couple of years after our attempt.

As members of the Mountain Club of Kenya and frequent visitors to the Mt Kenya National Park, we were given free entry to the park, as they were keen to have well acclimatised people available in case we were needed for a rescue. I understand that it now costs US$50 per day to go into the park. I made regular trips into the park and climbed several routes on the main peaks.

What I did notice in the photos of Mt Kenya was that there is very little sign of the Diamond Glacier and below it the steep Diamond Couloir between the main peaks Batian and Nelion.

Presumably there is a residue of hard ice but this doesn’t show in the photos. When I climbed the couloir, it was steep, but good snow-ice. It would probably have caused few problems if modern ice gear had been available in those days. Unfortunately the ice got gradually harder as well as almost disappearing.

The article also mentions Felice Benuzzi’s excellent book No Picnic on Mount Kenya. In 1974 the Mountain Club of Kenya invited the author to our celebrations commemorating the 75th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt Kenya by Halford Mackinder. Felice Benuzzi was Italian Ambassador in Uruguay at the time and flew over for the celebration. I was fortunate enough to meet him. Eric Shipton,

who completed the second ascent of the mountain also came over around that time, but couldn’t be there for the celebration.

–Tony Charlton

A CLIMBERS’ JOURNAL HEREWITH, A short note on the issue of The Climber and the NZAJ. I reckon the current quarterly magazine and annual journal combo is terrific and near perfect! But I can see that the distinction between content for each is unclear, particularly when it comes to the lengthier articles, and it must be tricky at times to allocate material.

Maybe a different journal and magazine combination would work well, or even better. I’d prefer to see relatively contrasting publications though. For example, the likes of short news items, personal interviews, advertisements, events info, gear reviews, awards info, book and film reviews and administration items don’t really suit the content of a quarterly journal. Put another way, I think this type of less significant, newsletter type content would diminish and clutter the relative timelessness of the journal as NZAC’s prestigious, flagship publication.

I’d also like to say that I really enjoy hardcopy, especially for the NZAJ, and would hate to see an emphasis on an e-copy or online magazine, but I don’t think that’s the intention.

So maybe a quarterly hard-copy journal (as the club’s single flagship print publication) is a good way to go, but keep the newsletter-type content out and disseminate this material in a monthly or bi-monthly publication, as (a subscriber choice) of online or hard-copy.

–Marcus Pickett

A CLIMBERS’ JOURNAL II AS AN ancient flatulence who has a passing acquaintance with club publications I would like to toss in my handful of scree on the climbers’ journal proposal. I think the club can rightfully be proud of the standard of its publications, they have served members well and are attractively presented to boot. The query then must be what is wrong and what needs changing? I agree it is always useful to question what we are doing and whether it can be done better.

My opinion is that the NZAJ should be a permanent record of New Zealand’s climbing history and achievement, there for the long haul and reference source. The Climber, however,

is more transitory, as becomes a magazine, a record of what is happening now along with opinion and gossip, a sort of who’s with who and who’s not paying. By its very nature The Climber is to some a throw-away when you’ve read it publication, whereas the NZAJ is a read and save volume. In many ways The Climber is too good, often competing with the NZAJ for content, and almost surpassing it in appearance. However, if the criteria above are used, the choice between what goes where should be relatively simple. Of course some things will appear in both, for example a significant climb could get a mention in The Climber, but would be covered more extensively in the NZAJ. So is there a better way of doing what these publications already achieve? Despite the huge advances in electronic media, the written word still appears to have a place. We still like to hold something in our hands to read it. But do we still need both? If one of the objectives of The Climber is to keep members informed and updated, then this could readily be done online, except for members who do not have online access, which must be a declining number. So why do we need The Climber at all? To present the profile of the club to non-members and the public in general? Does it do this successfully now? I wonder.

My thought is that the NZAJ should be the annual report for the climbing year, and the club’s premier published record. As for The Climber, well, some other form might be advantageous, but if we combine the two we would have neither one thing nor the other: a mixture of history, achievement, gossip, club news, operational announcements and glossy advertising. This would run the risk of becoming irrelevant in later years and discarded by many, and be read in later years incomprehensively.

It is a truism to say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, but it is nevertheless valid. What is wrong with what we have? While the issue of combining the two publications may have some merit, I feel it has more demerits and carries a danger of ruining what many regard as an outstanding showcase for the club. But then what would a doddery old short-sighted, balding, partially deaf, near toothless, prostately challenged struggling alpinist know about it?

–George Edwards

THIS ISSUE’S PRIZE GOES TO: MARCUS PICKETT

ONLINE FEEDBACK FROM CLIMBER.CO.NZ ON THE CLIMBERS’ JOURNAL PROPOSAL I HAVEN’T been around a while (I think I joined [NZAC] in 2006), but I quite enjoy getting both The Climber and the [New Zealand Alpine Journal].

There are not a plethora of home-grown climbing magazines in New Zealand like there are in other countries and I think The Climber fills that role as nicely as it can. If there is a question of where articles will go, I think expedition reports, detailed trip reports from domestic climbing and a few good pieces of fiction should be in the journal. The Climber can then be reserved for quick little reports on domestic climbing festivals, articles about various destination, gear reviews, etc. Having a bound, glossy annual journal is a good asset to the club and something I think many members keep around for reference for years. I’m happy with the status quo.

If things do need to be changed, I would support abandoning The Climber and making the NZAJ a quarterly publication. A glossy, bound magazine sort of like Alpinist.

–Graham

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

I DO think the web changes how you should publish print material in order to keep it relevant. I think there has to be a strong case for all news-style items being included on the [club’s] websites. I would also be keen to see no info that has already been published on the web coming out in its exact same form in the mag or journal. For example, while we might break news of a climb online it would be great to see a more detailed article or story behind the ascent in The Climber, rather than simply a re-production of the online news post. That way we might get the best of both worlds: up-to-date news, as it happens, which most of us agree is good, and in-depth stories, reviews and photo essays that are worth reading at a slower pace on the couch one evening.

Perhaps whatever publication we end up with should focus more on in-depth stories, mountain profiles and quality photos rather than trying to be a news-based service?

If we ended up with a bi-annual journal or quarterly Alpinist-style pub-

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THE SHARP END

lication, I would be less concerned, provided we firstly get the website active with all the good relevant climbing news and secondly ensure that what does go to print is interesting and worth reading, even if we already knew about the initial event that leads to its publication.

–daniel.joll

I REALLY like the current system. My main concern with moving to the suggested quarterly publication is that it’s unlikely to achieve the same sort of distribution that The Climber currently enjoys. There must be a lot of non-climbers who can see what climbing and the club are all about by picking up a copy of The Climber. It’s a reasonably priced magazine that is accessible for the masses, and it’s also satisfying for members. If that format gets replaced by the proposed quarterly journal, I think we would lose that wider appeal, and there’d be a big decrease in the number of people reading about climbing in New Zealand.

I don’t think there needs to be concern about whether something should be included in The Climber or the journal. The journal should be regarded as the main source of historical information, and can do this by being two things: a collection of actual articles, and an index of what articles were published in the year’s issues of The Climber.

I agree with Richard Thomson’s intimation in his editorial that there is certainly a place for non-alpine achievements in the journal.

Therefore, if we do keep the current system, it would probably be a healthy move to change the title from New Zealand Alpine Journal to something more inclusive.

Both publications have been top-notch for several years now, and all of the people who’ve been involved—particularly the editors themselves—deserve heaps of kudos for this achievement.

–robfrost

I […] LIKE the current system, but have wondered how it is sustainable. I’m just glad that it has been.

Climbing mags around the world are dying. To move towards a more regular magazine-style print journal thing or similar is to swim against the tide and will almost surely end in having nothing good from either form—no nice permanent journal of record, and no regular informative magazine either. Neither here nor there.

It’s a compromise based on a negative (too much work, not enough time) rather than progress based on a positive (we want to do something new as we have lots of great content and amazing new technology). It’s a diminution, rather than an addition.

If anything, The Climber, which I like, should, by current world trends, go digital-only (like Vertical Life here in Australia) and the NZAJ remain an archive-quality journal of record as a showpiece for the club.

Magazines cannot compete with the net for reporting news and so have no currency as they did just 15 years ago.

IT IS useful to review the goal and focus of The Climber and NZAJ. I think they have become somewhat similar. If we want a publication to be a permanent record of mountaineering, the NZAJ should publish articles that warrant re-reading five or ten years later. If back issues of the NZAJ can be digitised (a big job but a group is looking at it now and some other clubs have completed this), searching for articles and information will be much easier in the future.

What if future NZAJs were digital only, and we continued to have hardcopy issues of The Climber? I guess that The Climber brings in plenty of advertising, and is closer to paying its way through sales and advertising. I guess that the NZAJ is mostly funded by subscriptions and read by members. Many libraries subscribe to the NZAJ but they would be able to provide their readers digital access if the NZAJ went digital in the future.

If we want The Climber to have retail sales and advertising to pay its way, I doubt that a thicker quarterly would sell as well.

–cullenr

I WOULD like to see only two things come into my mail box: a quality section newsletter with trip reports and soft stories—what Mum, Dad and the kids are up to, clubbies on Avalanche Peak and so on. Then a quarterly journal with only the top exponents (of climbing, writing and photography). The latter should be unashamedly elitist.

–gmckinnon

WHAT INTERESTED me in the latest issue of The Climber (and this is not intended as criticism) is for several pages I felt like I was reading old news. West face of Tutoko? It felt like that was months ago, definitely several issues of The Climber ago. Jamie, Marty and Denali, even the mixed and ice festival, a month prior, felt really old in this fast-paced world. How locked into this internet thing are we? Are people really using it? Because it seems to be cannibalising all our stories. There was JP’s article that I would have read, if only I didn’t keep my copy of The Climber on a shelf beside the toilet. Maybe I can find that bit online.

Being lazy and timid, the stories that stick out for me are about adventure, and are timeless. I’m vaguely interested in people climbing hard but I’d much rather read a descriptive story about an epic on Red Arête than some hard ascent. (Of course hard climbing and good writing are not mutually exclusive.)

I still remember a Sam Bosshard story from around 1993 about four days one winter. Sam described sawing through his packstraps to get his shovel or ice axe off because his hands were frozen while digging a snowcave. But that wasn’t in the journal, that was a story in The Climber. As a teenager I’d wait by the mailbox for The Climber, but also fight my father for the journal.

I’m also interested in the direction that Alpinist went … looked great, for those who could afford it.

–paulprince

–Damien Gildea

THE NZAJ is, in my opinion, the club’s most important publication. I have a copy of every volume since the first one, and I would be extremely disappointed to see it discontinued. I see no need for changing its name or for having it published more frequently than once a year.

If resources are a problem (and I understand they may well be), then I suggest The Climber should be published on the web only. The digital version exists already. It would be in keeping with the times if it replaced the paper version entirely. I would have no issue with that at all.

But please, please keep publishing the New Zealand Alpine Journal!

PUT ME down for a bi-annual journal.

–Troy

PERSONALLY, I PREFER reading The Climber currently, and prefer my news and stories more frequently and closer to the time they actually happened. If the journal stopped and there was a quarterly magazine with more content, I’d be happy.

–Jezer

GREAT TO get the latest issue of The Climber. Got as far as page six and was shocked to hear the idea being mooted of stopping publication of the New Zealand Alpine Journal. The NZAJ is one of the highlights of my Xmas season. I really take pleasure in reading its varied subject matter. I enjoy what I regard as the generally more leisurely pace of reading than The Climber. The NZAJ serves as an annual milestone marking the activities of the New Zealand climbing community, here and overseas. It has area reports and obituaries. It is the go-to publication for research into the past (remember, we are writing for posterity as well as the present), and it is held in libraries of our sister clubs overseas. An annual publication is suitable for these purposes. I do not regard a quarterly version as an adequate substitute. The Climber is a great read, it’s the best magazine that comes through my mailbox. But the NZAJ is something special. Let’s do whatever it takes to keep it.

HERE’S MY big question: There are a bunch of stories and photos [in The Climber] that could, and several that should, be in the journal.

Doesn’t the fact they are not mean the journal is losing credibility as the New Zealand climbing publication of record? Because these stories are in The Climber, isn’t the journal in fact failing to do what we say we value it for? In 50 years, you’ll need to read more copies of The Climber than journals to discover the ‘record’ of New Zealand climbing.

If you agree with me there, then what are the solutions? If we publish those stories and photos in an annual journal, what do we take out of the journal to put in The Climber? Stories about repeats of routes, either here or overseas? Or do we accept that to do justice to our accomplishments, we need to make the journal a real journal of record that celebrates all climbing (not only alpine) accomplishments?

These questions aren’t about saving money. They are partly about resourcing, but really only to the extent that they’re about doing the best we can to present climbing in New Zealand in print.

–JamesBroadbent

–Richard Thomson

–Danilo Hegg

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

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EXPOSURE

A FINE DAY FOR A PICNIC

ON 19 OCTOBER some Queenstown climbers headed to the south face of Single Cone to knock out some new lines. They were rewarded with excellent ice and frozen snow conditions, allowing for ascents of two new routes.

Ben Dare, Daniel Joll and Jaz Morris climbed a new, direct start to $100 Whore, named Piking Potato Princess (M6, WI3, 170 metres), in honour of a friend who did not show up. Jaz describes the first pitch as ‘a fine crack for the tools but poor feet on a tricky slab.’ The second pitch is a right-facing off-width ‘with average chock-stones for both tool-hooking and pro.’

Meanwhile the rest of the crew kept busy hacking out their own new line. Steve Fortune, Pete Harris and Ari Kingan laughed their way up 4VLOLZ (M4+, 400 metres), also on the south face of Single Cone. Pete says the climb started out with ‘a great pitch, replete with a couple of short ice steps, joined by sections of stunning névé.’ The next couple of pitches held some ‘exceptional névé’ broken up by a few small rock steps,’ followed by ‘a nice icy chimney.’ Steve waltzed up a rock buttress on the third pitch before the last two pitches of easy snow slopes took them to the ridgeline. There they joined Ben, Dan and Jaz for a nice picnic in a strong nor’wester.

Ben Dare following a pitch during the first ascent of Piking Potato Princess. DANIEL JOLL PHOTO

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

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EXPOSURE

JEWEL OF THE SOUTH

THERE ARE few places in New Zealand more well-appointed than Wanaka for a spot of sport climbing. The vast quantity of easyaccess cliffs alone make it a compelling proposition, never mind the wide variety of climbing, spectacular lake and mountain vistas, and the abundance of bottom-heavy mountain guides to burn off on the crag warm-ups.

Even more compelling is the vast potential for further development. There are cliffs for Africa, and the locals (despite a lot of hard work) have barely scratched the surface.

New walls developed in recent years (since the last guidebook was published) include: Far Horizon A steep limestone-esque wall high on Rocky Hill. It only has half a dozen routes but all are excellent, sustained and difficult. The most difficult being Jon Sedon’s The Contractor (30/31), which is a candidate for hardest route in the area.

Blue Wall Located above the West Wanaka Road, this blue-streaked wall has a clutch of long pumpy routes, including two staunch additions from Zdenek Racuk: Midget (29) and White Pepper (28).

White Wall Adjacent to the Blue Wall, this leaning shield of pale schist also offers more long, sustained routes including another Jon Sedon testpiece: Hong Kong Phooey (30).

New routes are still being added to existing areas. Notable additions include: Zdenek Racuk’s Skin Therapy (29), at the seldom visited Cliff Richard in West Wanaka; Mainlining (29) (also by Zdenek Racuk), an extension to Jon Sedon’s route Popeye (28) at Al Cap, which goes almost to the top of the cliff and includes 40+ metres of hard crimper action; Jon Sedon’s Supersonic (27/28), a surging line on the right side of the imposing Little Big Wall; Michal Karnik’s Under The Table Extension (28)—a logical extension to a well-travelled jugfest.

The Wanaka Rock Climbing Club, together with NZAC, are compiling a new guidebook for Wanaka rock which is due to be published in 2014.

Unknown climber on Disco Inferno (21), the Tombstone, Hospital Flat. JOHN PALMER PHOTO

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CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

MANGAKARA MAGIC

INSPIRED BY some great rock in an amazing setting, Wellington climbers John Palmer, Kristen Foley, Tom Hoyle, and Zac ‘Bob’ Keegan spent much of their winter swinging around on a static rope, 60 metres off the ground, in the rain, with a drill that wouldn’t start. All in the name of bolting new lines (grades 21–29) and cleaning up some old ones at Whanganui Bay. Some of the new routes are consumer-classics, bolted for the masses, with comfortable clips, but for good measure they also created some routes with a bit more spice.

John and Tom are currently working on a new North Island select guidebook (Rock Deluxe North), which is part of the driving force behind this new development and has been supported by the Whanganui Bay trustees, in the hopes of encouraging climbers to visit the Bay. After working on the guidebook, it became apparent that Whanganui Bay had lost a little bit of its shine—in John’s words it was ‘a grand old lady without a hat’. The Wellingtonians decided that something needed to be done to sell the Bay to the masses, lest they languish forever in climbing gyms in Auckland’s satellite cities.

Mangakara (the Gorge) is a truly magical but seldom visited area of the Bay. Thanks to John, Tom, Kristen and Bob, the gorge now boasts several exciting, adventurous sport climbing outings, the majority of which are abseil-in, climb-out affairs.

Rumour has it that this is fast becoming one of the best sport crags in the North Island.

In addition to the development at Mangakara, the team have been clearing tracks, tidying up some existing routes, and creating further new climbs at the Plateau.

Keep a look out for the soon-to-bereleased guidebook for further details.

Kristen Foley getting a dose of Tom Hoyle’s new route The Re-up (21), one of many recent additions to the Mangakara crags. JOHN PALMER

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

SPIRIT EXPRESS

Daniel Joll climbing along the west ridge of Mt Pibrac after making the first ascent of The Shaft, on the west face. STEVEN FORTUNE

Photo © Kalice

Just better to clip with....

www.petzl.co.nz

THE SHAFT

STEVEN FORTUNE and Daniel Joll found themselves on an unexpected journey to climb a new route on Mt Pibrac, called The Shaft (WI4, MC5-, 560 metres).

On a weekend forecast for good weather, Steven and Daniel headed up the Hooker Valley in Aoraki Mt Cook National Park. Strong winds and 40 centimetres of new snow meant that many areas were simply too dangerous to touch. After exploring potential objectives, Steven and Daniel decided an unclimbed ice line on the west face of Pibrac was their best bet.

Spurred on by better-than-expected ice climbing, the pair simulclimbed the moderate first pitches up to a nervy traverse on thinly iced rock with only a questionable piton for protection. After that, they reached an ‘awesome’ ice runnel—the shaft. This feauture comprised 50 metres of technical climbing through what Daniel calls ‘a fantastic, vertical, bulging chimney.’ After 12 pitches, they arrived on the west ridge of Pibrac, with just another four pitches of climbing to the true summit.

SNEAKING IN SOLOS

ELIOS Photo © Kalice

JAZ MORRIS sneakily packed a pair of climbing axes into his kit for a recent Otago University Tramping Club outing to Ball Pass. Despite encountering deep wet snow on the approach, the south face of Turner Peak turned out to be plastered in fat ice and excellent névé.

On 3 November Jaz climbed Névé Névé Land (MC3+, WI2, 250 metres). Jaz says the climbing never let him off of his front points, and that it was so fun he wished he ‘never had to grow up and go back to the real world’.

After topping out on Névé Névé Land, Jaz spied the 350-metre south face of Mt Pibrac, which was a tantalising few hundred metres away.

Jaz quickly decided he should climb a second new route for the day, so soloed JM Goes Tramping (MC4-/WI2, 350 metres).

After an involved descent, Jaz rejoined his party at Ball Pass via Proud Pass.

Durable protection, with climate control.

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

ClimberNZ_85_SPIRIT_ELIOS HP.indd 1

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CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

NORTH ISLAND HIGHLIGHTS

NORTH ISLAND route developers have been busy across the board, establishing a variety of new routes that will appeal to all climbers.

New crags have been popping up in the Waikato, and some significant new routes have been added to existing areas across the island.

Some good hard new trad and mixed routes have been added at Waipapa by James Field-Mitchell, and at Froggatt Edge by Jana Wold.

James also added some bolted routes at Waipapa, a stand-out being Fire in the Sky (30), which is reportedly one of the best routes in the Universe.

Bryce Martin has put up ten new low to moderate grade routes at Bayleys Road. These routes are all generously bolted and add to a growing number of good beginner lead routes in the Wharepapa region.

Cliff Ellery, Brian Mercer and Jess Dobson have continued their work at Buck Rock and Castle Rock, establishing some stonking new long multi-pitch climbs (see ‘Big Stones,’ page 42, for more).

The Kawakawa Bay locals have added over 40 new pitches this year, mostly in the grade 12–23 range, including the first route at the North Island’s own Little Big Wall, Welcome to Kawakawa (20). A five-pitch route was also established—Land of the Long White Sun (20), which was climbed ground-up on traditional protection. An update to the downloadable Kawakawa Bay guidebook has been produced and contains all the latest additions. It is available from alpineclub.org.nz.

The Wellington section of NZAC have added four new routes to the left-hand end of the main cliff at Kinloch, adding to that crag’s catalogue of moderate-grade climbs.

John Palmer got busy in Nobby’s Cave at Pukerua Bay, near Wellington, where he added three new routes plus a project or two.

For more details, see the North Island Rock report in this year’s New Zealand Alpine Journal, and check out climbnz.org.nz and freeclimb.co.nz.

LEFT Regan McCaffery attempting Fire in the Sky (30), Waipapa. JOSHUA WINDSOR

SUN’S OUT …

JAMES GUNN relocated from the North Island to Christchurch this year, where he spent much of the winter season making regular trips to the boulders in the Castle Hill Basin.

James has displayed a natural ability on the limestone blocs, ticking off several hard classics. Perhaps his most impressive send was a flash of Captain Crush (V10), a James Morris problem at Flock Hill. Captain Crush is a one-mover, if you can pull on and go the distance from the good(ish) starting pinch to a high left dish/pocket off bad smears, you’re in.

Easier said than done though, obviously.

James attributes his success partly to proper preparation of the footholds the weekend prior to his ascent.

This ascent is a particularly impressive achievement as, in the words of one has-been, ex-Flock Hill devottee, ‘Ain’t no soft serve 10s at Flock!’

James was too quick for the camera on Captain Crush, here he is on Captain Sassypants (V8) at Flock Hill. ERIN STEWART

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CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

EXPLORING KYRGYZSTAN

REG MEASURES was part of a joint New Zealand/British expedition to the Kokshall Too Range in Kyrgyzstan in August and September this year.

Along with Timmy Elson and Max Folkett, Reg made four first ascents on peaks in the Djangart Mountains (a reference to peaks surrounding the glaciers that drain into the Djangart River), including two routes on previously unclimbed peaks: Frima Face (AD+, MC3+, 900m) on Pik Macmillan (5051m), and Open Misère (MC5, 500m) on Pik Vinton-Boot (5162m). Timmy, Max and Reg also made the first ascent of the South Ridge of the Djanghorn (5274m) and the first traverse of Pt 5207m.

More information about the expedition can be found in Reg’s article in the 2013 New Zealand Alpine Journal, ‘First Ascents in Kyrgyzstan’.

FRG

THE FEVERISHLY exciting Fyfe River Gorge now has a guidebook, thanks to James Morris. The guide is available as a download in the pdf format from alpineclub.org.nz.

The guide lists more than 40 routes, from grade 18 to 30 (plus some projects), spread over four main crags. And there is much potential for more.

LEFT Al Mark on pitch 4 (the Black Mamba pitch, grade 22) of his and Jochen Lenfert’s four-pitch route Too Filthy for Freud, at the Knot Factory. MIKE CARTWRIGHT

Timmy Elson and Max Folkett descending the west ridge of Peak Macmillan (5051m), Kyrgyzstan. REG MEASURES

THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

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CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

Mayan on the Great Roof pitch of the Nose. TOM EVANS

Alexis Belton approaching the Central Gully Route (MC4–, 5p) on the south face of Glengyle Peak. JAZ MORRIS

ON THE SNOWY SIDE

ALEXIS BELTON and Jaz Morris have established a new route up the central gully (MC4–) on the south face of Glengyle Peak in the West Matukituki Valley. The pair, with Frazer Attrill and Tiff Stephens, plugged through deep snow from the West Matukituki to set up a camp high on Rob Roy Peak’s south ridge. Despite heavy snow conditions on the approach, Jaz and Alexis maintained their optimism and carried a rack of gear up with them, only to encounter virtually no rock pro amidst the mostly 60-degree compact and snow-covered schist. The steeper sections, on frozen snow, left the pair wishing for a bit more protection. The whole five-pitch route ended up yielding only one, solitary knife-blade piton on the very first pitch.

Alexis and Jaz topped out on the ridge, but had to bail before reaching the true summit due to poor snow conditions on loose rock and limited daylight. Jaz had originally noticed this hidden gully on a previous descent of Rob Roy and had harboured aspirations of climbing it ever since.

MAYAN SETS NEW SPEED RECORDS ON THE NOSE KIWI CLIMBER Mayan Smith-Gobat smashed the female and mixed (female and male) speed records on the Nose of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, before the infamous United States Government ‘shutdown’ of all non-essential government services. Mayan and American Libby Sauter cut almost two hours off of the female speed climbing record for the Nose with a time of 5 hours 39 minutes. Mayan and American Sean Leary also set a new record for a mixed team on the Nose, completing it in 3.5 hours, besting their previous time by almost 45 minutes. This was despite having to pass 11 other climbing teams. All of Mayan’s hard training over the cold winter in Colorado appears to have paid off!

WILD COUNTRY VOLUNTARY RECALL NOTICE Wild Country Classic Rocks and Anodised Rocks. Issued 07/10/2013 FOR THE safety of all of our customers Wild Country is issuing an immediate recall of certain batches of Wild Country Classic Rocks and Anodised Rocks. If you own any Wild Country Classic Rocks or Anodised Rocks that were purchased any time from January 2010 onwards, Wild Country would advise that you visit our website wildcountry.co.uk so that you can ascertain whether your product is from one of the affected batches. Martin Atkinson, Managing Director of Wild Country, outlined the reasons for the recall: ‘Following a recent failure in use of a Classic Rock, in which fortunately no injury occurred, we conducted an in depth investigation and an extensive testing programme. Following the testing of over 17,000 Rocks we found some units that did not achieve their rated strength which varies, depending upon the size, from 4kN to 12kN. In a very small number of cases the failure load was below the units rated strength, and in some cases below 7kN, a peak load that can be realistically achieved during a fall.’

Our first priority is always the safety of our climbing and mountaineering colleagues and customers, therefore we have taken the decision to recall the Rocks with the identified batch codes.

Wild Country apologises for the inconvenience this may cause and thanks you for your cooperation in helping us to recover as many of the affected Rocks as possible. To find out whether your Rocks are affected please go to the Wild Country website: wildcountry.co.uk.

–Wild Country

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THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

The south face of the Dasler Pinnacles. BEN DARE

RESISTENTIALISM

VENTURING AROUND the corner from the popular west face of the Dasler Pinnacles, Ben Dare and Steven Fortune scoped out the unclimbed south face of the Dasler Pinnacles. According to Steven, the primary reason no one had hitherto climbed the face is that it is tucked away from the Hopkins Valley approach, ‘requiring a significant descent under the west face’ to reach the base of it.

As luck would have it, Ben and Steve found a large, appealing corner system slashing straight up the face. The pair moved quickly together up the moderate first pitches then, finding the snow conditions to be far better than they appeared from below, they moved quickly up to a final, steep, chimney pitch. The decision to squeeze into the chimney turned out to be the hardest aspect of the pitch with Steven discovering the climbing ‘steady, the gear reasonable and the climbing fun.’

CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

IT’S CALLED SKI-MOUNTAINEERING THE SKI-MOUNTAINEERING scene has had an active year in 2013. Several new and notable descents have occurred in the South Island mountain ranges.

Kiwis Nick Begg and Tyrone Low teamed up with Swedish skiers Andreas Fransson and Magnus Kastengren to set a record for first fully skied descent of the east face of Mt Cook.

Ruari Macfarlane boarded the same line a few days later, this was only the second snowboard descent of Aoraki.

Andreas and Magnus also skied the Bowie Couloir on 30 October. They had to down-climb three metres due to icy conditions. Andreas describes both lines as ‘future classics.’

A few days later, on 3 November, Magnus was tragically killed when he lost control while skiing from the summit ridge of Aoraki. Magnus failed to self-arrest after losing his ice axe, and fell several hundred metres to the glacier on the west side of the mountain.

Steve Eastwood and Tai Naka made the first ski descent of Silberhorn on 30 August. The pair skied the Balfour side of the peak in a long day from the Fox Névé.

Ruari Macfarlane and Shane Orchard boarded the Lippe Couloir on Mt Pembroke in Fiordland in November after sea-kayaking across from Milford.

Erik Bradshaw completed a three-day ski traverse in Arthur’s Pass in September. The ‘Canterbury Haute Route’ starts at the Otira Valley and finishes at Bealey Spur. Erik skied great powder almost the entire way; the route only has a very short amount of walking at each end.

Shane Orchard has spent most of this year’s spring exploring various mountain ranges with his snowboard and has made many interesting and remote first descents—far too many to list here! Please see the 2013 New Zealand Alpine Journal for a more detailed report on the ski-mountaineering year.

Steve Eastwood below the summit of Silberhorn, shortly before making the first ski descent of the peak. TAI NAKA

G Charton & M Dunn

222 Full colour pages 120 Picture topos 852 Routes Selected Mountains

Helmets

Harnesses

GRIGRI

Crampons

Ice Climbing

Lighting

Find us on Facebook or visit www.petzl.co.nz for all the latest gear and climbing news

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Queenstown Climbing Club

Available in outdoor shops or online: alpineclub.org.nz and queenstownclimbing.com

QUEENSTOWN

Rock, Ice & Mountains

The Outdoor Safety

Before you go into the outdoors get familiar with New Zealand’s Outdoor Safety Code.

simple rules to help you stay safe:

Plan your trip

Know your limits

Seek local knowledge and plan the route you will take and the amount of time you can reasonably expect it to take.

Challenge yourself within your physical limits and experience.

Tell someone Tell someone your plans and leave a date for when to raise the alarm if you haven’t returned.

Rock, Ice & Mountains

Estelle Poiron on The Prophecy (26/27) Wye Creek. Photo © Guillaume Charton

The Prophecy

QUEENSTOWN

The definite guidebook to climbing in Queenstown

& Mountains

Ice

Rock

Queenstown

Be aware of the weather

Take sufficient supplies Make sure you have enough food, equipment, clothing and emergency rations for the worst-case scenario. Take an appropriate means of communication.

New Zealand’s weather can be highly unpredictable. Check the forecast and expect changes.

A Climber’s Guide • Queenstown Crags • Over 850 Routes • Selected Peaks

For more information about how you can prepare for your outdoor activity, visit www.adventuresmart.org.nz

Guillaume Charton & Mike Dunn | Queenstown Climbing Club 5/07/13 11:40 AM

THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14 19/08/13 9:50 PM

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THE CLIMBER NEW ZEALAND’S CLIMBING MAGAZINE

ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14 Editor Kester Brown kester@alpineclub.org.nz Sub-editor Nic Learmonth Design and Layout Kester Brown Climbing News Editors Polly Camber and Kester Brown Gear Editor Graham Johnson NZAC News Sam Newton Proofing Nic Learmonth and Rachael Williams Printing Spectrum Print, Christchurch Musical Inspiration The Sandy Bay Social Club Contributors Jon Butters, Ray Button, Peter Cammell, Mike Cartwright, Ben Dare, Sue Davidson, Jess Dobson, Cliff Ellery, Tom Evans, Steven Fortune, Geoff Gabites, Clayton Garbes, Di Hooper, Jason Hopper, Daniel Joll, Suze Kelly, Alan Knowles, Nic Learmonth, Gabriel Lincourt, Troy Mattingley, Regan McCaffery, Reg Measures, Colin Monteath, Jane Morris, Jaz Morris, Tai Naka, Anesh Narsai, Sam Newton, John Palmer, Sefton Priestley, Erin Stewart, Dale Thistlethwaite, Limbo Thompson, Richard Thomson, Ivan Vostinar, Mark Watson, Joshua Windsor.

Advertising enquiries Sefton Priestley tel: (64) 03 377 7595 e-mail: adverts@alpineclub.org.nz Subscription information Published quarterly. Copy deadlines 2014: Autumn (87) 1 February ‘14. Winter (88) 2 May ‘14, Spring (89) 6 August ‘14, Summer (90) 28 October ‘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 climber.co.nz

NEW ZEALAND ALPINE CLUB

NICOLE SUTTON (1984–2013) HIROKI OGAWA (1982–2013) HIROKI OGAWA and Nicole Sutton were climbing Mt Taranaki whilst on the Auckland Section’s annual Labour Weekend trip. The pair died high on Mt Taranaki after a 36-hour battle against extremely hostile weather conditions.

Hiroki and Nicole were much-loved members of the Auckland Section. In past seasons, Hiroki had volunteered his time to teach basic snowcraft to novice climbers, and I was lucky enough to meet him at the NZAC Volunteer Instructor Development weekend at Temple Basin. Nicole was relatively new to mountaineering, having gained a lot of experience as a skier, and was already developing a reputation as someone who had a real passion and Nicole Sutton and Hiroki Ogawa on Mt Ruapehu. enthusiasm for climbing.

I want to thank all those members and volunteers in NZAC who rallied around to support the other trip participants. I also want to thank the police and SAR personnel who acted selflessly and professionally in their response. The families of Hiroki and Nicole have asked that in lieu of flowers, donations can be given to the New Zealand Alpine Club. In accordance with their wishes, NZAC will utilise the donated funds for the education and encouragement of young climbers and to support rescue services. Hiroke and Nicole’s families also thank all those who have donated already.

NZAC has initiated an independent review of the incident and how the club conducts its section trips.

–Sam Newton

NZAC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING THE AGM of the New Zealand Alpine Club was held on Friday 4 October. The annual report showed a return to surplus for NZAC and a healthy level of investment by the club in areas such as Ruapehu Hut, Homer Hut and new membership database software. We are only a few years away from completely paying down our mortgage on the Home of Mountaineering, at which point our focus will shift to paying down debt associated with the Unwin Lodge rebuild.

The evening saw the transition—as symbolised by the handing over of AP Harpers ice axe— from the outgoing president, Stu Gray, to incoming president John Cocks.

Lindsay Main also received a ceremonial ice axe for winning the NZAC Volunteer of the Year Award. This recognises the extraordinary amount of work Lindsay has done on behalf of NZAC in restoring access to quake-affected crags in Christchurch.

HEL PORTER LODGE FROM THIS summer, the popular Porter Lodge in the Fox Glacier township will have an off-site warden. The lodge will be locked with a combination keypad, which will be changed regularly. If you plan to stay, the code is available during office hours from the National Office when booking. Basically, it will be managed in much the same way as Arthur’s Pass Lodge. Make use of this great facility in a great location, but please treat it like the part-owner that you are.

forget the lawnmower

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

Grab the toys Book in to Unwin Lodge Come over & play in our backyard Aoraki Mt Cook National Park

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NZAC NEWS

NZAC NATIONAL INDOOR BOULDERING SERIES 2013

NZAC NATIONAL YOUTH CAMP

THE NZAC National Indoor Bouldering Series continues to grow in popularity—2013 was the biggest year yet for the series. Especially notable was the final round, at Extreme Edge in Panmure, which set a milestone as the first event to top 100 entries—a fantastic result!

The NIBS is now the largest climbing competition series in the country, with low entry fees, challenges that cater for all ages and abilities, and a social atmosphere. It’s a highlight of the winter season for indoor climbers.

Congratulations go to our 2013 series champions Erica Gatland and Kent Chevallier, and big thanks are in order to the organisers, host gyms and sponsors Bivouac Outdoor, Motiv and Uprising Climbing Holds.

ILLUSTRATION BY STU KURTH

ROCK DELUXE MK2 IS COMING THE FINAL road trip to update the new edition of Rock Deluxe will take place during the months of February and March. The Christchurch, Dunedin, and Milford chapters still need a major update, as well as including new content such as Borland Bluffs, the Fyfe, and some new bits on the West Coast. Any other suggestions for new areas to be included are most welcome.

We have almost all the new photos we need for existing chapters but some photos will be needed for new additions.

Any suggestions, editions, corrections, new route info, photos etc, please contact Ivan at ivclimb@hotmail.com or on 021 256 9236.

After the road trips there will be a couple of months of computer work and then it’s off to the printers. Expected release date should be mid- to late-winter.

Sorry about the delay with the second edition, but in the long run it will be worth the wait as the book will contain much more new content. The Port Hills in Christchurch needed a lot of time to be examined, made safe or written-off completely. All in all, you can expect one third of the content of the second edition to be completely new content, one third heavily updated and the last third will contain minor additions and edits.

THE NZAC National Youth Camp is a great initiative, and will be run in late January 2014, in Christchurch, following on from the inaugural camp in Wanaka earlier in 2013.

Places on the camp are offered to top young sport climbers in regional youth climbing clubs. The Flying Geckos climbing club will be hosting climbers from around the country. These talented young upstarts will have access to a week of training from some of the most experienced climbers and instructors in the country, who all generously offer their time as volunteers.

Three of the finest Yorkshiremen ever to escape to New Zealand for better weather and unclimbed rock—Tony Burnell, John Hammond and John Entwisle—are joined

by Nic Harvey (who hasn’t told them he’s from Suffolk) to deliver a rock instruction programme of the highest calibre. The participants are lucky to be able to benefit from such knowledge; to make a guess at the number of years climbing experience between the instructors would be a foolhardy endeavour.

NZAC is proud to be able to support this camp, and we are extremely grateful to the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival Charitable Trust for its generous donation towards the 2014 camp costs.

Good luck to all the participants!

–Ivan Vostinar

HUT FEE INCREASES AS ANYONE who has paid an insurance bill in New Zealand over the last 24 months will understand, NZAC has faced huge increases in the cost of insuring its huts and lodges. Despite our best efforts, we can no longer insulate our members and guests from these cost increases.

As a result, in May the Club Committee resolved to increase hut fees from 1 November 2013.

The increase is a relatively modest $5 for members and $10 for non-members per night, and this is the first time hut fees have increased for quite some time. Fees at Unwin lodge remain the same and hut fees covered by the Aspiring Hut Management Agreement with DOC, will be changed in 2014.

NZAC provides an excellent network of accommodation for climbers across New Zealand, based on the goodwill and honesty of guests paying their hut fees. Please ensure that you and anyone else staying at an un-wardened hut does the right thing.

A lpine Recreation T R E K

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C L I M B

Pri Courses | Advanced

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S K I

ng vate Guidi

E D R A H B M I CL

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Photo: Wolfgang Maier

TRAVEL INSURANCE FOR AUSTRALIAN NZAC MEMBERS MANY NZAC members will not be aware that the second biggest section of NZAC (behind Canterbury/Westland) is our Australian Section, which has 510 members.

It has been frustrating for us that we have not been able to offer our Australian members our travel insurance service for their trips abroad—only their trips to New Zealand. But there is good news on the horizon. Possibly as early as next autumn, we will be able to offer our travel insurance service to Australians. This means they will be able to get good-value comprehensive travel insurance and additional cover for high-risk activities such as rock climbing, mountaineering and back-country skiing.

MACPAC ADVENTURE PARTNERSHIP OUR PARTNERSHIP with Macpac has started to bear fruit. Thanks to all those NZAC members who have shopped at Macpac and taken advantage of their NZAC discount, we have been afforded the opportunity by Macpac to kit out our volunteer rock climbing instructors with a fine merino shirt. Thanks everyone!

ded gear provi

| private huts

www.alpinerecreation.com 0800 006 096 | +64 3 680 6736 THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

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ED COTTER Ed is a much-loved and respected member of the New Zealand climbing community. He has been a mentor and friend to many young climbers over many decades. Ed was one of New Zealand’s most active climbers, and a contributor to New Zealand’s growing mountaineering reputation during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

His youth was spent tramping and exploring at Arthur’s Pass and in the Canterbury backcountry with his brother and school mates. He quickly gained a reputation for speed and fitness with 24-hour expeditions and all-night ascents.

In the 1940s Ed became involved with the Canterbury Mountaineering Club and took part in hut-building and the hard exploratory trans-alpine trips typical of that period. He also completed a number of first ascents at the head of the Rakaia. In 1951 Ed was invited

by Earle Riddiford to join an NZAC supported expedition to the Garwhal area of the Indian Himalaya.

As preparation, Ed joined Earle Riddiford, Bill Beaven, Ed Hillary and George Lowe to climb Mt Elie de Beaumont by the unclimbed north ridge (Maximilian Ridge). This was an impressive achievement and involved a crossing of the Main Divide from the Tasman Valley to the Whymper Valley, to gain the long, mixed ridge. Bill Beaven took ill and remained alone at their valley camp. On summitting, Hillary and Lowe descended the Tasman while Cotter and Riddiford returned to Beaven by a challenging western route via the remote Spencer and Burton glaciers, before finally exiting to the West Coast. Ed and Earle then crossed Pioneer Pass to Haast Hut and climbed Mt Cook. It was to be 30 years before the Maximilian had its second ascent.

Ed had a reputation for technical skill and agility. On a 1951 sea voyage to India he caused consternation by walking on his hands along the guard rails and was banned from the upper decks. This skill proved beneficial on the walk into the Garwhal when Ed demonstrated the safety of a rough bridge by walking across it on his hands, at which point the porters agreed to carry loads across.

Ed, with Earle Riddiford and Sherpa Pasang, made the first ascent of Mukut Parbat, (7240m). The party reached the summit exhausted and in bad weather, very late in the day. This was the highest peak then climbed by New Zealanders and remains a significant ascent. The expedition succeeded on five other peaks over 6000m.

This expedition was a precursor to later events, when the team famously received a cable inviting two members to join a British reconnaissance to the unexplored southern side of Mt Everest. Ed Hillary and Earle Riddiford took up the invitation and it was Hillary and George Lowe who went on to be key members of the successful 1953 Everest expedition.

On return to New Zealand Ed was instrumental in developing a guided walk in the Hollyford Valley. This provided the opportunity to explore and climb many remote parts of Fiordland. The first ascent of the east face of Mt Eglington was one such climb.

In 1964 Ed and his wife Jennifer and friends were in the Andes on a trip characteristically described as a low-powered expedition run on a shoe string. Eight peaks over 19,000ft (5791m) were climbed in Bolivia and Peru despite Harold Jacobs breaking a leg early on.

In the 1980s and 1990s Ed was a glacier guide on the West Coast.

When Chris Bonington visited New Zealand in 1990, Ed’s mountaineering colleagues brought out their ‘living treasure,’ and the pair enjoyed a memorable time together.

Ed’s unassuming manner belies a climbing career full of achievement and adventure. His friendships and support for others are often commented on and he has been a true ambassador for the positive and close relationships that are engendered by time together in the hills.

He is still to this day a popular participant at NZAC gatherings of mature climbers, and continues to be keenly interested in what is happening in the climbing world.

–Limbo Thompson

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TOP Ed on a trek to Everest Base Camp in 2008. SUZE KELLY ABOVE Members of the 1951 New Zealand Expedition to the Garwhal Himalaya: Ed Cotter, Ed Hillary, George Lowe and Earle Riddiford. COTTER COLLECTION

GUY COTTER Guy has an outstanding record as one of New Zealand’s leading climbers. He has built an international reputation over 40 years of climbing, with ascents in New Zealand, Antarctica, the Himalaya and elsewhere.

Guy has led or been a member on, some 30 climbing expeditions. He has successfully developed one of the world’s leading guiding businesses, Adventure Consultants, based in Wanaka. His reputation and sustained activity over many years have contributed significantly to building New Zealand’s reputation as a mountaineering destination for international climbers.

Guy became a fully qualified UIAGM/IFMGA mountain and ski guide at a young age. His first guiding assignment was of Aoraki Mount Cook via the East Ridge. Guy has guided clients to the summit of Sagarmartha Everest four times since his first summit in 1992 and has turned back twice high on the mountain when clients needed protection.

In 1996, Guy was guiding on Pumori when Rob Hall, Andy Harris and clients were caught in bad weather high on Everest. He played a prominent role at Everest Base Camp during this tragedy. Guy took over the ownership of Adventure Consultants after the 1996 tragedy.

In addition to Everest, Guy has climbed five other 8000m peaks: Makalu, Cho Oyu, Gasherbrum II, Manaslu and Lhotse. All except Makalu were climbed with clients. In 1997, Guy guided clients to the summit of three 8000m peaks, a feat never before achieved by a Western guide. He has also attempted Gasherbrum I and Dhaulagiri.

Guy has also guided Ama Dablam and Muztagh Ata. In 2005 Guy completed the seven summits quest, taking the Carstensz Pyramid option and also guiding Aconcagua, Denali, Vinson and Elbrus.

Guy's interest in the mountains was fostered from a young age by his father Ed. At the age of 15 Guy joined Rob Hall (and others) to traverse from Arthur’s Pass to Mt Cook. In the Southern Alps Guy has completed dozens of climbs including new routes on Mt Aspiring and the Balfour Face of Tasman. Guy has also made major technical rock ascents. For example in Yosemite he has made ascents of t he Nose and Salathé Wall on El Capitan. In Pakistan Guy played a leading role in a lightweight expedition to the famous rock spire Uli Biaho in the Trango group, completing the third ascent. He has climbed the Nelion route on Mt Kenya.

In Antarctica, Guy has led several expeditions to the Ellsworth Mountains and completed guided ascents of Antarctica's highest peak, Vinson, and the first ascent of nearby Mt Slaughter. In 2010 Guy led a

Guy on top of Mt Kenya, 2007. SUZE KELLY

guided ski expedition to the South Pole. He has also led an adventurous ski-touring trip to the Antarctic Peninsula based from a yacht.

Guy has become a well regarded high-altitude cameraman, location scout and safety manager for film projects such as Hollywood blockbuster the Vertical Limit and the Hillary doco-drama, Beyond the Edge.

He has also directed avalanche awareness courses, worked as a heli-ski guide for Harris Mountains Heliski, instructed the New Zealand Army and helped to rig Eco-Challenge multi-sport events in New Zealand and Fiji. Guy has also lectured extensively throughout New Zealand, Australia and the USA. In summary, Guy has arguably done more than any other New Zealander in recent years to consolidate New Zealand's position as a mountaineering nation with a proud tradition of both amateur climbing and professional guiding. Adventure Consultants is regarded internationally as a model guiding company in terms of risk management, attitudes to and treatment of local staff and its mountain ethics. Guy has been an inspiration for dozens of aspiring young Kiwi climbers and his reputation extends to all corners of the international mountaineering community.

–Colin Monteath

JOHN ENTWISLE As soon as John speaks, his accent reveals his Yorkshire origins. He is always quick to point out when he is introduced to people that ‘No I’m not the bass player from The Who—I’m still alive.’ Those who know him will be familiar with this sense of humour and at 68-years-young, he is very much alive.

In the early 1960s John teamed up with fellow Durham University student John Barron to learn the hard knocks of rock climbing. They formed a strong team and Barron recalls: ‘Outstanding memories are Cenotaph Corner (E2) and Cemetery Gates (E1) in Llanberis, in Wales, both in '65, and Vector (E2), one of the harder routes around at the time in 1966. John led the hard pitches.’

The two John’s had a big alpine season in 1966. Barron says: ‘We climbed the north face of Cima Grande via the Comici, and the north face of the Cima Ovest via the Cassin, plus several other routes in the Dolomites before moving on to the Bregaglia where we did the Cassin Route on the north-east face of the Piz Badile. At the time these were pretty significant routes, it certainly felt like a good season.’

John and his wife Kate arrived in New Zealand in 1972 and raised a family of three boys. At that time John juggled teaching and climbing as he moved closer to full-time instruction and guiding. This resulted in the formation of the Peak Experience guiding company and eventually led John into full-time guiding. His passion for climbing and commitment to training is unquenchable. A classic example was in February 1983 during a demanding New Zealand guides assessment course, he and Marty Beare escaped the course for a couple of days to complete a new route on Mt Tasman’s Balfour Face. He continues to pioneer new alpine and crag climbs as well as ticking off the classics.

John’s contribution to the broader recreational and professional

world has been profound. He is a member of both CMC and NZAC, and has instructed for both clubs. He is an NZMGA committee member and assessor. He is an NZOIA committee member John racking up for another adventure, at Arapiles, and assessor. He October 2013. PETER CAMMELL. has also fulfilled the role of accident investigator. For 40 years he has been an inspirational role model, giving his time generously to CMC and NZAC at a committee level, mentoring and instructing courses. There is a rumour that he is now instructing the grandchildren of former course participants.

Although no longer guiding, John enjoys annual trips to Europe or the Himalaya with Kate, ticking off the great walks and on his return to New Zealand launches back onto the crags. John and Kate have returned from Europe this spring having completed the Tour de Monte Rosa and enjoyed a reunion with his old mate, John Barron, in Chamonix. Barron reflects: ‘We had several good days climbing with the highlight being a five pitch grade 6a/6b on the Tour des Crochue.

Rock shoes and bolts all the way, how things change. It was almost 50 years to the month since I first climbed with John.’

–Ray Button

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TROY MATTINGLEY

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Margaret has been the National Administrator at NZAC since 2001. All NZAC members will recognise her name—she’s the one keeping the club running while we’re all off climbing! GEOFF GABITES and SAM NEWTON put a few questions to Margaret, to find out a little more about her and her 12 years at NZAC. n How did you come to work at the New Zealand Alpine Club?

In 2001 I was at home spending more time with my young family. I’d left my last employment as it had scope-crept into a fuller-than-full-time position (they hired four people to replace me). I wanted to go back to just part-time. Back then situations vacant were advertised in the paper and that is where I saw the ad for a part-time admin position at NZAC. After making it through to an interview with Geoff Gabites (Headquarters Chair), Richard Wesley (NZAC Administrator) and Jocelyn Douglas (Secretary) I started work at NZAC on 1 October 2001. I have to say that prior to being employed by the club I didn’t actually know it existed. (People actually climb mountains? Crikey, I’ve only ever been camping—better not look too blank at the interview!) However, the job description was well within my capabilities and it was only 20 hours per week. My background in database-keeping was one of the things that sealed the deal. The club then had a shocking database that did all sorts of weird and wonderful things to members’ records. (Much like the new one does today!) Richard introduced the reliable Clubmate database that the club ran up until May this year.

In 2001 the National Office was called the Club Headquarters and was situated on the sixth floor of the now demolished Manchester Courts building on the corner of Hereford and Manchester streets.

Richard Wesley was newly established in the role of Administrator, while Mark Watson was on long-term leave. Filling in for him was Andy Milne as The Climber editor. I had replaced Angela Boulcott in the Assistant Admin position.

My memory of the Manchester Courts building is that it was extremely cold in winter. You needed to plant yourself beside a small radiant heater, and I sometimes wore Dad’s fingerless gloves from WWII to keep my fingers warm enough to type. The building 24

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would shake at the passing of any heavy vehicle that passed down Manchester St, and I remember jokingly saying, ‘I wouldn’t want to be in here in an earthquake!’ There were a lot more manual tasks to do.

For example, we did bulk mail-outs ourselves and hand-sorted the photos and slides entered in the photocomp. Today the workload is much greater and the scope-creep means doing over 40 hours a week just to try and keep on top of things. n Publications became a bigger aspect of NZAC at that time.

At the start, selling publications did. Retailers and members were happy to be receiving orders promptly, so more came in. More retailers came on board to purchase and the membership grew. Having a centralised office with paid staff made a big difference once it was firmly established. Mark Watson came back and got stuck into turning the club’s guidebooks into a professional set and gradually changed the face of The Climber and the journal. Richard was a great driving force to get things done and the three of us worked very well as a team. n Then, of course, there was the transition of the HQ building from the city centre to where it is now.

One of the best decisions the club ever made. I remember the process of looking. Richard’s mission was to find us a new home and lucky we did. By the time of the first 2010 earthquake, on 4 September, NZAC was settled into its new concrete slab premises on Raycroft St. Going into town post-quake, I checked out the Manchester Courts building and I could see a giant crack on the outside wall, running right from where I used to sit, back through the building along Mark’s old office.

There was plenty of debate about saving the heritage building, but it was demolished all the same. Fortunately, it was demolished before the 22 February 2011 earthquake, as I’ve no doubt it would have collapsed and I’m sure six floors of bricks coming down would have

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caused many more deaths that day.

Moving-out day happened in 2006. It was a big job. Like emptying a well packed cupboard—you don’t know just how much you have until you take it all out. The moving truck waddled its way down Manchester St, filled to the roof, and nearly tipped over going around the corner.

Anything packed has to be unpacked and that was mission number two. Trouble was, the nice three-storey building that promised lots of space was soon filled up. If we’d only bought the unit next-door as well! Richard had made a great job of decorating the walls with old climbing gear and images of mountains adorn the stairs. The ground floor became both the storage area and Mark’s (now Kester and Sefton’s) man-cave, where music and long discussions with drop-by climbers are frequently heard. The first floor contains the boring admin side and is where Sam, Narina and I reside. n And when the earthquakes struck, what effect did that have on the office?

After the first September earthquake it wasn’t until later in the day, after things were settled at home, that I ventured in, alone, to see how things were at work. Ollie and Geoff were out of the city that day. Cellphones have been a boon during all the earthquakes and I rang Geoff to report on the damage at work, which was mostly mess. Shelving had fallen over, and books and papers were all over the place, so there was a lot of tidying up to do. Work returned to normal fairly quickly once power and water returned, but not so after the February quake.

We had rumbled on over Christmas and when the February 6.3 quake struck, it was actually my day off. I was at the Northlands Mall, just having had lunch with most of my immediate family. My youngest son was MIA and that caused a panic at first, as his last text message was that he was stuck in the city.

I went in to look for him, squelching through the liquefaction. Luckily he was fine. The traffic was diabolical for ages and it would take hours to get anywhere, so I couldn’t get into the office to help with the clean-up this time.

Another set of shelving had collapsed. (The shaking occurred in a whole new direction compared to the September quake). There was more mess that Ollie and the others tidied up.

We got power back at work in just a few days, but there was no water for weeks. It was awful having to go to the loo in the bushes, but the ‘show must go on’.

Although not mentioned much, the two big aftershocks in June were slightly hair-raising. The first one saw my newly made cup of tea go right across the desk and down the wall. By the next, I’d learnt my lesson and hung onto the cup whilst ducking under my desk.

Kester had just come into the room and, with Pat under her desk too, there was nowhere left for him but the doorway. Both times we had lost power and experience told us it would be a long, slow drive home. So, as the jug was still hot, we all sat in the darkened office and had a final cuppa before hitting the road home. n In your time you must have seen a few presidents come and go?

Chas Tanner was president when I started, but Dave Bamford is the one that I remember the most. He did a lot for the older members of NZAC—the discounted subs for 35-year veterans and free subs for 50-year veterans. I had noticed a lot of members leaving once they got a bit older, and Dave was supportive of my idea to create a new membership category for them. Older members seemed to think that as they weren’t climbing, there was no point in staying a member. I disagreed, knowing the value of retaining that wealth of knowledge and history, plus the type of member who has been loyal to the club that long deserves recognition. We also established the Mature Mountaineers meetings. Dave was also key to the transition from the old HQ to the new. n In many ways you have become the central person in NZAC. How does it feel to have engaged with more climbers in New Zealand and Australia than anyone else, despite not being a climber yourself?

I used to think that climbers were a completely different breed to the rest of the populace, but over time I’ve realised that I was just seeing a bigger cross-section of people than I’d encountered in one organisation before and so was meeting a more diverse range of personalities. I still struggle with the language barrier at times, but you get around it by nodding and smiling—all the time thinking, ‘I wonder if you only find Jumars in India, or do they live in Nepal too?’ n So what is your impression of climbers? What typifies a climber from a non-climber perspective?

I’m not sure, but there are two types that stand out in my mind. The all-on, climb everything at a zillion miles an hour, ‘damn-the-torpedoes, I want it now, but yesterday would have been better’ type. And the ‘quiet, almost shy, slip by under the radar, how long have you been standing behind me’ types. At the start I thought they weren’t very friendly, almost aloof, but now I know some of them better. I think they just need to get to know you and usually they’re the ones I hear being talked about as the real gurus of their chosen field.

It can be quite a conversation killer to not be a climber when it comes to face-to-face meetings, but it’s definitely a bonus when it comes to the work I do. There have been many times, when the weather and snow have been good, that I’ve been the only one still at work. n In your time you have seen the introduction of travel insurance at NZAC. Any impressions?

The insurance was originally underwritten by Lloyds in London, until there was a major claim (not one of ours) and all the insurers pulled out of the high-risk cover. It took eight months to find a replacement policy with ACE Insurance. Our broker, Peter Garrett, is a marvel at speaking to insurance companies and getting the best result for NZAC. In the beginning there were a lot of jaunts

by Kiwis over to Australia for rock climbing and Australians would cross the ditch to come mountain climbing in New Zealand. Overseas travel—I remember Nepal being flavour of the month and then South America taking off, as well as Alaska. Now destinations are much more diverse. Instead of not being allowed into certain areas, you can go anywhere, but not be covered for things like terrorism if it’s a known area for it. People are travelling for longer and there’s a greater range of activities being undertaken. n Your love of books is no secret. You have done a lot for the library here and for those people that have donated or bequeathed their collections of climbing literature.

Even more than books, it’s the history I like. I think I should really have been an archaeologist or an historian—I’m in the wrong job!

Fascinating things turn up in old donated journals and books. We’ve only got the first seven NZAC Bulletins because members tended to use them as book marks in their journals. I never say no to donations as you never know what treasures they’ll contain.

I started putting together all I could find on the WWII dinner in Cairo of CMC and NZAC members, mentioned in the 1941 journal, after coming across an original list of invitees. I was fascinated and wanted to track down more about those who attended and why some didn’t (some were injured, some were POWs). I wanted to find out details of what they did during the war and what happened to them after.

However, there’s no time to get side-tracked on this type of thing and so it has sat unfinished for some years now. n Amongst all the things you do at NZAC—and you do a lot— what do you find the most appealing and the least appealing?

Well the least would be the most obvious to anyone at the National Office—the new database! Sherlock had Moriarty and I’ve got CiviCRM. I could go on, but there’s no point in raising the blood-pressure unnecessarily—that can wait until I’m using it next.

In saying that, it does have its appealing side. That would be the problem-solving required to get around it to make things work.

Climbers’ challenges are both mental and physical; mine are just mental—completely mental! Ha-ha-ha!

‘I used to think that climbers were a completely different breed to the rest of the populace, but over time I’ve realised that I was just seeing a bigger cross-section of people than I’d encountered in one organisation before and so was meeting a more diverse range of personalities.’

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‘N

o library of books on alpine climbing would be complete without a contribution from Lord Schuster, whose Peaks and Pleasant Pastures is among the very best books ever written about mountaineering.’

others and only agreed to their collected publication as a form of ‘postprandial entertainment for the members of the Association of British Members of the Swiss Alpine Club.’ As a current member of the British Section of the Austrian Alpine Club, when I read this reference, I wondered if the proper location for undertaking this review was a drawSo writes Sir Arnold Lunn in his preface to Lord Claud Schuster’s ing room in an English manor house, with me in a smoking jacket, with Postscript to Adventure (Eyrie and Spottiswoode, 1950). Lunn a whiskey in hand, rather than the least-leaky corner of Pioneer Hut describes a starkly different kind of alpine library to those often found during a violent rainstorm. At the very least, perhaps I should call my in today’s high huts in the Southern Alps, which sometimes hold a few climbing partner ‘Jeeves,’ and insist he find me a bracing beverage? worthwhile reads but more often specialise in ‘mens’ interest’ magaDespite Schuster’s humble misgivings, and after a short and intriguzines and novels of dubious provenance. ing dissection of Tyndall (whose mountaineering life forms the disHowever, tucked away in a quiet corner of Unwin Hut, under lock cussion of one of Postscript to Adventure’s ‘papers’) and an outline and key, lies the members’ library. From the outside at least (I’ve of the ‘only two forms of mountaineering literature [that] are permisnever actually managed to get in), this library appears to be comsible’—technical instruction manuals and guidebooks—Schuster goes prised of morally upright volumes suitable for the edification of young on to bollock almost every author in both these two approved genres. and not-so-young alpinists alike. One such is Schuster’s Postscript He reserves particular venom for the guidebooks by one Mr Coolidge to Adventure. Having secured a copy of Postscript to Adventure last who, he declares, ‘never acquired a capacity for knowing or describing summer (from alternate sources) and devoured it during a particularly a route on a mountain’—a significant limitation for a guidebook author stormy couple of days in Pioneer Hut, I encourage other NZAC memthe reader would presume. Schuster goes on to give specific examples bers to storm the Unwin library, for our mutual edification. Rather than of Coolidge’s failings. But when Schuster obliquely refers to a failed putting together a traditional expedition narrative, Schuster and his ediliterary collaboration between his own nephew and Coolidge, one tor have compiled a collection of musings—therefore, what follows is wonders whether the question might have become more personal than less a review and more a series of musings on the musings I found in academic. Thankfully Schuster does find something to like in mounPostscript to Adventure. The book has 11 chapters, but I’ll just dissect taineering literature; he is full of praise for Mr the first two. Hopefully that will be enough to Geoffrey Young’s technical instruction works. inspire you to read the rest, and not so much Just at this point the introduction takes a as to be a spoiler. decidedly philosophical turn as Schuster asks Before you consider undertaking this perilhimself, if he is not penning a guidebook or ous journey, it’s worth noting Schuster has a instruction manual, why he should write about deeply idiosyncratic style. Schuster’s over-use climbing at all? He concludes that he does of commas borders on the absurd, but this so because he simply cannot suppress the addiction enables him to indulge in sentences ‘spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings … with so many qualifying statements that by too powerful to be repressed.’ This is the first the time you reach the full stop, you will have of many times that I felt a deeply uncomfortforgotten the main clause. It’s the literary able sensation while reading this book: I found equivalent to negotiating the Hooker icefall myself identifying with Schuster. Why ‘uncomonly to forget you were heading to Empress. fortable,’ you ask? Well, to me Schuster is Schuster also has a penchant for poncy problematic; he’s a little bit sexist, quite racist words. So if my musings do inspire you to

BY DALE THISTLETHWAITE (at this point in the book he’s already used the read Schuster’s mighty 214-page tome, you’ll term ‘subaltern’ to describe those of non-Anglo probably want your dictionary within arm’s descent, and not in the post-colonial sense), he’s priggish, a bit puritanical reach; despite my honours degree in English Literature, I found myself and prone to transparent false humility. Yet, partly in spite of and partly repeatedly scratching my head as I read. Between ‘antinomianism,’ because of all this, Schuster manages to remind me of the universality of ‘accidia’ and ‘postprandial,’ I sought the OED’s assistance more that I’d the experience of mountaineering and of being in the alpine environment. like to admit. One of Schuster’s more endearing habits—or an infuriatHaving finally (reluctantly) identified with the author, I found that the introing one, depending on your perspective—is his tendancy to digress duction took off for me in the next section, where Schuster addresses into irrelevant, slightly boastful anecdotes. These anecdotes have no why people climb: relevance to Schuster’s actual subject, not even metaphorically or The mere exercise is pleasurable, there is a definite joy in getting tangentially, but don’t be put off; he’ll return to what he was originally to the top. There is a satisfying thrill in looking down the other chatting about eventually: it reminded me of the time I was soloing the side. The doing of it is accompanied by an astringent sense of Caroline, clad in a tracksuit and wielding nothing more for tools than well- being. There is even a happiness in being tired. And through, half a spoon … Schuster also has an alarming tendency to descend into and with and over it all there is an absorbing sense of the apprefire-and-brimstone religious invective, without warning or any apparent hension of natural beauty. provocation. Don’t be put off by this either; after Schuster’s finished This insight remains as relevant today as when it was written, in 1950. insisting that Victorians aren’t prudes and everyone else is going to hell Schuster’s reminiscences remind me of how small the climbing comanyway, he’ll move on. munity in Europe was at the time, as he lists as contemporaries or Postscript to Adventure was first published in 1950 as part of the familiars many of the great mountaineers of the day, the heroes of his New Alpine Library, which comprises Mountain Paths by HEG Tyndale, youth, who he clearly subsequently encountered first-hand. Schuster Speaking of Switzerland by GR de Beer, and Switzerland in English Prose wonders what drives these men and, significantly, why anyone would and Poetry by Sir Arnold Lunn, the editor of Postscript to Adventure. be seeking adventure or danger so soon after the horror of two world Lunn’s preface to Postscript to Adventure reads like a love letter to wars. Unfortunately, just as his prose is losing its self-consciousness Schuster, and certainly extolls the virtues of the author extensively to the and starting to gain momentum, Schuster launches into a baffling reader. To round out his preface, Lunn digs up some literary standards defence of the Victorian era, thereby establishing a pattern of inexpliof the genre: the decline of intellectualism (which always seems rather cable (however hilarious) digressions. unpalatably linked to the rise of the ‘common man’), and a quaint but Returning to message, Schuster provides an intriguing discussion of largely self-serving and pointless reference to the ancient Greeks. amateur versus guided mountaineering (an exact inversion of discusHowever, in its discussion of the tensions between skiers and sions that can be heard in the climbing clubs of today, particularly in mountaineers, Lunn’s preface does highlight the long-standing climbing the southern hemisphere and USA). Schuster trumpets the validity tradition of arguments about moral and aesthetic purity and one-upof guide-less climbing and defends it against the apparently common manship, a tradition that many contemporary NZAC readers will recogcharge of ‘ungentlemanliness’ because guide-less climbing involves nise. Another debate about bolting or helicopter access, anyone? doing things like carrying your own loads and chopping your own steps.

In Schuster’s introduction, he does an unseemly amount of selfFinally, Schuster discusses the guide–employer relationship and its effacing, insisting he wrote all parts of the book under duress from

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POSTSCRIPT TO

ADVENTURE

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value in providing a symbiotic exchange of knowledge and emotion— ‘the pleasure in contact with a mind brought to maturity in circumstances different to one’s own’. This is about as direct as Schuster’s push for a classless society gets, so, gentle reader, don’t hold your breath waiting for the revolution. The introduction ends in a reflection on the passing of Schuster’s own climbing days and his contentedness to watch, in satisfaction, the ascents of others from a comfy vantage point in a European alpine meadow.

If you’ve made it this far, you will read the opening of the first chapter with a mixture of bemusement and horror; here, Schuster proposes ‘to be even more than usually discursive’. This chapter is the transcript of an address delivered to the British Alpine Club in 1934; it is a meditation that was initially conceived during a hospital stay after Schuster broke his hip while skiing (on Boxing Day in 1931), and which was recorded, at request of the Alpine Club’s secretary, as a paper ‘on an abstract subject’.

The chapter discusses the apparently raging argument pitting skiers against mountaineers (which Schuster acknowledges has become largely irrelevant by the 1930s). However, the perspective is transporting. Schuster, a child of the 80s (the 1880s, that is), has during his lifetime witnessed the birth of skiing and seen its transition from a marginal and dangerous undertaking to a family leisure activity. His lifetime has also seen the ‘coming of the crampon,’ and ‘the advent of the hammer and the ten-penny nail.’ Several of Schuster’s arguments in defence of the skill of skiing will jar with anyone who’s ever been taken out by a hellmunchkin on a packed resort slope: Safety in skiing can be attained only by the acquisition of the highest skill; and the highest skill can be attained only by those who deliberately set themselves to attain the highest speed.

Who knew the motivations of that onesie-clad four-year-old who impaled you with his stick while careering down Captain’s Basin were so noble?

Of the skier who attempts mountaineering, Schuster writes, ‘He may with the good luck which sometimes attends children, drunkards and persons of weak intellect, escape the dangers without even knowing they were there.’ This doesn’t seem like much of a recommendation of skiers, though I’m not convinced the sales pitch he does on mountaineering is much better. Schuster ruminates on ‘uninviting’ 2.00am starts, stone-fall-plagued couloirs, burning sun, uncomfortable belays and persistent showers of ice debris—I’m tempted to quit myself. His discussion of courage versus fortitude is a moment of unadulterated British-ness not to be missed, and his insistence that mountaineers own up to their competitiveness and recognise the role of competitiveness in propelling the sport forward is observant.

Schuster aims to resolve the mountaineering–skiing tension by persuading purists in both camps to recognise the validity of the other.

The skier is urged to recognise that climbing can be pursued much further into inevitable human ageing and decline; and the mountaineer is pressed to concede that the use of skis for access can extend climbing beyond the traditional two to three month summer season.

In characteristically melodramatic style, Schuster discusses the changes that take place in the ‘fashions and manners’ of alpine pursuits, and urges his audience not to pine for the past because— bafflingly—‘The King has gone beyond us. The goose is dead. And the eggs are in the vaults of Washington and Paris.’ Schuster does maintain his trademark contrariness, however, having paused just a paragraph before this to muse whether alpine hammers shock him because of ‘[my] own old age or [because of] their inherent vice I cannot tell.’

The author points to the increasing progress and frequency of Everest expeditions as a hopeful sign and suggests that such attempted ascents have lent validity to the sport, a validity which, in the eyes of the public, it has hitherto been lacking. He finishes by musing on the future of the Alpine Club—how skiing and a weak pound have changed the traditional paths of entry into the sport, and the importance to the future of both the Alpine Club and mountaineering in general that young ‘ski-racers’ are

embraced and encouraged. The concluding paragraph extols what unites skiing and climbing, rather than what separates them, settling on a concept peculiarly inspiring and self-defeating all at once.

Those who love the game come to struggle earnestly to excel in it, and as they find that excellence is unattainable, they discover something which is richer and more satisfying, because it never can be satisfied.

In chapter two Schuster addresses a question that remains far more germane: what responsibilities do alpine adventurers owe their friends, families and communities, and the world? Should people ‘be left to do as they like so long as in doing so they do not interfere with the comfort of anyone else?’ Or is this maxim an oversimplification? Should some other code apply? And if so, how would the Alpine Club (Schuster’s audience) decide what it should be? This chapter is the transcript of another address given to the Alpine Club, this time in May 1936, and some knowledge of the alpine context of the time (not provided by Schuster to his presumably well-informed audience) will help contemporary readers to understand his meaning.

While British alpinism at the time was focused on the exploration of the Himalaya, penniless German and Italian climbers, who could not afford international travel, were instead attempting climbs of unprecedented difficulty and danger on major faces in the European Alps. The application of not only high skill levels, but also new techniques, led to the attempt of routes of previously unimaginable difficulty, often with tragic consequences. Schuster alludes obliquely to the entanglement of German and Italian alpinism with growing fascist nationalism in both countries. (Contemporary audiences are familiar with this context from the accounts of the race for the Eiger.) When the chapter concludes, Schuster has raised far more questions than he’s answered, but in doing so, he suggests a framework or an approach to properly addressing (or at least considering) the central question of the address.

In later chapters Schuster muses on the fate of the ageing mountaineer, on mountaineering as an art form, on his own ascents, on the cultural difference between British and Swiss approaches, on the history of mountaineering in its own right and in literature, and on the mountaineering life of John Tyndall.

Having somewhat mercilessly mocked Postscript to Adventure and its author, I must now admit it is a great read: informative, insightful, comedic (both intentionally and otherwise), and deeply engaging. It reminded me both how much has changed in mountaineering in the last 60 years—particularly techniques, equipment and the ease and relative low cost of international travel—and how little other aspects of our sport have changed: the experiences, the disappointments, the triumphs and the relationships. As the author of Postscript to Adventure, Schuster exhibits all the graces and shortcomings you’d expect of an English aristocrat born in the 19th century; he shows himself to be intelligent, observant, educated and deeply wacky.

A good litmus test for the suitability of a prospective climbing companion is to imagine what it would be like to spend a week of bad weather stuck in a hut with them. By the end of Postscript to Adventure, despite all my better judgement, I had to concede that being stuck in a hut for a week with Lord Claud Schuster might well have moments of provoking pomposity and nuttiness but that the experience would probably be quite the amusing adventure, much like the experience of reading his book.

Notes 1 Chapter IX on John Tyndall as a mountaineer is particularly interesting, though I can’t vouch for its accuracy.

2 Young, interestingly, is also the first of the many ‘indispensable’ alpine authors mentioned thus far in Postscript to Adventure that anyone I know has actually heard of.

3 Along with the other; the uncommon hilarity of Schuster’s frequent and irrelevant digressions.

4 WTF?

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Ian, van life construction, Christchurch. JON BUTTERS

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VAN WORDS AND PHOTOS BY JON BUTTERS

LIFE

I SLOWLY TUMBLE INTO REALITY AS THE CHILL MIST FROM MY BREATH, BACKLIT BY THE NEW MORNING, GRADUALLY COMES INTO FOCUS. I’M LIVING IN MY VAN—IT’S SO COLD THAT CONDENSATION HAS FORMED ICICLES INSIDE THE WINDSCREEN. THE TWO MEXICANS IAN AND I PICKED UP IN A FIELD A FEW DAYS AGO ARE SNORING PEACEFULLY IN BED BESIDE ME, AND WHEN WE ARE FINALLY BRAVE ENOUGH TO GET OUT OF OUR SLEEPING BAGS WE HAVE ANOTHER DAY OF WINTER BOULDERING BEFORE US AT FLOCK HILL.

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ABOVE Van modification parts 1–6. BELOW Golden Bay living. BOTTOM Ian climbing at Flock Hill.

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AT THE BEGINNING OF JUNE 2012, MY GOOD FRIEND IAN TURTON AND I FLEW INTO AUCKLAND AIRPORT. WE PLANNED TO SPEND A YEAR EXPLORING THE UPS, DOWNS, INS AND OUTS OF NEW ZEALAND. Get a visa, get a van and get busy living: it’s an established traveller formula and we wanted a piece of it.

Looking at our options we quickly decided to bypass the pre-packaged Juicy all-in-one no-brainer van holiday. A few days later (and $3500 poorer) we were sitting in Wellington in the back of our very own 1989 Nissan Homy, which was fully stripped back and ready for a rebuild. I am reasonably handy but Ian really knows his stuff. After two weeks of sawing, turning screws and swearing in our friend’s driveway, we had a bed, a kitchen, an intelligent storage system, a spice rack and a stereo installed. Kings of the road, we headed towards the ferry to Picton and the South Island—the end of the Earth.

As an outsider looking in on van life, it’s very hard to understand the appeal. This is an attempt to explain it. You see past the piles of unwashed clothes, dirty dishes and strange smells that you can’t locate and which won’t go away. The van becomes your home, your transportation and your life. Van love is a test, but it’s a rewarding one. You learn that although you want things from time to time and there are problems to solve, life really is simple. You learn that needs and wants are two vastly different things. Simple pleasures like waking up in a brand new place each day can be food for the soul. You’re free to do as much or as little as you choose. Some days in Wanaka, our biggest achievement was pulling out the mattress for some outside relaxation. Each day is only one day of our long lives. So when one of our essential needs for life is going climbing (I’m quite sure climbing’s not a want), we couldn’t ask for more.

In saying that, I have to admit—through gritted teeth—that money is a necessary evil of living life out on the road. We did have to get our hands dirty from time to time. Being from active backgrounds, Christchurch was our first base for a few months. We dug holes, broke walls, built and welded. We spent our nights in comfort down at Taylors Mistake beach. Local hero Errol Hunter, who runs the online surfing webcam and who is Taylors Mistake’s self-appointed mayor, took us in. Errol was born in a bach just above the beach. He’s lived in that same bach for 60 years, and will probably be there until his last days. Errol fed us regularly and entertained us with only the finest boxed wines and stories from the bay. He is in serious need of some new trousers, however. (Donations are most welcome.) But the real drawcard of Christchurch was that we could spend every weekend bouldering.

The bouldering in Castle Hill Basin really is world-class. As an all-round experience, Castle Hill rubs shoulders with Fontainebleau and Rocklands. By lucky chance we received a guided tour around Flock from Mr Derek Thatcher and the Redruth Ave crew.

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Van life hits Flock Hill.

The best Christmas day ever; at Paynes and filled with merriment and poor decisions.

saw many changes. The snow melted, friends came and went, we got stronger and somehow, inexplicably, Interstellar Overdrive got a whole grade easier between the day I started trying it and the day I stood on the top, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

The team from the Roxx were always a solid, supportive crew, bringing lots of good vibes and energy. Some days we got to climb with some young up-and-coming locals. After witnessing Sam McArthur successfully dyno through all the hard climbing on Captain Sassypants (off the atrocious under-cut pocket), I can say with confidence that that there is a lot of rising talent in New Zealand, and that it has the potential to go far.

Being from the UK, I like to think that I can handle tough unprotected climbing. I’m not quite sure what I’m basing that on, but we can all dream. Castle Hill unexpectedly delivered this style by the bucket-load. After all the ‘hard’ movements on a problem, you are almost always faced with a ‘heart in mouth / stain in pants’ finish, where a blank slab is the only way up, and five-metres of air is the only way down. I had to be rescued off Crossing the Rubicon, which involved Ian climbing on Andre’s head to get on top of the boulder and lower a pad handle down to within reach of my quivering hands.

As the spring days warmed the land, our bank balances had gained some weight, so Ian and I left Christchurch to cruise around the country for a while. New Zealand is a very special place. Once you are away from the cities you are generally away from civilisation. This isolation, combined with jaw-dropping landscapes, creates atmosphere and inspiration on the road.

Simple moments took on a more powerful meaning than they would if they had occurred back home. One time we found heaps of wild spinach growing in the coastal dunes on the east coast. Another time, we created Crush Cakes—epic two-inch-thick pancakes containing a whole stick of butter, flour, Nutella and biscuit bits. Journeys are most often more spectacular than destinations. Due to the nature of New Zealand, we often received quality messages enroute that would read, for example: ‘We’re just popping up to the glacier, we’ll see you at the beach in an hour.’

The smaller climbing destinations in the South Island offer a lot, and they were a great diversion for a few days on the way north or south. Hanging Rock is excellent; it caters for everyone.

There are views of the mountain ranges (as observed from the well-positioned longdrop), interesting routes and even a haunted house on the approach. Wanaka was well worth a few weeks.

Schist receives mixed reviews from Kiwi climbers but I really enjoyed it. I think it suits my strengths. If you’re not overly keen on it, however, you can always pop up the mountain for a ski or into the lake for a paddle. My imagination always ran away on me when I looked out over the Wanaka landscape. There must be so many similar locations waiting to be discovered down hidden valleys or tucked away behind dense woodland.

Summer came and Ian and I worked our way back up north. Here we learnt a few new things about vans. They are not racing cars or boats, and starter motors in vans can spontaneously give 32

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Elk Line thoroughly enjoying International Turkey Patrol (25) at Little Babylon. JON BUTTERS

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Troy Stephenson on Unforgiven (31), Paynes Ford.

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TOP Who likes to party? LEFT Van parathas. RIGHT Everything you need for a year on the road.

up life and chop their own bolts. In case you were wondering, yes, it is possible to push-start a diesel van going in reverse through a library carpark without hitting any other people or vehicles—why aren’t these things included in the handbook?!

A large part of our trip was spent climbing and taking it easy in Golden Bay. We worked there from time to time as groundsmen for Pohara locals in exchange for homemade cheese, wild meats and occasionally some money. Odd jobs became our specialty. One day we asked the local butcher if he needed anything done. The next day we were digging an offal pit in one of his fields: such is the rich tapestry of van life. Of course, most of our time was spent chilling at Hangdog. This place truly is one of New Zealand’s treasures. We met some of the friendliest and most open people from all over the world. When they weren’t spontaneously running naked into the Paynes Ford reserve, expanding their minds or gathering people for beach parties, they were a solid group of climbing partners. It was here that I met Bob Keegan, Alex Faid and Troy Stephenson, with whom I completed the Paynes 1000 Challenge. The day of our Paynes 1000 turned out to be one of the most epic days of my life. (Followed the next week by the most epic six days of my life in Kahurangi National Park, but that’s another story). Forty-seven routes, 24 hours and nothing easier than grade 20. We all made it to 1000. I fell on a few so had to repeat other routes at the same grade; Alex substituted in a couple at a lower grade but fair play. Troy and Bob were flawless. Barbecue, whisky and cigars all round!

Golden Bay is a very difficult place to leave. After spending one of the best summers of our lives there, and by far the best Christmas Day, it was hard to imagine that anywhere we went next would be able to compete. But, bleary eyed after the Luminate festival, we said our farewells and headed south towards the Darrans. We travelled the West Coast road under clear skies and as the sun was beginning its descent we headed up the golden pass to Wanaka. What a fantastic journey. A little van envy cropped up when a couple who had basically built a log cabin on the back of a flatbed stopped in the service station car park, but that soon drifted away as we rolled out onto the open road with Still D.R.E. cranked up.

Our last few weeks were spent in and around Homer Hut, taking in all that the area has to offer. We had heard the Darrans isn’t just wet; it’s one of the wettest places on the planet. The gods might have been on our side as for over two weeks we only had three days of rain. Each morning started with a wave to the government-appointed rock spotter as we entered the tunnel, and a unique view that changed daily as we emerged on the other side. The shifts in cloud cover, light and strength of the waterfalls craft the land continuously.

I was blown away by the quality of the Darrans. What a magnificent place, I feel honoured to have had the chance to go there. It has everything you could hope for, no matter what type of climber you are. The sport climbing is in amazing positions above the valley. The granite is bullet-hard, has perfect texture, and is neither under- nor over-featured. There are excellent alpine rock routes on the best-quality rock I have ever touched.

Plenty of peaks are up for grabs, if you are that way inclined, and there are stacks of boulders to be developed at the base of the valleys.

Thanks to Leanne and Juliet, we lived like kings in the hut, which was always stocked with fresh veg and chocolate pancakes. The goon we were drinking wasn’t the cheapest box in the shop either! Each day we felt good and each day we challenged ourselves. What more could you ask for?

Ian and I had packed in as much as we could in the short time we had, but we still left with plenty of unfinished business. Our time in New Zealand ran out too soon, and who knows when we will return. Ian’s path took him to Oz, while I found myself wandering around in India. It is unfortunate that our time in the van in New Zealand had to come to an end, but that only means a new chapter is beginning. I would recommend to anyone who hasn’t lived the van life before to go out and experience it. You never know, you might really take to van life.

I miss my van.

More of Jon’s photographic work can be seen at jonbutters.com.

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DANCING TO THE TUNE OF

HOOKER & THE UNIVERSE WORDS AND PHOTOS BY JASON HOPPER 36

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Megan looking towards the southern flanks of Mt Hooker from the Solution Range.

‘Keep close to Nature’s heart … and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.’

–John Muir, pioneering environmentalist, from Alaska Days with John Muir by Samuel Hall Young, 1915 THE CLIMBER ISSUE 86, SUMMER 2013/14

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Creswicke Flat, with mounts Dechen and Strachan, and Fettes Peak standing sentinel over the valley.

E

very once in a while those key elements—a challenging trip, time, low rivers and fine weather—merge to provide the setting for a memorable trip in the hills. That opportunity came for my partner Megan and I, starting on Christmas Eve 2012. We had planned to sneak up Aoraki, but the conditions were not ideal, so we hatched a less grand but equally indelible trip: a transalpine trip crowned by a climb of Mt Hooker.

The customary poring over the weather forecasts before departure confirmed favourable conditions, although things were less certain for later in the trip. After a thorough examination of the maps we came up with a reasonably direct route to Hooker’s summit: travel the north branch of the Huxley, cross Brodrick Pass, ford the Landsborough, traverse the Solution Range to Marks Flat and then ascend the Hooker massif via the ramp-like route to the top. Then back again, hopefully before the weather turned.

Our transition was a delight, moving from a broad kilometre-wide valley to a narrow defile graced by towering spurs. An agrarian scene gave way to a grazed understorey, leading into dense forest with a leaf-littered trail. Within an hour we’d ditched the car, then we laid the bikes under lancewoods and continued afoot. The hills closed in.

Birdsong abounded and a karearea startled us with unexpected swooping. Our senses were being awakened; we were going to enjoy the days ahead.

Afternoon gave way to a sullen dusk and the rain blew down from the Huxley Range with stuttering potency. The winds slowly abated, staying true to the forecast for clearing weather by the morning (and not an hour sooner). The weather gods and forecasters were in sync— surely they’d remain bedfellows and the conditions would hold until we departed in six days’ time.

Entering our intentions into the Huxley Forks Hut logbook the next morning, Megan and I could not help feeling audacious. Our simple entry—‘Marks Flat and Mt Hooker’—seemed simple alongside so many entries about making Brodrick Pass at a push, with the exception of several other entries about parties planning to kayak down the Landsborough to the Haast confluence. Hours down the track I reasoned that parties who take this route to Hooker must simply not bother recording their intentions in the book.

We wound over Brodrick Pass and down towards the distinctive Landsborough Valley. As if by design the first sight of the valley is on 38

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a prominent knoll—just above the tree line—on the jagged shoulder of Mt Strauchon. We paused there to take in the scale of the catchment and its dominant position on our journey, giving our legs a break before the descent. Soon after, we met our friends Jeff and Karen, who had intended to reach Hooker but had deemed the Landsborough too difficult to cross as a twosome and turned back prematurely.

The Landsborough River is a fat serpent slithering its way southward over 60 kilometres, following a fault line and creating a formidable barrier. It is isolated and vast, with an otherworldly feel—settlers have come and gone, and pastures and aircraft have left their imprints.

Whichever way you leave the Landsborough, there are obstacles: the upper valley (and its imposing peaks) to the north, the main divide to the east, Harper Bluff to the south and the Solution Range sprawling to its true right. In contrast lay the flat valley floor of Creswicke Flat where we stumbled out of the forest, with Fraser Hut promising warmth and a ragtag collection of books and magazines to divert us that evening.

John Muir wrote that ‘The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.’ As Megan and I crossed the Landsborough and Solution Range the next day, we felt as if we had penetrated that very universe. Crossing the river took plenty of consideration; the longer we stood and contemplated our options, the more daunting it felt. Finally we saw a line across—with escape routes if we lost our footing—and forged through without incident. Safe, shivering and now further committed, we progressed along the strip of land that shrunk and grew in its dominance of the valley; evidence of battles fought and sometimes won with floods in the past.

Megan and I had read Moir’s Guide North avidly, savouring the descriptions and images of this area. This was our first foray into the mid-Landsborough, Solution Range and Hooker area, yet we had become accustomed to it through the guide’s enticing narratives, which had brought the area alive. Aat Vervoorn describes this same stunning landscape in his book Mountain Solitudes: high, imposing and sombre [...] its glaciers catching the sun’s last rays. At the foot of the mountain Marks Flat lay deep in shadow, already collecting in its basin the cold air rushing down from the icefields above.’

Walking across Toetoe Flat and stepping into a beech forest at the foot of the Solution Range, we felt immensely privileged to witness these treasures of the Alps. Heavy packs tugged at our shoulders and the

Daybreak, looking across to Mt Ward.

rotting forest debris lay on our route—yet we were buoyed by all our senses, by moving fluidly and feeling truly alive.

Marks Flat lies in juxtaposition with the Hooker massif and the sentinel Kea Bluffs, wedged between dramatic slabs at the confluence of the Clarke River. It is reward enough for the journey and is a destination in its own right. It’s a haven with plenty of shelter options—a charming and welcome place for weary legs at the end of a long day, and one for climbers and transalpine parties alike. Waterfalls roar, rocks glisten, water babbles and at this time of year the wildflowers are radiant.

Mt Hooker can be ascended by several routes, of varying difficulty.

Its first recorded ascent was from Jack Creek in 1928; however, that route involves treefall and rock bluffs, exposed by a receding glacier.

Our route, first climbed 75 years ago, was relatively straightforward, involving a 1700-metre ascent over the Hooker Glacier and the south-western flanks of the mountain. To us it seemed the most likely way to reach the summit while avoiding the indignity of carrying our ice axes, stakes and screws to function as surrogate tent pegs.

During the still hours of our alpine start, Megan and I were befriended by curious deer that kept close to us as we ground our way upwards. We couldn’t see much of the topography but we could sense its grandeur in the frequent rockfall and in the clamouring glacier and cascades. Our four-legged friend silhouetted herself against the red-hued sunrise on the ridge to our east before easing off the bluffs with sure-footedness. Mt Ward and the Main Divide stood sentinel to our east, a sawtooth separating the black and crimson of the canvas before our eyes.

The climb from Marks Flat to the summit cap superbly rounded out this varied journey. The grandeur increased as Megan and I inched our way upwards, roped together and alert for crevasses, which were difficult to detect on our constant upward gradient. After some 1200 metres of climbing, the gradient mercifully steepened and we found ourselves front-pointing up to Hooker’s north-west ridge. The views from here were spectacular. To the north-east we could see over the Otoko Valley towards Aoraki, Sefton and Dechen. Lake Paringa lay to the west, providing a dramatic contrast to the glaciated summits. Even

close-up, Hooker was formidable: strong, powerful and isolated. We had views in every direction. Despite the fact that we had stopped just short of the actual summit—due to a crumbling schrund and exposure to rockfall—I felt complete peace and fulfilment at what we had achieved.

After a restful afternoon in the garden of Marks Flat, we watched the hot sun slide behind Kea Bluffs. A calm ushered in the night. Three long days with heavy packs had us planning to enjoy the next day exploring this area, but this plan was soon terminated by a sinister silence, with racing high cloud and a sliding barometer. An ominous feeling began to build, prompting us to pack up and leave swiftly—I knew from previous experience in the Southern Alps that these signs hinted strongly at heavy rain and fierce winds. By 5:00am Megan and I were forging our way homeward through the high tussock by headtorch. The menacing sky that revealed itself at dawn confirmed our take on the conditions.

The window for our escape route via the Landsborough was likely to close soon, and we had not considered another route out.

Compounding our plight, we carried a map that did not include the Clarke or Otoko valleys, which could have offered alternative exits from the swollen Landsborough. To save on weight, we had chosen not to carry a mountain radio, so we were unable to get a forecast or seek further information on these other escapes.

We could hear the message from the Landsborough loud and clear: Move along. Cross before the heavy rain sets in and the doors close.

The unpleasant weather we had thought was a remote possibility had come to spoil our party. By our reckoning, its early arrival indicated a more intense change. It spelt trouble. The race was on.

Rain steadily increased in intensity and with it came the predictably stiffening southerly. We were at the mercy of the elements now.

Every decision could have a bearing on our chances of crossing. If we couldn’t cross, we would have to endure the spectre of days living off portions of freeze-dried food and splitting the crumbs from our few remaining bars. Megan and I aren’t the best at rationing our food, so this was motivation in itself. It was critical that we find deer trails and

Our transition was a delight, moving from a broad kilometre-wide valley to a narrow defile graced by towering spurs

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Mt Hooker’s imposing south face.

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Megan on the summit ridge of Mt Hooker, with Aoraki Mt Cook and Mt Dechen in the background.

an efficient route over the Solution Range then down through Toetoe Flat. Our senses were tuned in to the rain’s intensity and sharpened by anxiety.

Like an angry serpent, the Landsborough had risen and was changing colour rapidly. Upstream, dark clouds were shedding their load.

We watched the river race inexorably towards the sea. Our refuge, Creswicke Flat, lay a relatively short distance across the torrent. We probed and watched, hearing rocks tumble on the riverbed. Time was our enemy—the longer we spent surveying the runouts and ‘what-ifs’, the higher the river got. Our escape scenarios were limited. If we were taken by the swift current, the rapids would be unavoidable: in the best-case scenario, we would have to ditch the packs and, hoping for the best, swim frantically. The worst possible scenario wasn’t worth contemplating.

I linked arms tightly with Megan and together we probed and eased our way into the opaque river. Our stabilising pole vibrated violently, and a clamorous bow wave rose from hip to chest-level. With swift water fore and aft, we had no choice but to forge on; we were in the grip of the river. Our methodical prods changed to resemble an aqua-jogging session when Megan’s feet left the rocks and she began to float. The game was on. We somehow remained linked though our only option was to run with the flow. I hoped we were already at the deepest point. We made an abrupt turn and ran straight down the river. Finally, we found easier purchase on the rocks, and the current began to relent and the bow wave eased. Shivering uncontrollably, we approached the left bank. We were across.

After crossing another two tributaries and a short, hasty walk, we sought refuge back at Fraser Hut for an hour. We were safe and would be out in a predictable timeframe. With this sudden change in fortune, we ate food with reckless abandon. Then, shivering and exultant, we pushed on, crossing Mackenzie Creek and regaining deer trails for the route up to the Main Divide. Free of the threat of severe danger or days in isolation with limited provisions, we felt only relief.

The predictable nature of the wind and the biting cold were manage-

able discomforts.

As we edged towards the treeline near Brodrick Pass, an exuberant and inquisitive kaka cawed—our only sign of birdlife during a day of inclemency. Thunder cracked, the wind howled. Our Gore-Tex armour was reaching its limits. At least the weather was now generally at our backs. We descended down into the Huxley catchment through a dull dusk illuminated with regular lightning, reaching Brodrick Hut at 10:00pm. It had been a long day—we’d spent 17 hours on our feet. (A little less for Megan, thanks to the river crossing.) We slumped into the hut for a giddy night of food, hydration, warmth and sleep. Rain hammered on the tin roof throughout the night but we barely stirred—we were drunk with relief and satisfaction.

Our walk out the next day, along an angry brown Huxley River, was euphoric.

Never had we been so grateful for a high-water track and footbridge, even if sometimes we had to slide into the river to negotiate active treefall and slips. Further down, the Hopkins Valley was awash. The ill-tempered sky left us in no doubt that our decision to leave our idyllic surrounds for an express trip out the day before had been a sound one.

Over the ensuing days, waterways in the area recorded ten-fold increases in volume and soon testified to the force of nature. We had retraced our steps at just the right time to avoid a prolonged wait on the riverbank, and gambled with crossing the river with a positive outcome.

This memorable trip has been etched in our minds for all the right reasons: it had isolation, charm and wilderness. The ranges to the west of the Landsborough took us into a seldom visited universe. Mt Hooker and its surrounds offer an ethereal experience. The diverse landscape is an absolute charm: a white world of ice and crevasses, and a deep forest abounding with life. It is a place that calls out to adventurous souls to live every moment, lest the weather gods change their tune and slam closed the doors to John Muir’s universe.

The Landsborough River is a fat serpent slithering its way southward over 60 kilometres […] It is isolated and vast with an otherworldly feel

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Big Stones Buck Rock. CLIFF ELLERY

If multi-pitch sport climbing is your thing, Waikato’s Buck Rock and Coromandel’s Castle Rock need to be on your bucket list—if they’re not already! I struggle to find a bad word to say about Buck Rock and Castle Rock. The rock is sound, the climbing is varied, the routes are long and the views are stunning. I have travelled over the ditch and around the globe to do multi-pitch climbs that are inferior to ones I’ve found at these two areas.

When I mention how good these crags are to other climbers, I am often asked, ‘If they are so good why haven’t they been climbed on and developed earlier?’ Honestly, I don’t know the answer to that. But that’s New Zealand climbing for you. So much of the good stuff is sitting out there in plain sight, waiting to be done. Maybe it also has something to do with the fact that developing new crags is bloody hard work and you would have to be insane to spend your valuable climbing days scrubbing rock and bolting. Thankfully there are a few nutters amongst us and slowly but surely New Zealand’s pool of climbs is growing, as is the variety, grade and quality of those climbs.

I am happy to report that there is more than a few weekends worth of multi-pitch sport climbs to be had in the Waikato and Coromandel areas.

Guides for both crags can be found on climbnz.org.nz and on freeclimb.co.nz. Please read these and study the approach and descent information for all routes. Then, grab your climbing partner, pool your quickdraws and ropes and head out on what I can guarantee will be an adventure-packed trip. Below is my hit-list of multi-pitch routes and a small commentary on each route to get you salivating.

BY CLIFF ELLERY

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Buck Rock How the biggest bit of stone in the Waikato can be unknown to so many climbers—even though it is less than a 50-minute drive from Hamilton—is bizarre. Situated high on the south-west ridges of Mt Te Aroha, Buck Rock faces south, giving a fantastic view of the Kaimai Range and south-east Waikato. The hard quartz rock is unlike anything else found in the North Island and is generally void of pockets but offers a multitude of edges.

The crag loses the sun at around 11.00am, so it is an ideal summer crag, but can be climbed on year-round.

BRING BACK BUCK (45M) PITCH 1 (18) 25M, PITCH 2 (18) 20M A great intro to climbing at Buck Rock. The bolts are where you need them but there is enough air between them to give you that feeling of exposure. The climbing is honest grade 18 all the way and the first pitch gets you to an amazing natural saddle in the middle of the wall. The second pitch is what multi-pitch climbing is all about. To bridge the groove you are forced to keep your hands down low and your eyes focused on your feet, meaning you can’t help but notice all that air between you and the ground.

Your heart will be in your mouth when you clip the crux bolt at the top of the overhanging groove. Fantastic!

PASS THE BUCK (80M) PITCH 1 (18) 25M, PITCH 2 (20) 25M, PITCH 3 (18) 30M

Madeleine Van Den Braak seconding the first pitch of Bring Back Buck (18). CLIFF ELLERY

The first pitch of this route is technical, the second thuggy and steep, and the third is an alpine experience. Lead the first pitch if you can, as an intermittent drip from high up misses the rock but gets the belayer every time. Most find the first pitch’s crux to be low down and there is little doubt the top section is easier. Pitch two is out there!

Committing moves on big holds get you through the overhang (the technical crux) but most find leaving the ledge above this section and getting established in the groove the mental crux. Pitch three has a distinctive alpine feel in both situation and rock quality.

Hey, it’s a three-pitch climb in sight of suburbia—you’ve got to do it!

BUCKING FUMBLIES (70M) PITCH 1 (20) 25M, PITCH 2 (17 OR 21) 25M, PITCH 3 (19) 20M Actually, this is not a climb for f’n bumblies. It offers up steep technical sustained climbing, especially on the first pitch. There are two options for the start of the second pitch: a steep grade 21 out right or a run up a grade 16 ramp out left. The third pitch climbs through some amazing rock sculptures, I know they support 80 kilograms—I will leave the rest for you to figure out.

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Castle Rock Castle Rock is an amazing crag in an amazing location, with breathtaking views and—in my totally unbiased opinion—is one of the longest and best rock routes in the North Island. The crag is a collection of four rocky outcrops and pinnacles. To date there are established climbs only on the two central outcrops. The southern one has the Kookmeyer and Buddha walls. The northern one holds the massive, 120-metre high Quiet Earth Wall. Here are my picks of the best multi-pitch lines on each wall.

THE LINKS EFFECT (100M) PITCH 1 (18) 50M, PITCH 2 (18) 35M, PITCH 3 (18) 15M

Brian Mercer on The Links Effect (18). JESS DOBSON

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This route is a great introduction to multi-pitch climbing. As the name suggests, this is a link up of three different routes, producing a 100-metre long grade 18. If you have a 50-metre rope the first pitch is a real rope stretcher. Delicate slabby moves will destroy any chance of you looking cool and nonchalant as you struggle to get off the ground. The first move of the second pitch is the best of the climb. As you drop off the edge and swing around, the exposure goes from one metre to 50 metres in one move. From there you continue up a long ramp, pull over a roof at the end, and then continue traversing right. The third pitch is a technical little number that will test your climbing pedigree. Top out and belay on top of the pinnacle.

QUIET EARTH PITCH 1 (22) 25M, PITCH 2 (20) 30M, PITCH 3 (19) 30M, PITCH 4 (22) 20M, PITCH 5 (19) 20M

Cliff Ellery on pitch three of Quiet Earth (19). JESS DOBSON

A long route with a long history, with a challenge in every pitch. The climb has more than 50 bolts, and by the third you will be scratching your head and questioning how the heck you’re going to get up this thing. The climbing on the rest of the pitch does ease up but you will know you’ve been climbing by the time you clip the belay at the top of the first pitch. The second pitch starts easily enough and you gain height fast as you blast up the corner. This height then hits you like a brick when it comes to pulling through the overhanging headwall on what must be the most exposed move of the climb. The second belay is out there and the only place where you can see the climb from top to bottom, it gives you a real appreciation of what it is you are tackling. The third pitch is the easiest of the five, but the crux is near the end so you can never relax. Pitch four is well bolted—a direct result of the number of explorations the first ascentionist had while attempting this pitch. This sport route would not be out of place at any world-class crag.

The innocuous looking move off the belay stance on the fifth and final pitch will bring on an overwhelming temptation to grab the draws. If you overcome this urge you will be rewarded with delicate climbing followed by a blast through overhanging rock on enormous holds that make you feel like the best climber on the planet. When you are finished, stand on top of the crag and let out a holler that will shake the martini glasses out of the Matarangi holiday home owners hands.

RECLINING BUDDHA (75M) PITCH 1 (22) 25M, PITCH 2 (19) 30M, PITCH 3 (19) 20M You abseil into this one, so you can either do a two-pitch grade 19 or go for the whole hog at grade 22. The crux on the first pitch is a short pump through a roof which is well protected—if in doubt, just give it a go. The second and third pitches are what climbing on the Buddha Wall is all about—low-angle slab climbing on large bulges that should be easy but are frustratingly difficult.

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PEOPLE

Peter Cammell and Dick Seddon. SUE DAVIDSON

THE 2013 AUCKLAND CLIMBER OF THE YEAR Three years ago the NZAC Auckland Section introduced a trophy to recognise outstanding contributions and feats, and to celebrate achievement in climbing. Dick Seddon is a long-time and enthusiastic member of the club, with a legacy of great climbs, so it seemed a natural fit to name the trophy the Dick Seddon Trophy for the Auckland Climber of the Year. Peter Cammell, ex-President of NZAC, was the 2013 recipient of the trophy. SUE DAVIDSON and Peter Cammell recently visited Dick Seddon at his new retirement home, where Sue put a few questions to the pair. n Dick, when did you first get into climbing? for family and business reasons. I finally climbed Mt Everest on 19 May 2012. For a few hours, I was the oldest New Zealander to have Dick: I was in the Scouts and I was fortunate enough to have two climbed Everest, until Marty Schimdt became the oldest.

Scout Masters who were in NZAC. That would be back in the 1930s or so. I became a Scout Master and that led to tramping and climbing. n Pete, when did you first meet Dick?

This is down in the Silver Peaks area out the back of Dunedin. We Pete: Probably 15 years ago, when I’d visit the West Coast with Nank tramped all over there. Then a friend’s father had been with Grave and to go climbing—we’d always visit the old guides there. And so, at our Talbot in the early days in south-west Otago and he had a yearning to local NZAC meetings, I’ve always taken a real interest in the old felgo back again, so he took his son and three of us back with him. We las because they’ve always got a great story to tell. One of the real went over the Grave–Talbot Pass, which is really something even now. strengths and benefits of the club is that the old and the young can mix We carried far too much weight—75 pounds (34kg)! We went into the and meet and we’ve got this common interest. Dick’s been a wonderEsperance Valley and the Tutuko Valley and then down to Milford. That ful friend because he’s enjoyed my expeditions vicariously. was the start of things, in 1944.

Dick: I’ve been to every meeting, I think, since I n Pete, when did you start climbing? joined (until very recently). I’m the only old one ‘One of the real strengths and Pete: Well, not dissimilar to Dick, I was in Boys’ there, but it’s been wonderful the way they’ve Brigade and we had these very active, keen leadinvolved me in it and then to have had this idea benefits of the club is that the ers. A bunch of friends and I first started when to have a trophy, of which I’m a totally unworold and the young can mix I was 14-years-old. My first route at the Quarry thy namesake. and meet and we’ve got this was Dalrymple’s Groove. We decided to be n Pete, what does it mean to you to win the mountaineers, and at the end of our first year at common interest.’

Dick Seddon Trophy for 2013? university we went down to Mt Cook.

Pete: It means a tremendous amount because I I made my first pack, my first climbing breeches look at it and say, ‘Well, it’s probably in recogniand my first harness. We got down there and the weather wasn’t tion of the continuous involvement I’ve had in the Auckland Section suitable for flying anywhere, so we walked over Copland Pass with for 20–30 years. And it means a tremendous amount because of my 20 days’ worth of food. Then we hitched and walked our way to Fox, friendship with Dick. He’s such an enthusiastic mountaineer even jumped in a ski plane, and landed at Pioneer Hut. I didn’t even know though he can’t participate to the level he wants to now. It’s a comhow to rope up. We got to the hut and decided to go climbing in the bination of having climbed a few things over the years and still being afternoon. We glissaded out of the hut and all fell into a slot. So we really involved in the Auckland Section, especially to do with the AGS renamed our party the Lucky and Determined Party. It was on that Rock Wall—keeping that open and keeping it safe for climbing. And trip that I met the people who would eventually nominate me into the also the instruction courses. I think that’s the best thing that the club—Paul Aubrey and John Nankervis. When we left Pioneer Hut to club does. go over to Plateau we went over Pioneer Pass and when we later met n And are you pleased, Dick, that Pete received the Dick Seddon up in Wellington, I remember Nank saying to me, ‘When you walked Trophy this year? out of that hut I thought I’d never see you again.’

Dick: I’m thrilled! I feel that of all the climbers I’ve known in the n Was Mt Everest on your wishlist from early on Pete?

Auckland Section, Pete has put so much effort into it. I have a great Pete: Yes, I probably started thinking about it in ’85, when I walked admiration for him because he got the club moving and got Unwin up into the Khumbu with my wife. We did some trekking and from rebuilt. We used Unwin as a base when we climbed in the 1950s, Kalapathar we watched a full moon rise over the Nuptse/Lhotse Col. before it somehow went into decline. I don’t know how that happened, I then climbed in the Khumbu again in 1991 and that’s when I really but now it’s a great base there in the Hermitage region. started talking about it. I was going to go in ’94, but I pulled out

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PEOPLE

NZAC VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR 2013

Fyfe River Gorge Rock Climbing Topo

LINDSAY MAIN

Lindsay climbing at Devil’s Gap, Banks Peninsula, in 2007. GABRIEL LINCOURT

LINDSAY MAIN has been a passionate climber for a number of years and is a life member of NZAC in recognition of his achievements.

Lindsay’s involvement in many aspects of climbing, both locally in Canterbury and beyond, has been huge and, after a climbing career of over 40 years, Lindsay is as passionate as ever.

Lindsay is quiet, unassuming and does not seek the limelight. Everything he does for climbing is with the benefit of the community in mind, so many people will be totally unaware of the extent of his contributions.

For a number of years now, Lindsay has been involved with youth climbing, especially through the Flying Geckos climbing club in Christchurch, where he coaches and encourages and mentors young climbers.

Every Friday evening Lindsay helps out with the Geckos. Dozens of young people over the years have gained from his knowledge, experience and enthusiasm.

On many occasions, Lindsay has organised trips and taken kids away to climbing areas around Canterbury to gain further outside climbing experience.

Lindsay is hugely involved with crag development and this passion has not waned over the years. In fact, Lindsay is possibly developing more crags now than ever before!

On Banks Peninsula, Lindsay has searched out, cleaned and developed many areas where others have not bothered to put the hard work in and we are now blessed with dozens of new climbs as a result.

Lindsay has worked tirelessly in getting damaged crags in Christchurch back open again after 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. Dozens if not hundreds of hours have been sacrificed by Lindsay to carry out remedial work, track maintenance, crag assessment and cleaning, and to liase with landowners and the Christchurch City Council to reopen crags that were closed as a result of the earthquakes.

Lindsay has found this task frustrating at times but he has never once considered packing it all in and leaving it up to someone else to sort; instead he has gone about these tasks with little fuss and often without anyone realising all he has done.

All of this work is without a doubt the single most important thing to happen to climbing in Canterbury in decades and, as a result, as of September 2013, we now have six crags open in Christchurch. (From 2011 to early-2013 there was only one crag open.)

Lindsay is already talking about another four or five crags he hopes to do work on and get open in the near future.

As a result of all of this, NZAC had no hesitation in presenting Lindsay Main with the NZAC Volunteer of the Year Award for 2013.

By James Morris

THE FYFE RIVER GORGE, KAWAKAWA BAY AND MORE AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD NOW FROM alpineclub.org.nz

–Clayton Garbes

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TECHNIQUE

EFFICIENCY ON MULTI-PITCH ROUTES

BY DANIEL JOLL There is nothing more frustrating than moving slowly on a long multi-pitch route. Saving a few minutes on each pitch can often mean the difference between spending an unplanned night out, getting caught by a change in the weather or making it back to camp early with enough time to be rested for the next day of climbing. Learning how to safely increase your efficiency and speed on a multi-pitch route will also open the door to longer and more challenging climbs.

Here are my ten favourite tips for saving time. None of these have anything to do with actually climbing faster. These are all tips that can be useful regardless of how hard your route is, but please be aware that these tips are aimed firmly at experienced multi-pitch climbers. n Shoes Believe it or not, you do not need a super-tight shoe to climb hard. It is rare to be climbing at your absolute limit on long multi-pitch routes.

Therefore your super-tight sport climbing shoe designed for mega overhanging caves can safely be left at home. Instead, go for a comfortable pair that you can wear all day without having to take them off. Not taking your shoes on or off at a belay will save you a minute or two on every pitch.

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n Belay construction I Even when I cannot hear my climbing partner I know that within 30 seconds of the rope going tight I am on belay and can start climbing. The reason for this is simple. When I arrive at a belay stance and before I pull up the rope, I ensure my belay is built, my pack is off and everything I need to do is finished before I pull the rope up. Once I have pulled the rope I instantly put my partner on belay. This way they know when the rope is tight they can start climbing right away.

TECHNIQUE David Hood and Elk Line at a belay station on Lucky Strike, Moir’s Mate, Fiordland.

TROY MATTINGLEY

n Belay construction II I never use my climbing rope to attach myself to the belay. I know this one might sound strange, especially to the mountaineering types who think that by saving the weight of an anchor sling they will move faster. The reality is that most people wait until their partner has pulled the rope and put them on belay before removing themselves from their belay.

If you have tied into the anchor with your end of the climbing rope, it can be very difficult to undo the knot on the anchor when your partner (at a belay above) pulls the rope tight.

Asking for slack and trying to undo your rope wastes valuable time and is especially difficult if you are out of earshot. n Belay construction III Build your belays with an equalised central

clip-in point. This allows your partner to arrive at your belay and clip in quickly. Insist that every climber in the team carries a sling for this purpose. Do not rob quickdraws from the rack to secure yourself to the anchor or build the belay. Always carry two suitable slings or cordellettes, and at least two carabiners each for this purpose. If weight is a concern, climb with a light sling and two lightweight snaplock carabiners for each anchor. n Belay construction IV Eye the pitch ahead. Try to build the belay with gear that is not likely to be needed on the following pitch. Two well-placed, equalised pieces are sufficient in most situations.

If you have good gear there is no need to go overboard with three- or four-piece anchors.

Often when I arrive at a belay stance I do the following: place one good piece, clip directly into it and call off belay. This then allows my partner time to get ready to climb while I build the rest of the belay and pull the ropes up. n Communication To climb safely on a multi-pitch route you can say very little to your climbing partner.

‘On belay’ and ‘off belay’ is all you need. I try not to say anything else. I know that if I hear a faint yell in the wind and the rope has stopped moving, its most likely the call was ‘off belay’. If the rope then gets pulled up and I hear another faint call, it’s ‘on belay,’ and I can start climbing. Less is more.

Whilst climbing Half Dome in Yosemite recently, my partner and I passed a father and son team who yelled a constant stream of communication at each other. Most of this could not be heard by the climber at the other end of the rope. They therefore wasted several minutes per pitch trying to figure out what the other one was saying. If they had just stuck to saying nothing but the basics they would have saved a minimum of five minutes per pitch. Half Dome is 24 pitches—you do the maths. n Getting ready to climb Moving as soon as you are on belay. There is no reason why you should not be able to start climbing the second you hear the ‘on belay’ call. No excuses. If you are mucking around with shoes, breaking down the belay, having a drink or putting on your pack, you are simply wasting time. Ensure everything you need to do is either done while belaying or while the rope is being pulled up.

n Belay de-construction Provided you are not at some sketchy hanging belay, once your partner has called off belay it is usually fine to start breaking down your own belay. I generally do this by clipping directly into the most solid piece of gear (or a bolt if there are bolted belays), then while my partner pulls up the remaining rope I take out the other gear, rack the belay sling and get ready to climb. I then remove the final piece when I hear the ‘on belay’ call. If I happen to be standing on a large ledge and there is plenty of gear between me and my climbing partner, I will sometimes remove the entire belay before I hear the ‘on belay’ call. n Racking gear If you are leading in blocks, the most efficient way to rack gear is by putting it all onto a shoulder-length sling. This way when you arrive at the belay you can simply drop the sling and gear over your climbing partner’s head and shoulders, allowing them to quickly rack up and get ready to lead the next pitch. If however, you plan to lead the following pitch, ensure the gear gets racked on your harness exactly as you need it for leading. There should be no double-handling of gear once you reach the belay. n Rope management Keep your ropes stacked in tidy order. If you happen to be on a nice ledge, use it. There is no need to have your ropes hanging at the belay if you are on a ledge. Just pile them neatly on the ground. If you are at a hanging belay then ensure your ropes are stacked neatly and do not hang down where they can get caught on something below you. n Rope stretchers As a leader, there’s nothing more annoying than running out of rope when you know the climbing above where your second is belaying is relatively easy. When I’m belaying someone and it looks like they might run out of rope, I start getting ready and strip the belay (so long as there is enough gear on the rope. Having done this, I can start moving as soon as the rope comes tight. We might only simul-climb for a few metres but those few metres might be just enough for the leader to get to a good stance or crucial gear placement. If you get it right, the leader sometimes doesn’t even notice they ran out of rope—although if they can hear you, it is best to let them know what’s going on!

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STUFF YOU NEED

BLACK DIAMOND VAPOR HELMET BEFORE I start this review I should mention that I hate climbing helmets. Always have. They’re hot, uncomfortable, bulky, wobbly, obscure my field of vision, look terrible, you name it; I hate everything about them.

Now my bias is out in the open—I love this helmet!

This is perhaps the single coolest piece of equipment I’ve ever bought. The story of this helmet begins in 2012, when Black Diamond purchased a Swedish company named POC, which is a high-tech manufacturer of helmet and safety equipment. The Vapor is one result of this acquisition. It is one of the lightest and certainly most breathable helmets on the market. It has 21 vents, distributed on the sides and back, and it weighs an incredible 186 grams—barely more than a baseball cap. The new Petzl Sirocco is 22 grams lighter, but in my opinion is also one of the ugliest helmets in existence. The Vapor is one sexy beast (aided by its extremely low profile—about half an inch lower than any other helmet). This means you don’t feel like you have something sticking out up there to continuously bump into the rock everytime you go through a steep section. In fact, I don’t notice the Vapor at all; I often forget I’m even wearing it. The Vapor is so comfortable I’ve even been wearing it belaying because I’ve forgotten to take it off!

The secret to the helmet’s low weight and low profile is in the unique construction. It incorporates two layers of Kevlar and a series of carbon rods in-between co-molded Expanded Polysty rene (EPS) foam and a polycarbonate shell. This allowed Black Diamond to make the foam thinner than ever before but still provide the crush—and

penetration—resistance to pass CE safety ratings.

Interestingly enough, the Vapor doesn’t have a UIAA rating, and Black Diamond doesn’t care. They wanted to make a helmet that climbers would actually wear—a helmet for those of us who think helmets are just for multi-pitch trad routes or big alpine faces. A helmet won’t protect you if you don’t wear it!

The innovative ratcheting suspension system tucks up inside when not in use, and is the most comfortable and best-fittting system I’ve ever used, with absolutely no frontto-back movement. This, combined with the low profile, means you never see the front edge of the helmet while wearing it either, so there is never any distraction or obstruction of your sight line.

After using the Vapor for a month now, my only concern is with its durability. Mine already has a few minor dings from squashing it in the pack, jamming it against a roof and rolling it down a hill. I certainly wouldn’t expect it to last as long as a traditional helmet. Yes, I mean that one you never wear.

The Vapor has removeable headlamp clips and, being removable, these are sure to be somewhere else when you need them.

For sport and single-pitch trad climbing, the Vapor is state of the art. Technology has finally caught up and made the helmet I’ve been waiting 15 years for. I literally had this in my hands for less than 60 seconds before Bryce Martin had my credit card in his. And you’ll need a good credit card too—this is also the most expensive helmet on the market. In my opinion, it’s worth every dollar.

Black Diamond Vapor Helmet. RRP $199.90 HHHH –Regan McCaffery

BEAL JOKER ROPE WITH SUMMER objectives taking priority, climbers’ short-term goals shift; sending rock climbs that have been trained for through winter or donning rock shoes as preparation for the alpine. Climbers who do it all require a rope that can perform well no matter what their endeavours are.

A triple-rated rope meets the UIAA requirements for all three categories: single, half and twin. There are three leading rope manufacturers in my opinion: Edelrid, Mammut and Beal. Beal ropes are readily avaliable in New Zealand. We are therefore fortunate that Beal produce a decent rope. I have climbed on several Joker ropes, so am well placed to assess this latest version.

The current rendition of Beal’s Joker employs the company’s new Unicore design. The core is composed of a single strand, whereas traditionally the core is made up of multiple, intertwined strands. The principle is appealing. Beal is quoting mitigated freeze-thaw implications at the sheath-core interface, and demonstrates how the design has improved resilience to piercing over conventional cores. Without independent testing, the Joker’s credentials here are no greater than the offerings from its competitors. Perhaps there is a pun in the name. But at least Unicore provides an additional layer in the psychological matrix of risks that deluge one on a run-out pitch. As we cannot expect a shock absorber to guarantee gnarly protection, psychological benefits reign supreme.

I would describe the handling of the rope as smooth, quick and dynamic. This is in part due to its 9.1mm diameter. I have had no trouble with kinks and it catches the brake on my Reverso every time. For those who are accustomed to a larger diameter, proceed with caution—this lightweight rope is svelte and may not behave as expected in belay devices without braking elements. It may catch out (or not catch, as the case may be) those not prepared at the belay. All the Jokers I have tied onto have had a contrasting black band to mark the mid-point.

The Joker is a hydrophobic rope; it has a dry-treated sheath. This is essential for longevity of the core and helps in not being thwarted on ice routes by having a rope that is more akin to piano wire. After several seasons use, the latest Golden Dry treatment on my Joker remains resilient, despite vigourous use over mixed lines and the occasional treeslung rappel.

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How does the Joker compare with its rivals? In the number of falls category, the Joker is the best of the contenders.

The Mammut Serenity is rated for less falls, significantly so when commissioned as a half. I expect the Edelrid Swift would be somewhere between the two, but the manufacturer’s literature is limited. Variations in impact-force by comparison to other triple-rated ropes are negligible. Compared with a heftier single, the difference will be significant and in practice this is obvious. As a half, and by comparison to the mass market options, the performance is relatively typical.

The Joker’s sheath equals 35 per cent of the rope’s overall diameter. This is less than that offered by the Serenity, so I suspect the Unicore technology requires significant realestate. This lean sheath is likely the reason for the rope’s reduced abrasion resistance in the field. At 9.1mm in diameter, the Joker is the most corpulent in its class, though I expect most would struggle to notice the difference between the Serenity (8.7mm diameter) and the Joker. Weighing 52 grams per metre, the Joker is one lightweight single rope, second only to the Serenity at 51 grams per metre. Compared with Beal’s flagship half-rope, the Cobra II, there is a four-grams-per-metre compromise to have the performance attributes of a single.

With an RRP of $469, you’ll need to carefully consider your expectations before committing to such a niche item. The sheath may not last very long, though it is capable of a few falls, and when you do take a lob the significant stretch guarantees a good ride. Regardless, the Joker meets my requirements. Versatility is where the rope excels.

And whilst versatility is great for some, it will not suit most—it is for this reason that I have opted not to give a star-rating for this review.

This is not a rope for top-roping, it is not a rope to work routes and it certainly is not a rope to haul gear on. But for ambitious climbers looking for a lightweight rope that offers performance at the crag or in the mountains, the Beal Joker fits the bill. If you spot me in the mountains, I’ll be tied in to one.

Beal Joker 9.1mm triple-rated rope. RRP $469.00.

–Anesh Narsai

STUFF YOU NEED

PETZL LIM’ICE ICE SCREW SHARPENER

Petzl Lim’ice ice screw sharpener. HHHHH –Graham Johnson

TIKKA RXP ®

Concentrated power and versatility, with 100% pure Reactive Lighting.

Photo © www.kalice.fr

ICE SCREWS are probably the most delicate of all of our pieces of equipment.

Cams will last for years, and we carelessly chuck our nuts and pitons into our packs.

But we coddle our ice screws, putting those little plastic caps and sleeves on them or wrapping them up in specially designed carrying cases, all to protect those four little teeth and precious threads. Summer may seem like an odd time to be writing a review of an ice screw sharpener but with the alpine ice season in full swing, there’s a fair chance that a lot of screws are going to be used and abused this summer.

Traditionally, when a screw is dented or damaged we do a quick repair job with the same massive file we use to sharpen our ice tools and then relegate that screw to the back of the harness for easy placements only, until the trip is over and we can have a go with a vice and multiple file types to try re-creating that factory finish—which almost never occurs. Petzl has come out with a handy, lightweight device for restoring razor-blade sharpness to dull ice screws: the Lim’ice ice screw sharpener. This device is a plastic housing for a small file that locks the ice screw into one of two separate slots to sharpen both edges of the dull tooth, effectively merging the vice and the files into one lightweight unit (162 grams). The Lim’ice only sharpens the teeth and cannot be used to sharpen damaged threads. Petzl claims that the Lim’ice will work with most brands of screws, including their own.

After using the Lim’ice to sharpen three generations of Black Diamond screws, an ancient Charlet Moser screw and newer Petzl-brand screws, I can say that the Lim’ice gets screws sharper than I’ve ever been able to with a vice and different types of files, in less time. My ancient Charlet Moser screw—which I found, well used, in 2003—has never been very sharp, despite attacking it with a file many times. Less than ten minutes of filing with the Lim’ice rendered all four teeth extremely sharp. My Black Diamond screws (while in much better shape than the Charlet Moser) also came out of a quick session with the Lim’ice with very sharp teeth. Impressive for such a simple little device.

However, there are some things that aren’t so good about the Lim’ice. It takes some practice to use it well. Filing should always only be done in one direction and it’s not very intuitive to do that with the Lim’ice. If the screw is really dull, the aggressive file tends to catch on the dull tooth and is hard to use until that tooth is sharpened a bit. I lent the Lim’ice to a friend to sharpen his screws and within a minute he had declared it crap. Only after a little persistence did he grow to like it and admitted that the Lim’ice allowed him to do a better job than he would have been able to do alone. The file (replaceable and reversible) takes a lot of metal off very quickly. I would have preferred a less aggressive file. The Lim’ice also doesn’t match the angles of non-Petzl screws exactly. For getting Black Diamond D screws back to the original angle, some filing with a vice and round files is still required, although I bet screws sharpened with just the Lim’ice will work fine. I probably won’t bother to do any more work on my Black Diamond screws.

The bottom line: This is a pretty neat little tool that works well (with some practise). It doesn’t exactly match the angles of all brands of screws, but it will get them very sharp and return screws to a high level of functionality.

www.petzl.co.nz www.spelean.co.nz

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STUFF YOU NEED

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN CARABINERS Carabiners have been getting lighter and lighter, without major changes in design in the past couple of years. However, there have been some innovative designs that have come to market recently that will be of interest to climbers. I must confess that when I first heard about these new developments I thought, why? Carabiners work just fine as they are; there’s no need for a change. But in the name of science I decided to try them out.

NO-TWIST BELAY CARABINERS These have been almost universally adopted by all carabiner companies. Whatever the individual design, these locking belay-carabiners all share an added gate or latch to prevent the carabiner from becoming cross-loaded during use. We’ve all been happily belaying and then suddenly realised our biners are cross-loaded. This is something to avoid because carabiners have a much lower breaking point when not correctly oriented. I have been using two different styles of these for a while now: Black Diamond’s Gridlock, which has a little step on the gate to centre the carabiner on a belay loop; and Climbing Technology’s Concept SGL, which has a separate wiregate that traps the belay loop. In general, both of these designs do a good job of keeping the belay biner from becoming crossloaded. I find CT’s wire gate a little less fumbly to use. The Black Diamond style requires some contortions to get it oriented on the belay loop properly, but is a little easier to use with gloves on. The wire gate style requires opening two different gates (the main gate and the wire gate) to orient it properly, which I find a bit easier. In a cragging, single-pitch scenario, these types of carabiners work great, but their ease of use tends to fall over on multi-pitch routes where you are taking the belay biner off your harness at the end of every pitch to bring your partner up in guide mode. The extra gate becomes annoying and I find myself going back to normal-style belay biners for this type of climbing. For multi-pitch and alpine or winter climbing, the older style works better. It is worth mentioning that because this type of biner is held in place, the rope-wear is concentrated in one place, making these carabiners more likely to wear out faster than traditional belay biners. In short, these types of carabiners work great for single-pitch cragging but are annoying to use on multi-pitch routes.

BLACK DIAMOND MAGNETRON LOCKING CARABINERS In 2012 Black Diamond introduced a new type of lock for locking carabiners: twin magnets that open with gentle pressure and snap shut to lock the gate. Now this, I thought, is

a brilliant solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. I swore I’d never buy one but—fortunately for this review—a friend did—and I’ve been nicking it off his harness for ‘testing’ ever since. Now that I’ve been using one of these a fair bit, I’ve been thinking back and there have been times when a traditional screwgate has caused some issues. Whilst climbing a wet and dripping ice route, my locking carabiners have occasionally frozen shut. And there have been times when I’ve dropped a locker in the sand at Long Beach and it’s gotten gummed up with sand.

Other times, the screwgate has become unscrewed. So maybe there was a problem. The new Magentron biners from Black Diamond—there are two: a large HMS-style biner called the RockLock and a no-twist belay-style biner called the Gridlock—are very easy to use and actually feel more ‘locked’ than a traditional screwgate (which will often have a bit of play in the gate even when fully locked).

Locking and unlocking the gate is almost as easy as opening a non-locking carabiner. I am now a convert and would seriously consider getting one of these when I need a new locking carabiner.

PETZL ANGE S AND L MONOFIL CARABINERS The wire gate climbing carabiner has been around since the introduction of the Hotwire by Black Diamond in 1999.

Since then the gate design has hardly changed, with a loop of wire that forms both the gate and the spring. Petzl has introduced a new type of wiregate in 2010 with a single bit of wire as the gate—as opposed to the traditional paper-clip-style gate. There are a few reasons Petzl has done this. Petzl claims to get solidgate durability from a wire gate. (Apparently the gate spring lasts twice as long.) And the wire gate saves a bit of weight over traditional solid gates. The Ange carabiners come in two sizes, the S and the L (for small and large). The Ange S weighs 28 grams and the L weighs in at 34 grams. Both are nice carabiners, with nice gate action and keylock noses. However, I fail to see the advantage of the MonoFil technology over more conventional wire gates. Neither carabiner is extremely light or strong, compared to others in their class. They both clip well, though I find the Ange S has a smaller gate opening than others in its class (of sub-30-gram carabiners). I’ve yet to have a conventional wire gate wear out on me and I have some that are approaching 13 years old. So, these are nice carabiners that work well, but I’m not convinced that this new technology brings anything new to the table.

–Graham Johnson

New Zealand Mountain Guides Association Training and certifying New Zealand Mountain, Ski and Hard Ice Guides to international standards .

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BOOKS AND FILMS

SIMOND CLIFF 20 BACKPACK LIGHT BACKPACKS never last. They always rip when confronted with sharp granite. Usually it’s just something you accept and then take a deep breath before parting with $150–$200 for something that, if you are lucky, will stand up to a beating on only a few big routes. On my last visit to Chamonix I was very pleasantly surprised to find the Simond Cliff 20 backpack. At a cost of 19 Euros (around NZ$30) it was so cheap that I didn’t care if I ripped it to shreds after only one route.

This is a relatively simple top-loading backpack with a daisychain running down the front of the pack and a single ice axe loop at the bottom. Unlike other super-light packs this one actually has some good usable features. The side pocket can be used as a stuff sack for the bag. This is a feature I have never actually used but I am sure someone will figure out a use for it. What I do like are the numerous gear attachment points that run down the front of the pack. I usually struggle to fit all my clothes and climbing gear into a small pack on approach walks. It is great to have plenty of clipping points to attach anything that doesn’t fit in the bag. I have also found the single ice axe attachment point to not be a problem. To attach two axes I simply thread the attachment loop through the head of both of my axes and clip it back to one of the webbing loops. I then tie the top of the axes off with the spare drawcord that is used to close the top of the pack. I have found a rope goes nicely over the top.

To date I have used the pack on about six alpine climbs. These were mostly one day routes, but I have also taken it out on overnight missions. The 20-litre size is perfect for a quick, fast route. The Cliff 20 is

just big enough to fit enough supplies you need for such a route. I also found that—weighing in at an ultralight 250 grams—I thought nothing of adding the pack on top of a larger approach pack for multi-day trips. I could then use the Cliff 20 as the leader’s climbing pack when heading out for a day’s climbing. Inside there is a bladder compartment which allows for an additional piece of emergency foam or a water bladder to be carried.

Like any lightweight pack, this one is not going to last for years. But then who cares? It only cost $30! From what I have seen of my own bag I should get at least another 12 months of use and abuse out of it. In my mind that’s more than enough value for money. The pack has also proved popular with some of my friends. One like it so much he decided to simply take it home with him after seeing it. I actually had to track it down in his house and steal it back.

You won’t find the Cliff 20 in a shop in New Zealand, but it can be ordered online direct from Simond.

The bottom line: If you are looking for the perfect climbing bag for your Darrans summer missions, or a summit pack that goes on top of your usual approach pack then this is a great bag for you.

Simond Cliff 20 backpack. HHHHH –Daniel Joll

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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BOOKS AND FILMS

OUR MOUNTAINS: JOURNEYS TO NEW ZEALAND’S HIGH PLACES

By Paul Hersey and Mark Watson Reviewed by Richard Thomson THIS IS a beautiful, thoughtful book about mountains. Although it is supposedly not (or not only) a climbing book, unavoidably, it involves getting to the top of mountains. Some ambivalence can be detected: on top of Mt Rolleston, Paul Hersey experiences ‘a slightly empty feeling, a kind of, okay, we’re here, what now?’ What else but skip back down the scree and continue south, to Aoraki, Tititea, Double Cone, Mitre Peak. There’s proper climbing on these ones of course, but climbing is deliberately not the focus of this book, which begins—like Hersey’s own mountain-climbing—on the edge of absolute panic 400 metres up Manaia, above Whangarei. I have a not entirely unreasonable suspicion that the concept behind this book—15 peaks, seven from the North Island, eight from the South—is a strategic move on the part of the publisher to broaden the book’s appeal. But a better explanation may be found in Hersey’s empty feeling, or rather in his search outside and beyond it, for the stories and thoughts of the people he and photographer Mark Watson met over the course of the year they spent travelling and climbing to make this book.

On the whole, everyone Hersey and Watson meet is too busy just getting along with life to worry too much about ‘what now?’ Or perhaps, like Li Reedy in Ruatoria, there is no room for emptiness because life is filled with the connection to a place that, she says, comes from mountain and river. Is it enough to be content with finding meaning in one mountain? Later, near the top of Hikurangi, Hersey comes close to an acknowledgement of the difficulties inherent in ‘our mountains’: ‘There’s much to be learned from […] visiting for a few days: things like experiencing the acceptance and inquisitiveness with which a new face is met; of being Pakeha and in a minority.’

But although the title of this book does trouble me a little, almost

certainly this is because I’m over-thinking it. In fact, Hersey’s essays are smooth, gently reflective prose, best enjoyed individually. His reportage of the people the pair met on their climbs is genuinely warm and engaged.

It could be, now that I think about it, that the ‘we’ of Our Mountains is just the two of them, Paul and Mark, on a mission.

I need to say something about Mark Watson’s photographs.

Technically, they are outstanding examples of digital imagery. I’m not really a fan of the hyper-real styles that digital processing has made both possible and popular. Mark’s images manage to go right up to that point but remain utterly convincingly of this world. In other words, I know it’s all a digital illusion, but I like to be tricked into recognition.

The image of Waimakariri Falls Hut is particularly good. One minor design flaw is the irregular white margins around the photographs.

Hersey regularly remarks in the text on the effort Watson expends to get good images—up before dawn, carrying an extra-heavy pack, looking for the right locations—and this is confirmed in Watson’s very useful photography notes at the back of the book. It really does seem to be easier to be a writer: you just close your eyes and imagine …

Our Mountains: Journeys to New Zealand’s High Places. By Paul Hersey and Mark Watson. New Holland. RRP$45.00.

LAW UNTO HIMSELF

By Michael Law Reviewed by Nic Learmonth MICHAEL LAW’S a big kahuna on that red rock across the Tasman.

Better known as Mike, MikL and ‘the Claw,’ the talented Mr Law’s been defying gravity for a long time, and he’s still at it today.

A prolific new-router and an entertainingly opinionated regular contributor to the Aussie climbing mags and websites, Law is one of Australian climbing’s most accomplished storytellers. When it comes to rock routes on the east coast of Oz, if Mike Law didn’t do it, he definitely knows who did and he’ll have this great story about how back in the 70s one time, before sticky rubber or gravity, Law was developing this newly-discovered crag and looking for fresh belayers when he met the unsuspecting soon-to-be-first-ascentionist, and …

Law was 11-years-old when he took up climbing, in 1970, so he’s been a participant in and a driving force behind the scene from its early days. From the body belay to rubber boots, chalk, RPs, lycra tights, chipping and Friends, Law’s seen it all, and he’s contributed a trove of new routes and crags. (If you’ve ever climbed at the Freezer or Grose Valley in the Blueys, to name two tips of the Claw iceberg, you owe the vegetation-liberating, bolt-installing Law a wine or two.)

Publisher Glenn Tempest at Open Spaces Publishing has really come through on this project, injecting the book with character and stamping Law’s irreverent personality all over it. From the jam-packed, extensive selection of photos, to the facsimiles of Law’s various guides for Wolgan Valley and similar notes and sketches, and Greg Child’s handwritten note of ‘veracity’ on the specs page, this book fairly reeks of the personality of its dirtbag climbing author.

Law Unto Himself sounds like a biography, and in many ways it is, but it also gives an insider’s view of the development of Australian climbing. A fabulous campfire-side rambler, Law is also a slick commentator with a good ear for wry historic detail. He uses music and fashion references to kick-start each new era and locate the climbing 54

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sub-culture in relation to the mainstream: ‘My memory of 1977 is of punk revolution and the New Wave,’ he writes. ‘The reality is that Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees), Macho Man (Village People) and You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Meat Loaf) nuked the charts.’ A vast array of photos— taken by Law and by Greg Child, Glenn Robbins, Glenn Tempest, Simon Carter and their like—illustrate the vibe of these by-gone eras and probably induce acute spells of dated-fashion cringe in certain folk.

Law has tied in with some of Australia’s biggest hitters, and he is a master of the two-line portrait, so you never know who will stumble into the narrative next. Law sums up his classmate come friend/protagonist Kim Carrigan as ‘the ever-keen Buzz Aldrin … a rower with a crew-cut’. His friend, founding Rock editor Chris Baxter ‘liked a good line as much as the next man, so long as he was a mining engineer. If it was visible from outer space, all the better.’ And the Cossey brothers are ‘happiness, love and technique’ (Lee), and ‘a great Dane puppy with enormous paws’ (Ben). Cute—and you’ll never muddle those Cossey brothers again.

When the glib-tongued Law turns that sardonic gaze homeward, the outcome is disarmingly brutal: ‘I’m an ego monster and shameless selfpublicist.’ Can an ego monster write a reliable history? Who knows, but that’s not really the point. Law tells a good story, and that’s what he delivers in Law Unto Himself.

Law Unto Himself. By Michael Law. Open Spaces Publishing, osp.com.au.

RRP AU$27.95.

BOOKS AND FILMS

EVEREST—THE FIRST ASCENT: THE UNTOLD STORY OF GRIFFITH PUGH, THE MAN WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE

By Harriet Tuckey Reviewed by Alan Knowles GASPING FOR AIR might be a better title for this book, to reflect the lack of public acknowledgement for the intellectual rigour Griffith Pugh brought to improving the performance of athletes, understanding how cold can kill and solving the problems of climbing Everest.

In Everest—The First Ascent: The Untold Story of Griffith Pugh, the Man Who Made it Possible, we are introduced to Pugh—a doctor and physiologist, immersed in a bath of ice cubes with electrodes attached to his body while researching hypothermia—by a daughter who loathed him for his selfishness and absent-mindedness. It was a loathing he reciprocated because of her repeated urgings for her mother to leave this absent-minded husband and father.

Harriet Tuckey is that daughter and her candid account of a dysfunctional relationship with her father provides a fine narrative. Her frustration and bemusement at Pugh’s idiosyncracies were shared by his colleagues and most of his fellow 1953 Everest expeditioners.

Griffith Pugh was chosen by expedition doctor Michael Ward to advise on how to overcome problems that defeated previous expeditions, like dehydration, altitude sickness, inadequate food, cold and frostbite. Pugh had been at the forefront in studying how soldiers and sailors could survive in cold conditions in WWII. His involvement with the 1953 Everest Expedition was resented by the conservative climbers, who had entrenched views. They were strongly against being told what to eat, drink and wear by a scientist they deemed a non-climber and thereby outside their elite group.

According to Tuckey, Pugh made little of his youthful mountaineering trips to the Swiss Alps, being an Olympic skier or his role with the Mountain Warfare Ski Unit in Lebanon.

Tuckey uses tension, this time between the scientist and the climbers, to make her narrative an un-put-downable read. Pugh was the expedition fall guy. For example, he climbed the treacherous Khumbu Icefall to conduct tests on climbers in the Western Cwm, only to find essential equipment had been swapped for a crate of mango chutney. Everyone at Base Camp was in on the joke and when he returned they were helpless with laughter.

In the accounts of the first ascent, Griffith Pugh barely rates a mention. John Hunt ignored his contribution, and Ed Hillary’s

publishers expanded a small mention when lawyers acting for the scientist became involved. Pugh himself published his findings in scientific journals and was generally too preoccupied with his research to be bothered with his own public relations.

A biography of a brilliant and dogged scientist, Everest—The First Ascent: The Untold Story of Griffith Pugh, the Man Who Made it Possible took eight years to write. It is about profoundly important discoveries, the difficult task of displacing attitudes (entrenched despite scientific evidence), and small-minded egoists appropriating that knowledge as their own when it is proven to be right.

Through her generosity of spirit, Tuckey has rehabilitated her father’s reputation and enhanced her own as a meticulous researcher and writer of spare prose and restrained observation. She leaves us in no doubt that Pugh was the single most important factor in the success of the 1953 Everest Expedition. It was this claim by Michael Ward to the Queen and others who had gathered to mark the 50th anniversary of the expedition, where Tuckey had taken her 90-yearold father in his wheelchair, that set her on the journey of discovery about her father’s exploits and his huge scientific contributions.

The title of this book makes it too easy to dismiss as just another book about Everest. Pugh’s work with Olympic athletes competing at altitude, long-distance swimmers, preventing exposure among hill-walkers and explaining how fishermen survive a trawler capsize, are all covered. The book deserves to be republished under a more evocative title and marketed for what it is: an account of a brilliant scientist’s work to save lives and enable great feats of endurance.

Everest—The First Ascent: The Untold Story of Griffith Pugh, the Man Who Made it Possible. By Harriet Tuckey. Random House, RRP $39.95.

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COMPETITION IN CLIMBING The Annual General Meeting of the New Zealand Alpine Club was held on 4 October. As has become recent tradition, the meeting was held in conjunction with a ‘Great Debate’. This year the topic was ‘competition is a fundamental aspect of climbing’.

The negative team of Paul Prince, Jane Morris and Jonathon Clearwater won by a show of hands over the affirmative team of John Palmer, Regan McCaffery and Sarah Wilson.

The following is a transcript of Jane Morris’ argument—which she delivered in poem form.

‘Competition in climbing’, the topic is known And my contribution will be that of a poem.

So you lot over there may be witty and clever But seriously you’ve lost the plot altogether.

Three intelligent people: Regan, Sarah and John Pro competition and climbing? Now that is just wrong.

Some definitions to start with and get things clear, After the nonsense you’ve heard from that lot over there.

First up the word climbing, just what does this mean?

Pulling plastic? Mountaineering? Highballing extreme?

If we go back in history, what do we find?

Climbing a holiday pastime for the wealthy European kind.

At the time it would usually mean hiring a guide, Off to the mountains, ice axe at your side.

Things have progressed and it’s now far more mainstream, Getting to snowy high places of that which we dream.

But hang on, three North Islanders, what on earth do they climb?

Trees? Out of bed? Up the washing line?

Something far more tragic for these climber type rebels, Random rocks on the coastline, think oversized pebbles.

So here’s a division that may raise some daggers, Mountains have climbers, sport routes have craggers.

Competition can exist for you craggers out there, But not in the mountains, the mountains don’t care.

The stakes are much higher on a mountain side, Think how many boulderers do you know that have died?

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Now a ‘fundamental’ part, there’s a strong word, (JC’s fingers are stronger, so I have heard).

Your feet hands and brain, fundamental climbing credo, But competition? No way—that’s the work of the ego.

Our lives now are so focused with competitive ends; Consumerism, the workplace, how many Facebook friends.

How about we let the environment decide?

Take a humble pill and swallow our pride.

Get over ourselves and comparisons we make, For this is a sport where people’s lives are at stake.

If the motivation to be out on something big steep and scary, Is competing with others, then you’d better be wary.

Recalibrate your measures and the voices in your head Show respect to the mountain and Mother Nature instead, Not who’s gone before you or what they have climbed, Just embrace the adventure, leave your ego behind.

Why is it we need to infiltrate our country’s wild places, With something so shallow as our own competitive traces.

We humans are preoccupied with the highest or the coldest, The longest, the fastest, the extremeist or the boldest.

What if its something radical like … we do it for the love, For the simple pleasure of being amongst the lofty peaks above.

There’s no place for competition, fundamentally none Regardless of what hard new route you have done.

No competition? What on earth will we do?

Well this parting thought is especially for you: Competition in climbing, that can stay on the shelf, The only competition is the one with yourself.

TROY MATTINGLEY

THE LAST PITCH

For more information go to and where to buy: www.southernapproach.co.nz or call 0800 335 000

ANDREW BURR

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