Cattlestop Crag, Port Hills

Arrived late, met Geoff and Sarah, top roped a couple of things then bailed as it got dark.. Got darker by the time it was our turn to climb up... Great fun :)

Castle Hill wander

Went for a stroll around Castle hill in perfect weather on the way home from AP. Wish we had brought our rock shoes!!

AP Waterfalls

Messed around near Avalanche Ck waterfall and Bealy chasm after our massive Pie lunch!

Avalanche Ck Waterfall

Bealy Chasm bouldering..

Mt Bealy, Arthurs Pass NP

Pre-positioned with AJ to Arthurs Pass on Wednesday night. Alpine start, got away at 4am and was at the tree line just as the first hint of dawn began. There was a beautiful freeze to stabilise the recently unstable snowpack, so we made good time in perfect crampon conditions. Sunrise was pretty sweet..

Summitted at 7am, continued on for the Avalanche pk traverse, but after descending the Nth Ridge, cloud began to roll in and the snow began to soften alarmingly quickly..

Descended back to AP for a great big pie :)

4am Alpine Start

Mt Rolleston in the background

Red Hill, Korowai/Torless Tussock Park

Starting among the Matagouri, Steph and I weaved our way up the valley. It tried to rain a few times, but most concerning were the powerful wind gusts that nearly blew us off our feet..

Higher, we weaved our way upstream and through a lovely stand of native beech forest. There was a steep scree to climb to get on the spur, then it was great views all the way up towards the summit.

As I trudged through some firm snow toward the top, I saw steph ahead crest the ridge before scurrying back to put on some storm gear.. The wind looked ferrocious.. Then it hit us with a vengance. Graupel snow (think frozen peas) whipped up by 100km+ gales stung our bodies as we fell to the ground and held on for dear life. Steph even had to hide behind her pack, such was the intensity of the pellet onslaught.

Glissading and Scree running away, it took another hour or so before reaching the bush where we had respite from the wind.. No summit, but an interesting experience!

Red hill is the highest snowy nubbin on the far left..

About to get blasted by Graupel and 100kmh winds..

Cheese!! Chucky and Steph. Alive despite our best efforts..

Franz Josef Ice Climbing

Got a last minute email at 10.30pm on Thursday inviting me away to the west coast for the weekend. Managed to make it to the CUTC pick up point on friday evening with all my stuff and endured a fun (not) 5 hour mini bus ride through to some random campsite just out of Franz.

Spent the saturday ice climbing the crevasse's and moulin's of the lower icefall, before retiring for a beer and pizza in town.

Woke up on sunday by a nice lake with a great sunrise before getting chased back to the east coast by the rain.

Cheeseman Back Basin

Hired some Touring Ski's and went for a potter around from the Cheeseman Ski field on the Cragieburn range. Skinned up from the car park, did a few (scary/icy) runs down the back basins in clear but windy conditions.

Enjoyed the 'mashed potato' snow of the club field when we did our return run to the car.

Also got rid of a daytime furry chainsaw (Possum) on the drive home..

Mt Hutt Skiing

Barely arrived in Christchurch and I was being dragged out to play in the hills. Great weather, calm and warm. Good times :)

Heritage to Rangi Traverse, Ruahine FP

Dreamed up a traverse route from Heritage Hut to Rangiwahia Hut along the spine of the Whanahuia Range in the Ruahines.

Turns out one section that is marked as track on the Topo is no longer maintained and is very hard to follow. Was ok for the main climb up the spur, but once we reached the leatherwood band we lost the trail and endured some painful scrub bashing. Fortunately we found the track again and had a magnificent traverse accross the tops in stunning weather. a 9.5hr day, 19km and 1450m of vertical.