As the title suggests, I've been doing heaps of awesome things back to back leaving me no time to blog about them. In the past 12 days I've gone on a 2 day tramp up mt. herbert, a 2 day tramp up the Lewis Pass "tops", and a 5 day tramp in Nelson Lakes National Park called the Travers-Sabine Circuit. The morning that I left for the Travers-Sabine I took my last final completing my academics for the year.
Tomorrow the parents fly in to Christchurch and I have to pack up my stuff to leave with them early Friday for a 10 day trip around the South Island that ends with us flying back to the states from Dunedin. Another thing to blog about.
Fortunately, I've taken lots of pictures to keep track of what all has happened in my travels and will continue to do so. Expect some great stuff in 12 days when I'm back in New York and can post the last of my adventures!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
French Ridge
I went down to Aspiring National Park near Wanaka to do some tramping with my mates Dale and Mary. This was certainly my favorite tramp that I've done in New Zealand so far. I've included lots of images and videos so I'll try to keep text to a minimum and let the images speak for themselves.
The majority of the photos are Dale's. In general, mine are washed out and his are more vibrant. If you wish to know exactly which ones are his please email me.
What we did:
day 1 Carpark to French Ridge Hut
day 2 Up French Ridge to Quarterdeck Pass, back down to Aspiring Hut.
day 3 Out to Carpark and up the West Coast.
Here's some Google Earth shopped by Dale to show what we did. Click to enlarge.
Starting the walk, group photo with Dale's tripod.
The walk starts by going along this river into the park.
After walking on the flat for ~3 hours the trail climbed steeply for 2.5 hours up to French Ridge hut.
Victory photo with a kea in the background. Also, mountains.
Day 2 we head up the French Ridge. We started pretty early to get more time on the nice frozen crust of the snow from the cold night. When hiking in the snow you often want a frozen crust as it is good for crampon walking which is often faster than pushing/sinking into the snow with your boots.
Where we came from:
A video of Mary and Dale going up the Ridge. Not a good video really but it can give an idea of what some of the walk was like.
Stopped for a bite to eat... Funny story: I was eating one "One Square Meal" bar as a breakfast but it turns out that it is actually two OSM bars = 1 meal so that explains why I kept needing snacks at ~ 9 AM. Oh and the funny hat is Dale's. Because I did not bring sunglasses he suggested I wear it to try to protect my eyes. I was very gracious.
After 2 hours we reached the top. Here's looking across Bonar Glacier (in cloud) to Mt. Aspiring itself.
A Panoramic Dale put together of us standing on the Quarterdeck Pass with French Ridge just above us, Mt. Aspiring in the back, the Bonar Glacier in the middle, and Mt. Avalanche on the right.
And we headed down.
A video of Mary skillfully coming down the hill. This was her first time using crampons on a snowy walk (she'd used them on the glaciers on the West Coast before) and she was worried it would be difficult to go downhill. She did excellently of course!
Glissade! Yes, that means sliding down where it's safe because it is faster and easier.
What took us two hours to go up only took an hour to go down. From French Ridge Hut it was another ~3 hours to Aspiring Hut where we intended to stay for the night. The views were beautiful but very similar to the ones from our trip in.
I must reiterate that this has been my favorite tramp in New Zealand so far. It sparked my interest in Mountaineering which I hope I can get into sometime soon. Getting up to that saddle and looking across the glacier to the top of Aspiring (only another 900 meters to the top!!) made me wish I had the skill to A) walk across the glacier to the base of Aspiring and B) climb it safely. Maybe next time.
The majority of the photos are Dale's. In general, mine are washed out and his are more vibrant. If you wish to know exactly which ones are his please email me.
What we did:
day 1 Carpark to French Ridge Hut
day 2 Up French Ridge to Quarterdeck Pass, back down to Aspiring Hut.
day 3 Out to Carpark and up the West Coast.
Here's some Google Earth shopped by Dale to show what we did. Click to enlarge.
Starting the walk, group photo with Dale's tripod.
The walk starts by going along this river into the park.
After walking on the flat for ~3 hours the trail climbed steeply for 2.5 hours up to French Ridge hut.
Victory photo with a kea in the background. Also, mountains.
Day 2 we head up the French Ridge. We started pretty early to get more time on the nice frozen crust of the snow from the cold night. When hiking in the snow you often want a frozen crust as it is good for crampon walking which is often faster than pushing/sinking into the snow with your boots.
Where we came from:
A video of Mary and Dale going up the Ridge. Not a good video really but it can give an idea of what some of the walk was like.
Stopped for a bite to eat... Funny story: I was eating one "One Square Meal" bar as a breakfast but it turns out that it is actually two OSM bars = 1 meal so that explains why I kept needing snacks at ~ 9 AM. Oh and the funny hat is Dale's. Because I did not bring sunglasses he suggested I wear it to try to protect my eyes. I was very gracious.
After 2 hours we reached the top. Here's looking across Bonar Glacier (in cloud) to Mt. Aspiring itself.
A Panoramic Dale put together of us standing on the Quarterdeck Pass with French Ridge just above us, Mt. Aspiring in the back, the Bonar Glacier in the middle, and Mt. Avalanche on the right.
And we headed down.
A video of Mary skillfully coming down the hill. This was her first time using crampons on a snowy walk (she'd used them on the glaciers on the West Coast before) and she was worried it would be difficult to go downhill. She did excellently of course!
Glissade! Yes, that means sliding down where it's safe because it is faster and easier.
What took us two hours to go up only took an hour to go down. From French Ridge Hut it was another ~3 hours to Aspiring Hut where we intended to stay for the night. The views were beautiful but very similar to the ones from our trip in. I must reiterate that this has been my favorite tramp in New Zealand so far. It sparked my interest in Mountaineering which I hope I can get into sometime soon. Getting up to that saddle and looking across the glacier to the top of Aspiring (only another 900 meters to the top!!) made me wish I had the skill to A) walk across the glacier to the base of Aspiring and B) climb it safely. Maybe next time.
Bike Ride with the Magpie
I went for a bike ride a couple of weeks ago over the Port Hills like I posted about a couple months ago. A few things were different about this ride though.
For one, I'm in much better shape than I was when I did this ride last. Last time Dale and I had to stop several times going up the hill to rest our bodies. This time we stopped only twice and for much less time.
The other thing that made this ride different is that as I began to fly down the other side of the Port Hills I saw the shadow of a bird just in front of the shadow of my bike. As the shadow stayed there for a few seconds I thought, wow that bird isn't going anywhere I'd love to turn around and see it. I was just slowing down a bit so that I could look up safely when BLAM I was smacked in the head by the bird! I had no idea what exactly had happened and I turned to look up at my predator. I had only just caught a glimpse of the bird before I realised it was swooping down for another pass and BAM! it smacked my helmet again. I decided to not look up at it again lest it claw out my eyes and kept my helmet as the highest point of my body. The bird swooped and slammed into my helmet another six times bringing the total to 8 before it gave up. For those of you who don't know what a Magpie is here's a link. And here's a picture.
I figure the bird went for me either because I was too close to its nest, had a very shiny helmet, or some combination of the two.
Pretty exciting.
For one, I'm in much better shape than I was when I did this ride last. Last time Dale and I had to stop several times going up the hill to rest our bodies. This time we stopped only twice and for much less time.
The other thing that made this ride different is that as I began to fly down the other side of the Port Hills I saw the shadow of a bird just in front of the shadow of my bike. As the shadow stayed there for a few seconds I thought, wow that bird isn't going anywhere I'd love to turn around and see it. I was just slowing down a bit so that I could look up safely when BLAM I was smacked in the head by the bird! I had no idea what exactly had happened and I turned to look up at my predator. I had only just caught a glimpse of the bird before I realised it was swooping down for another pass and BAM! it smacked my helmet again. I decided to not look up at it again lest it claw out my eyes and kept my helmet as the highest point of my body. The bird swooped and slammed into my helmet another six times bringing the total to 8 before it gave up. For those of you who don't know what a Magpie is here's a link. And here's a picture.
I figure the bird went for me either because I was too close to its nest, had a very shiny helmet, or some combination of the two.
Pretty exciting.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Avalanche Peak
Dale and I were planning on "raging" between October 15th and October 26th which meant we'd go down to Fiordlands and try to do three of the Great Walks. Because of the weather we found ourselves stuck in Christchurch for the first few days of that. The weather looked O.K. in Arthur's Pass so we booked a shuttle and headed out to hike up Avalanche Peak via Scott's Track.
Dale put this together:
Above photo by Dale Statler
The trail went up through bush for about 45 minutes before putting us in the snow. We were pushing pretty hard because we had to get down in time to catch the shuttle back to Christchurch. As a result, I have no pictures from this part of the walk.
Getting up into the snow was very exciting for me. I'd only done it once before (Tongariro Crossing). Here it was actually important at times to use the axe properly and place my feet well.
Above photo by Dale Statler
This video is horribly washed out but gives an idea of some of the steeper terrain encountered.
We made it to the top in 2 hours and were both surprised and pleased.
above photo by Dale Statler
There was a skiier and a snowboarder at the top of the peak when we got there. They were checking the snow pack to assess the avalanche risk before skiing down. Dale and I found this very interesting as we had been to a lecture with the Tramping Club on avalanche safety that described this process. We watched for about 15 minutes.
Then we headed down.
above photo by Dale Statler
Dale put this together:
Here's the start of the track. The sign says 4 hours to the top.
Above photo by Dale StatlerGetting up into the snow was very exciting for me. I'd only done it once before (Tongariro Crossing). Here it was actually important at times to use the axe properly and place my feet well.
Above photo by Dale Statler
This video is horribly washed out but gives an idea of some of the steeper terrain encountered.
We made it to the top in 2 hours and were both surprised and pleased.
above photo by Dale Statler
There was a skiier and a snowboarder at the top of the peak when we got there. They were checking the snow pack to assess the avalanche risk before skiing down. Dale and I found this very interesting as we had been to a lecture with the Tramping Club on avalanche safety that described this process. We watched for about 15 minutes.
Then we headed down.
above photo by Dale StatlerMost of the walk was not suitible for glissading but there was one spot where I got my first proper glissade in.
above photo by Dale Statler
above photo by Dale StatlerWe got down in only an hour and thirty minutes putting us at a total of 3.5 hours to tramp up and down (quite different from the sign that said 4 hours to the top). We can go pretty fast when we're pushed for time.
We got back into Arthur's Pass village and waited for the shuttle to come back through from Greymouth. While we waited some Kea managed to grab my scroggin. Many of the tourists took photos of the event and one agreed to email me a photo. Here it is:
above photograph by Tanja Lenz (Thanks!!)
We got back into Arthur's Pass village and waited for the shuttle to come back through from Greymouth. While we waited some Kea managed to grab my scroggin. Many of the tourists took photos of the event and one agreed to email me a photo. Here it is:
above photograph by Tanja Lenz (Thanks!!)I managed to get the scroggin back before the kea had feasted too much, but I had to discard it as they'd torn many holes in the bag. Darn alpine parrots. Get your own food!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
North Island Trip End: Wellington
We woke up at Triple X Hut which, it turned out, looked like this:
We started early and as a result saw this beautiful sunburst. click this photo to enlarge. it is worth it.
We then headed south towards Wellington. On the way we saw a sign for Rivendell and pulled off the road. The area where Rivendell was shot doesn't look much like Rivendell from the LoTR films but it was certainly a beautiful area.
When we got to Wellington the first thing we did was navigate to the Botanical Gardens and have a bite to eat. Then down to the hostel to drop off our stuff, over to the Apex car place to drop off the car and down to the water.
I found Wellington to be a bit like Hamilton in Bermuda.
A shot of Te Papa, the great New Zealand museum. We went in the next day.
One particularly cool exhibit had a map of New Zealand on the floor that you would walk across. As you stepped on different areas the walls would light up and show highlights of history in the areas.
In the evening we caught the cable car up to the gardens to get a view out over Wellington at night.
The next morning we caught breakfast at an amazing place called Restaurant l'Affare. Great coffee, great food.
Then we did Te Papa and went into the Wellington Library which was really nice. I read a quick history of New Zealand.
Being the walkers we are, we decided to go up to Mount(hill?) Victoria to get a view out over Wellington from a different direction.
We walked up this hill to the start of the forested walk.
At the top I took this pretty poor "myspace" photo. Not so good but the best I've got.
After we hiked down the hill we sat for a while and had an apple before going to get our stuff and go to the Airport. I took advantage of some of the nearby structures.
Then we went to the airport and flew back to Christchurch! I wrote a bunch of postcards in the airport as we waited for out flight. We didn't have to go through security to get to the gate. Weird!
Though my North Island adventures were fantastic and enjoyable I can't wait to blog about my more recent tramps up Avalanche Peak and French Ridge. Each of those hikes got well up into the snow and as such were technically more demanding and in a way more exciting than any walk I've ever done.
We started early and as a result saw this beautiful sunburst. click this photo to enlarge. it is worth it.
We then headed south towards Wellington. On the way we saw a sign for Rivendell and pulled off the road. The area where Rivendell was shot doesn't look much like Rivendell from the LoTR films but it was certainly a beautiful area.
When we got to Wellington the first thing we did was navigate to the Botanical Gardens and have a bite to eat. Then down to the hostel to drop off our stuff, over to the Apex car place to drop off the car and down to the water.
I found Wellington to be a bit like Hamilton in Bermuda.
A shot of Te Papa, the great New Zealand museum. We went in the next day.
One particularly cool exhibit had a map of New Zealand on the floor that you would walk across. As you stepped on different areas the walls would light up and show highlights of history in the areas.
In the evening we caught the cable car up to the gardens to get a view out over Wellington at night.
The next morning we caught breakfast at an amazing place called Restaurant l'Affare. Great coffee, great food.
Then we did Te Papa and went into the Wellington Library which was really nice. I read a quick history of New Zealand.
Being the walkers we are, we decided to go up to Mount(hill?) Victoria to get a view out over Wellington from a different direction.
We walked up this hill to the start of the forested walk.
At the top I took this pretty poor "myspace" photo. Not so good but the best I've got.
After we hiked down the hill we sat for a while and had an apple before going to get our stuff and go to the Airport. I took advantage of some of the nearby structures.
Then we went to the airport and flew back to Christchurch! I wrote a bunch of postcards in the airport as we waited for out flight. We didn't have to go through security to get to the gate. Weird!
Though my North Island adventures were fantastic and enjoyable I can't wait to blog about my more recent tramps up Avalanche Peak and French Ridge. Each of those hikes got well up into the snow and as such were technically more demanding and in a way more exciting than any walk I've ever done.
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