I've found the national parks in New Zealand to be spectacular...maybe it's because I finally have time and am able to visit them. It makes me wish I'd devoted more time in the States to camping and hiking over the weekends, though traffic makes it much more of a hefty endeavour and there are fewer youth hostels and such to make it easy to do on your own.
That said, Mt. Cook National Park has been a great place to chill for a bit. Maybe not exactly chill, actually. I joined up with the NZ Alpine Club for some climbing Saturday morning. I learned about the trip the evening prior (bout 10 p.m.) and start time was for 7:30 a.m. the next day. I had a 30-40 minute hike out to meet them at Unwin Hut (where they were staying) before we all went out to the Sebastopol Bluffs to do the Red Arette. It was quite a hike and I hitched a short ride toward the Tasman Glacier area (still sore from my previous day of hiking/biking), and then walked the rest of the way. I hate walking flats because the objective is visible for kilometers and kilometers, yet you still have a ways to go...I much prefer the challenge of hills.
When I arrived, we jumped into the cars and zoomed to the Bluffs. The approach is a bit of a hike generally uphill for about 15 minutes through grassy, sharp-edged bushes, and then lots and lots of scree. It was my first time sport climbing outside and I think I freaked out my partner Tom. Anyway, I ended up doing an easy 14 and then a very easy 13. It's a strange feeling to be up 37 meters high. I was going to abseil down, but had never done it before. It's when you control your own descent. One of the guys, Brent, nervously told me that if I'd never done it before, and then hooked on wrong, I could just fly off the rock. It's basically all you and your gear. Well, I wasn't really nervous 'til then. When I got to the top of the first climb I still wanted to try abseiling. So I did -- it was just fine. Then, after we did the easy 13 climb, I decided I wanted to try to lead. It was my first lead climb in a long time. Leading the climb is really taking on the full burden because you have to puzzle out the route on sight, and most importantly hook up your quick draws and then rope in. The person coming up next then is simply belayed from the top, and it's not so scary. When you're leading, you also have to climb up ABOVE your hooks, and so if you fall, you fall pretty far -- to the next bolt -- assuming you hooked in properly. Leading that climb I felt a bit nervous, but focused on the rock and the here and now. I was fine then.
From there we went to the Freda du Faur special presentation at the Edmund Hillary theater at the Hermitage Hotel. I'd tried to get a ticket earlier, for this centenary celebration of her being the first female to climb Mt. cook...but, I'd not succeeded. I ended up lucking out and getting one of the last spare tickets someone had just given up. For $20 I got an awesome presentation by amazing women mountaineers, as well as afternoon tea at the Hermitage -- tuna sandwiches, tea, coffee, and yummmmmy cakes! I had way way too many cakes, but damn they were good. In general the hotel is so expensive that it costs about $500 a night there, so...yeah, afternoon tea for $20 is pretty damn good, especially since I got to celebrate awesome women mountaineers/climbers.
Sunday (today) morning I headed out to meet up with the climbing group again at the Bluffs at about 8:30 a.m. I ended up hitching a ride with a couple New Zealanders who dropped me off at the Bluffs. Then I ran up the side. I'd been unable to reach the head of the group all morning and so wasn't sure if he'd taken up an extra helmet for me or if they were even there. (They did have it, and they were there.) I'd worn shorts this time, because the day prior had been EXCEEDINGLY hot. Well, as luck would have it, today was very chilly with cold, gusting winds. Boy what a day of climbing. I joined Ray and Brent on Shark Attack. It's a 3-pitch climb that's rated 12, 15, and then 16/17. I ended up going last on the first pitch, and then second on the second pitch. Each one was about 30ish meters. By the end of the second pitch the wind was starting to gust and clouds were gathering like it was going to rain. I was pretty damn cold. On the final pitch Brent led up, but then, when he was gathering up rope I was talking with Raymond about knots and the last bit of rope went up without us noticing. I was going to tie into that rope...instead, it was stuck up high and especially because of the wind, we could not get it lower down.
Though Brent could have rappelled down and gathered up gear, I wanted to try going up -- so that meant I had to lead. Let me say that this was probably the scariest thing I have ever done. Up on the final pitch, at about 100 meters, with the wind gusting at more than 40 mph, I was hugging the rock, my knees suffering from multiple bumps and lots of abrasions. On some areas it looked like the slab had no holds whatsoever. Scary as hell. The wind was what made it bad though. Technicality wise, it was fine for me, but with the cold howling wind, it was crazy. I finally got up to the left over rope, after leading all the way past the crux (hardest bit of the climb) and more than 2/3 the way. I stopped on a pittance of foothold to tie myself into the other rope. I was balanced precariously on nearly nothing about 3-5 meters above my most recent bolted hook. That meant a 10-15 foot fall if something went wrong...and as long as the carabiner held up. I finally got the figure eight knot in, after tugging multiple times for more slack, and yelling up against the wind for the rope. I could barely feel my toes as they were numb from the cold and my shoes. After I was roped in at the top, it was less crazy of a climb not only mentally, but also physically -- I'd done the hard part already. I picked up the rest of the gear along the way and once I got up reveled in being safely on the ledge. I edged in so the wind wasn't biting into me so much, even so it was very cold and I was starting to shiver a bit. Raymond decided to stay on the second pitch ledge and not go up in the wind (his words later, "Respect! I was scared just standing on the ledge here in the wind.")
Of course that wasn't the end of it. Then it was time to abseil down more than 100 meters. Since I didn't know how to properly hook myself in, I had to rely on the knowledge of Brent. He was going to go first because the ropes had gotten tangled on bushes below us, but I didn't want to figure out my ropes up there on my own. I went down first. I had to abseil down without going past the bushes or I'd get screwed up on the ropes and could end up falling to my death. As I was going down I wondered if I'd been smart to go first. I had to stop and collect the ropes, while balanced on all my gear and absolutely nothing else on the wonderfully sheer rock face. Then I had to throw the ropes down. But first I had to go to the right and pick up gear that I was still technically roped into from the lead climb up...then traverse back and scoop up rope. I threw them back into bushes twice and had to redo them. I finally got it right and then continued to abseil down to meet Raymond. Brent then met up. Everyone was shaking a bit from the craziness of the day's climbing. We fixed the ropes again and then continued to abseil with Raymond going first. I went second. The last 75 meters or so was a straight abseil down and at the bottom I celebrated by switching into my tennis shoes. I could feel the heat off my ATC (belay device).
After everyone was done we packed our stuff up and headed to meet the rest of the group. They'd set up a 16 rated top rope just nearby. After another 15-minute or so hike down the scree, across grassy bushes and up more scree, we got to them. I ended up going up first. It was FAR easier than the other climbs, but still rather high at about 20ish meters. I was a bit shaken still from earlier, so trying to take it easy and relax. The previous climb I remembered doing some crazy climbing, really good stuff, but crazy so high up...stuff I might do on the boulder wall only a couple feet off the ground. My technical practice really came in handy though, especially relying on my feet. Anyway, back to that 16 top rope. I finished it off handily enough (on sight as well), and then belayed Brent up it. That was it for the day. I got dropped off at my hostel. I took a quick shower (burning knees), dressed my wounds, and did laundry, then ravenously ate some food. Now I'm just relaxing...oh what a day. I distinctly remember being on that rock in the wind and thinking of Tom's words the day prior -- "I should just take up stamp collecting."
The thing is, I wasn't really scared of any of the climbs, but everyone around me was so paranoid that I couldn't help beginning to worry myself. It's mostly a mental job in many cases, and if you believe in yourself and believe in your skill (that has come with good training), you will succeed.
That said, Mt. Cook National Park has been a great place to chill for a bit. Maybe not exactly chill, actually. I joined up with the NZ Alpine Club for some climbing Saturday morning. I learned about the trip the evening prior (bout 10 p.m.) and start time was for 7:30 a.m. the next day. I had a 30-40 minute hike out to meet them at Unwin Hut (where they were staying) before we all went out to the Sebastopol Bluffs to do the Red Arette. It was quite a hike and I hitched a short ride toward the Tasman Glacier area (still sore from my previous day of hiking/biking), and then walked the rest of the way. I hate walking flats because the objective is visible for kilometers and kilometers, yet you still have a ways to go...I much prefer the challenge of hills.
When I arrived, we jumped into the cars and zoomed to the Bluffs. The approach is a bit of a hike generally uphill for about 15 minutes through grassy, sharp-edged bushes, and then lots and lots of scree. It was my first time sport climbing outside and I think I freaked out my partner Tom. Anyway, I ended up doing an easy 14 and then a very easy 13. It's a strange feeling to be up 37 meters high. I was going to abseil down, but had never done it before. It's when you control your own descent. One of the guys, Brent, nervously told me that if I'd never done it before, and then hooked on wrong, I could just fly off the rock. It's basically all you and your gear. Well, I wasn't really nervous 'til then. When I got to the top of the first climb I still wanted to try abseiling. So I did -- it was just fine. Then, after we did the easy 13 climb, I decided I wanted to try to lead. It was my first lead climb in a long time. Leading the climb is really taking on the full burden because you have to puzzle out the route on sight, and most importantly hook up your quick draws and then rope in. The person coming up next then is simply belayed from the top, and it's not so scary. When you're leading, you also have to climb up ABOVE your hooks, and so if you fall, you fall pretty far -- to the next bolt -- assuming you hooked in properly. Leading that climb I felt a bit nervous, but focused on the rock and the here and now. I was fine then.
From there we went to the Freda du Faur special presentation at the Edmund Hillary theater at the Hermitage Hotel. I'd tried to get a ticket earlier, for this centenary celebration of her being the first female to climb Mt. cook...but, I'd not succeeded. I ended up lucking out and getting one of the last spare tickets someone had just given up. For $20 I got an awesome presentation by amazing women mountaineers, as well as afternoon tea at the Hermitage -- tuna sandwiches, tea, coffee, and yummmmmy cakes! I had way way too many cakes, but damn they were good. In general the hotel is so expensive that it costs about $500 a night there, so...yeah, afternoon tea for $20 is pretty damn good, especially since I got to celebrate awesome women mountaineers/climbers.
Sunday (today) morning I headed out to meet up with the climbing group again at the Bluffs at about 8:30 a.m. I ended up hitching a ride with a couple New Zealanders who dropped me off at the Bluffs. Then I ran up the side. I'd been unable to reach the head of the group all morning and so wasn't sure if he'd taken up an extra helmet for me or if they were even there. (They did have it, and they were there.) I'd worn shorts this time, because the day prior had been EXCEEDINGLY hot. Well, as luck would have it, today was very chilly with cold, gusting winds. Boy what a day of climbing. I joined Ray and Brent on Shark Attack. It's a 3-pitch climb that's rated 12, 15, and then 16/17. I ended up going last on the first pitch, and then second on the second pitch. Each one was about 30ish meters. By the end of the second pitch the wind was starting to gust and clouds were gathering like it was going to rain. I was pretty damn cold. On the final pitch Brent led up, but then, when he was gathering up rope I was talking with Raymond about knots and the last bit of rope went up without us noticing. I was going to tie into that rope...instead, it was stuck up high and especially because of the wind, we could not get it lower down.
Though Brent could have rappelled down and gathered up gear, I wanted to try going up -- so that meant I had to lead. Let me say that this was probably the scariest thing I have ever done. Up on the final pitch, at about 100 meters, with the wind gusting at more than 40 mph, I was hugging the rock, my knees suffering from multiple bumps and lots of abrasions. On some areas it looked like the slab had no holds whatsoever. Scary as hell. The wind was what made it bad though. Technicality wise, it was fine for me, but with the cold howling wind, it was crazy. I finally got up to the left over rope, after leading all the way past the crux (hardest bit of the climb) and more than 2/3 the way. I stopped on a pittance of foothold to tie myself into the other rope. I was balanced precariously on nearly nothing about 3-5 meters above my most recent bolted hook. That meant a 10-15 foot fall if something went wrong...and as long as the carabiner held up. I finally got the figure eight knot in, after tugging multiple times for more slack, and yelling up against the wind for the rope. I could barely feel my toes as they were numb from the cold and my shoes. After I was roped in at the top, it was less crazy of a climb not only mentally, but also physically -- I'd done the hard part already. I picked up the rest of the gear along the way and once I got up reveled in being safely on the ledge. I edged in so the wind wasn't biting into me so much, even so it was very cold and I was starting to shiver a bit. Raymond decided to stay on the second pitch ledge and not go up in the wind (his words later, "Respect! I was scared just standing on the ledge here in the wind.")
Of course that wasn't the end of it. Then it was time to abseil down more than 100 meters. Since I didn't know how to properly hook myself in, I had to rely on the knowledge of Brent. He was going to go first because the ropes had gotten tangled on bushes below us, but I didn't want to figure out my ropes up there on my own. I went down first. I had to abseil down without going past the bushes or I'd get screwed up on the ropes and could end up falling to my death. As I was going down I wondered if I'd been smart to go first. I had to stop and collect the ropes, while balanced on all my gear and absolutely nothing else on the wonderfully sheer rock face. Then I had to throw the ropes down. But first I had to go to the right and pick up gear that I was still technically roped into from the lead climb up...then traverse back and scoop up rope. I threw them back into bushes twice and had to redo them. I finally got it right and then continued to abseil down to meet Raymond. Brent then met up. Everyone was shaking a bit from the craziness of the day's climbing. We fixed the ropes again and then continued to abseil with Raymond going first. I went second. The last 75 meters or so was a straight abseil down and at the bottom I celebrated by switching into my tennis shoes. I could feel the heat off my ATC (belay device).
After everyone was done we packed our stuff up and headed to meet the rest of the group. They'd set up a 16 rated top rope just nearby. After another 15-minute or so hike down the scree, across grassy bushes and up more scree, we got to them. I ended up going up first. It was FAR easier than the other climbs, but still rather high at about 20ish meters. I was a bit shaken still from earlier, so trying to take it easy and relax. The previous climb I remembered doing some crazy climbing, really good stuff, but crazy so high up...stuff I might do on the boulder wall only a couple feet off the ground. My technical practice really came in handy though, especially relying on my feet. Anyway, back to that 16 top rope. I finished it off handily enough (on sight as well), and then belayed Brent up it. That was it for the day. I got dropped off at my hostel. I took a quick shower (burning knees), dressed my wounds, and did laundry, then ravenously ate some food. Now I'm just relaxing...oh what a day. I distinctly remember being on that rock in the wind and thinking of Tom's words the day prior -- "I should just take up stamp collecting."
The thing is, I wasn't really scared of any of the climbs, but everyone around me was so paranoid that I couldn't help beginning to worry myself. It's mostly a mental job in many cases, and if you believe in yourself and believe in your skill (that has come with good training), you will succeed.
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