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THE CLIMBERNEW ZEALAND’S CLIMBING MAGAZINE

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF THE NEW ZEALAND ALPINE CLUB 88 W

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2 THE CLIMBER ISSUE 88, WINTER 2014

FEATURES

24 MALTE BRUN: ADVENTURE CLIMBING ON THE MATTERHORN OF THE SOUTH BY KEITH SCOTT

34 CLIMBER PROFILE: CRAIG HOUSTON

BY DANIEL KRIPPNER

42 ON SIGHT: CLIMBING PHOTOGRAPHER PROFILE PETER LAURENSON

46 GENDER EXPECTATIONS A study of the normative gender expectations that mediate female climbers’ relationship decisions

BY ESTHER PACKARD-HILL

REGULARS4 Exposure

10 The Sharp End

Comment and opinion

14 NZAC

20 Climbing News and Events

48 Books and Films

50 Technique

51 Stuff You Need

56 The Last Pitch

C O N T E N T SI S S U E 8 8

ON THE COVER Mark Dewsbery between Double Cone and Single Cone on the Remarkables after the first snowfall of winter, 2014. GUILLAUME CHARTON

Bivouac staff members Dave Laffan & Silvia Horniakova Mount AdamsPhoto: Jeremy Herbert

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John Yu climbing at Margaret’s Leap, Tukino, Mt Ruapehu. Tukino Skifield area, on the wild east side of Mt Ruapehu, offers a good variety of ice and mixed cragging options. The Auckland, Central North Island and Wellington sections of NZAC run an annual ice climbing meet based at the superb Tukino Alpine Sports Lodge. This year the meet will happen on 12–13 July.

PHOTO: FRASER CRICHTON

Ee x p o s u r e

THE CLIMBER ISSUE 88, WINTER 2014 5


Ee x p o s u r e

An economic system which can only expand or expire must be false to all that is human. –Edward Abbey, from his book Desert Solitaire, a memoir and reflection on wilderness and human values, written during his time liv-ing in the Utah Desert.

Kiwi climber Dave Hood was in Yosemite when the US Federal Government announced its budget deficit solution, which included closing all federally operated parks. The date was 1 October 2013. Camp 4 was shut down and approximately 100 dirtbag residents were evicted. Dave joined the mass exodus heading east towards the Interstate and Indian Creek. Fortunately, Indian Creek is state-operated, so it remained open throughout the shutdown. Dave takes up the story: ‘I had been climbing with a Polish crack specialist (Slawomir Cyndecki). No one could pronounce his name, so we called him Swav. Together Swav and I rented a car and drove through Death Valley and on to Indian Creek. When we arrived, we found that most of the Camp 4 dirtbags were already there. In no time we were reunited with our friends and drinking beer around a campfire. The next morning we awoke to a desert sunrise over the red sandstone columns and Supercrack Buttress waiting silently in the distance.’

As Dave started up Coyne Crack (5.11d/24), on Supercrack Buttress, photographer Julie-Anne Davis happened to walk past and stopped to take a few shots. One of the first things you learn as a climbing magazine editor is to embrace the ‘bumshot’. This image of Dave doing battle with the thin hands section of Coyne Crack is a magnificent example of the genre.

PHOTO: JULIE-ANNE DAVIS




Canadian skier Pierre-Yves Leblanc below Pioneer Hut, Fox Glacier.

New Zealand’s high alpine huts like Pioneer, Chancellor and Kelman provide bases for some exceptionally good ski touring and ski mountaineering. But while these huts are easily accessible, thanks to helicopter

charters, it pays to keep in mind that the high névés are not slack-country, they’re more like tiger country. It’s essential to arm yourself with good preparation and experience before visiting these areas. Mountain Safety

Council offers excellent avalanche awareness courses, NZAC runs an introduction to backcountry skiing course (see page 14 for details) and professional ski guiding services are available through local companies

Alpine Guides, Alpine Recreation, Adventure Consultants and Queenstown Mountain Holidays.

PHOTO: STEVE EASTWOOD

Ee x p o s u r e


THE SHARP END

NZAC RESOURCESThe letter from Daniel Joll in the last issue of The Climber has set me thinking again about NZAC’s resources and priorities, especially on huts.

Unwin was the big problem when I was president, since it was very apparent that the club could not afford to put it right, but it was a problem affecting all accommodation.

There had been no effective plan to put enough funding aside for this purpose, and the Accommodation Fund that did exist was more or less used to meet cashflow shortfalls as they arose. This was partly because of a failure to appreciate just how much the world had changed. In the past, huts had been built largely through the efforts of members in the sections. But as compliance requirements and costs grew, and the number of competent volunteers went down, the business of repair-ing huts and building new ones could not be done in the old way. Huts were also reaching the age when extensive repairs or replace-ment was necessary.

Faced with fixing Unwin or pulling it down, the club had only one option, but the money wasn’t there (in the view of some, because it had been hijacked by Homer). In the end the work had to be financed by borrowing, which puts into the future problems which should at least in good part have been dealt to in the past. This more expensive spending now needs to be met by income.

Should this income be raised by higher hut fees? Daniel is right that the club’s huts should always have space for members who are going climbing—they are what the club is about. Huts are also places where climbers meet and learn. But the money has to come from somewhere. Other club activities have a better chance of breaking even—publica-tions for instance have advertising revenue, and more flexibility to increase prices. But for members, hut fees need at least to stay below the backpacker market. And the club should not be taking better-paying clients to the exclusion of members.

So, should other activities subside huts? It’s true that the club is not a business, but it should be run in a businesslike way. A reason-able profit on all its activities is an acceptable objective in my view, and I guess (though I’m not entirely convinced) that money made by the sections should also be raided for the greater good. Huts are a justifiable way to spend this income.

Government grants are helpful, but not guaranteed. A group of some 3000 people who indulge in an activity that many think is elitist or crazy may not always be seen by everyone as deserving of taxpayers money.

What’s left is subscription income. In the past there has been a great resistance to increasing subscriptions. This is understand-able, but while there may be members who find paying hard—the very young and the very old for example—most climbers are able to pay, even after they have bought all their gear and many cups of coffee. They are also the ones who are using the club’s huts. A long-term plan for regular increases

to match increasing costs is necessary, but also an immediate increase to help shift debt as soon as possible. I believe members can be persuaded to understand all this, provided that we continue to look after the young and the old. Although it’s sometimes feared that increased subs will mean decreased member-ship, this doesn’t seem to have happened to any significant or permanent extent in the past.

All members want the things that allow and encourage them to go climbing, and NZAC makes a very good job of providing these. We won’t do members a service if we can’t con-tinue with this because we haven’t thought clearly about how to pay for it.

–Judy Reid

THE STATUS QUO MY ASSOCIATION with the New Zealand Alpine Journal and The Climber magazine began in the 1950s. In those days the annual NZAJ could be bought in shops by the general public and the quarterly New Zealand Alpine Club Bulletin was mailed to members only.

In the 1980s the bulletin was renamed The Climber and marketed in shops as a quarterly magazine for general consumption. Its content and emphasis nowadays is not too different from the 1950s bulletin: a mix of climbing sto-ries, climbing news, equipment reviews, book reviews, technical discussions, club informa-tion, poems, humour and letters to the editor. Likewise, the content of today’s NZAJ is not very different from that of the 1950s: a pre-mier annual journal of record of the more sig-nificant activities of club members, substantial feature articles on related subjects along with historical and reflective pieces, poems and art-work. Successive editors have done a pretty good job of deciding what is appropriate for each of the two publications without exces-sive repetition. The biggest change for both publications since the 1950s is their appear-ance—stunning colour photographs say it all.

I favour the status quo. Both publications remain valuable records for posterity. Each serves its own purpose well. We should retain both as printed publications. When the club celebrates its bicentenary, in 2091, someone will research and write the history, and that person will be glad we retained both. By all means put an electronic copy online for those who like to read on a screen and

are given to throwing things away. But if we want these valuable records to endure, forget about electronic archiving. Hard copies will last hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years when properly stored. Don’t expect to be able to access electronic versions over that timeframe. Retrieval and storage devices, electronic hardware, software and storage for-mats typically become obsolete within about ten years.

I have a suggestion for today’s NZAJ: peri-odically publish an index for it, as we used to.

–Bill Keir

A FINE NZAJI WRITE to offer my warmest congratulations on a quite splendid 2013 New Zealand Alpine Journal. I picked up a copy of it in our local Book Bus yesterday and thought, ‘I need to have a copy of this,’ so I have just bought one online.

The NZAJ has some really lovely things in it and has been put together with taste and judgement—a pleasure to look through and also to read. I especially liked that amaz-ingly throwaway account of the long traverse southwards from Cape Farewell—a quite epic feat of endurance and skill really. It was com-plemented by such lovely images too, several of which brought back happy memories from over 40 years ago, when the glaciation was markedly different from what it is today.

And good to have the obituary of dear Una Holloway, who was a great friend. Her son John was one of my closest friends at uni-versity (in Dunedin in the 1960s), and through John and various climbing trips to the Olivine Alps, I came to know both Jack and Una very well at Rangiora.

I edited the NZAJ for a couple of years (1971 and 1972) when I lived in Palmerston North and before I went to London. I decided that we needed a larger format than the old Crown Print issues; that we need colour and that we need to get rid of advertising—all decisions that were stoutly resisted in the Club Committee of the time, or should I say by the older reactionary elements of the Club Committee. (The then President and Secretary largely.) But the Otago Section was warmly supportive and the NZAJ has just got better and better, it seems to me.

So the very best of luck with many further issues. In the meantime, I relish reading and re-reading your last year’s issue—it has all the right sorts of things in it to my mind.

Cordially yours,–David Galloway

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THE SHARP END

ANOTHER SEASON of climbing at ‘New Zealand’s best climbing area’ is in full thrust. (What? Castle Hill of course!) A line in an article by Julian Saunders about Castle Hill in an old Rock and Ice magazine often comes to mind at those times I’m inclined to marvel at the perfection of this place: ‘In the Basin […] you don’t pull on the slopers, you climb them.’ That sums up Castle Hill bouldering perfectly. The complex of movements required for most Castle Hill problems versus your garden-variety crimp ladder is like the difference between walking and dancing. It’s a beautiful thing.

Last winter, after 20 years or so of climbing at Castle Hill, I thought I better try some of the routes. These are a different story. A total mixed bag. I tried Subculture (24). ‘A classic,’ they said: ‘The best route in the Basin,’ was the claim. I hated it. After performing half a dozen identical diagonals on nasty, sharp crimps I was becoming tremendously bored. But I dug deep and—putting my tips and pulleys on the line—com-pleted the diagonal-marathon, clipping the pounded coach bolts, each rusted to an even, dark brown finish. My friends who also climbed it that day agreed: Bosh. So what’s changed?

The South Island Rock guidebook description reads: ‘An excel-lent route in the best European tradition […] Continuously thin and bouldery.’ Apparently in 1988 ‘bouldery’ meant: bear down hard on tiny crimps and hope your tendons don’t explode. (Ever tried a Moonboard?)

This might explain why some of the routes of that era are so hard. Those ‘80s climbers were masters of ming. I also tried Gascrankinstation that day, grade 26. Couldn’t touch it. ‘Would get 28 in Auckland,’ the guidebook says. Would probably get 30 north of Waiouru these days.

JP had a good go on Pet Eats Dust (27). Despite being in tip-top, grade-30-plus-crushing form, he couldn’t even do the moves off the rope. The obvious explanation of course is that we suck, and particular-ly at that crimpy style. Or perhaps there was a competitive culture that has since been lost with the passing of generations, leaving us with a legacy of sandbagged routes.

There are two schools of thought on grading. One is to give every

climb the lowest grade that can realistically stick—this creates a level playing field, and weeds out the holiday grades. The other approach is to consider everyone’s ‘personal grades’ with equal weighting, and arrive at a democratic consensus. I tend to favour the former. But remember: if you haven’t done a route (or at the very least tried it), you don’t get a say!

While Subculture was a low-light for me, I have managed to look past the yellow choss and discover some truly wonderful routes at Castle Hill. I sometimes wonder if these really good climbs would be more popular if they were given the grades they actually are. Take Adios Gringos—a true classic in my opinion, even if the first ascention-ist would say that makes me ‘thick-skinned with little imagination’. The story goes that Lionel Clay couldn’t do it, so he snuck in from the side with an ‘easier’ variation which he called Chocolate Coated Razorblades and graded 27. Dave Fearnely eventually climbed Adios, grading it 24. It’s not grade 24.

I recently climbed another route on the same wall as Adios Gringos. South Island Rock describes the wall thus: ‘Now you’re below one of the best walls in NZ.’ I would amend that description to: ‘Now you’re below a vertical museum of perilously antiquated bolting technology.’ Marmaduke Goes Chipping (23) would have been a pleasant jaunt were it not for the ancient galv snowstakes rotting in craters of cheese that apparently pass for bolts in these parts. I was terrified.

NZAC are currently considering writing an application to DOC to replace some of the old fixed protection at Castle Hill, with a view to reducing the unsightly white streaks (the streaking effect is far less prominent from stainless steel than the current in-situ galvanised bolts), and, of course, to make the climbs safer.

This will only happen if there is sufficient reserves in the NZAC Bolting/Access Fund, so if you’d like to have a go on some of the Basin classics (Faraway Beach, Dreamhouse, Bad Boys … ) without trusting your life to timebomb protection, please consider donating at alpin-eclub.org.nz/product/access-fund.

–Kester Brown

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THE CLIMBERNEW ZEALAND’S CLIMBING MAGAZINE

ISSUE 88, WINTER 2014

NZAC—we climbOur 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

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U N W I N E A S T E R R O C K M E E TNOW AN established fixture of the NZAC calendar, there was a fantastic turnout at Mount Cook Village over Easter for the annual rock meet. Despite a grim forecast, a couple of good days saw plenty of climbing done on the Sebastopol Bluffs. Jane Morris led a trip on nearby Mt Wakefield, a bolting workshop was run by Murray Ball and the inaugural Slabmaster Challenge was held.

Evenings were packed with various movies, slideshow lectures, a quiz night and lots of good-ies given away courtesy of Aspiring Safety Products.

Thanks to Chas and Katrina for running the meet and to Ewan and Wilma for hosting everyone at Unwin Lodge.

NZAC WINTER INSTRUCTION PROGRAMMERegistration is now open for the NZAC National Winter Instruction Programme.Mountain Skills for Youth 4–5 OctoberThis course is a recent initiative of NZAC, designed to encourage young people into the moun-tains and inspire them to become alpinists. Thanks to our generous volunteer instructors, this weekend course will now cost just $150, which includes food, transport and gear hire. Students must be between 16 and 18 years old on 1 October 2014. The course will be held at Arthur’s Pass.

Introduction to Backcountry Skiing 31 August–4 SeptemberThis is not a learn-to-ski course; it’s for strong intermediate (or better) skiers with good aerobic fitness, who want to get an excellent grounding in ski-touring so they can go experience the winter backcountry by themselves! The course will be based at Mt Olympus Ski Area and will be led by veteran IFMGA guide Nick Cradock.

Introduction to Leading on Technical Ice 11–13 July (19–21 July course now full)This course is for climbers with good mountaineering skills who want to push their grades by learning to lead efficiently on technical ice. The course will be held at Wye Creek, and will run by experienced local ice instructor Rupert Gardiner.

For further information on these courses and a registration form please see alpineclub.org.nz/national-instruction-courses, or email [email protected].

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Editor Kester Brown [email protected]

Sub-editor Nic Learmonth

Design and Layout Kester Brown

Climbing News Editor Kester Brown

Online Climbing News Editor Polly Camber

Gear Editor Graham Johnson

NZAC News Sam Newton

Proofing Nic Learmonth and Katie Dunlop

Printing Spectrum Print, Christchurch

Musical Inspiration Shakey Graves – Roll the Bones

Contributors Kevin Boekholt, Tess Carney, Guillaume Charton, Fraser Crichton, Julie-Ann Davis, Jim Dennistoun, Steve Eastwood, Steve Fortune, Dan Freuhauf, Stu Gray, Clint Helander, Dave Hood, Tom Hoyle, Paul Knott, Daniel Krippner, Peter Laurenson, Troy Mattingley, Bob McKerrow, Paul Nankivel, Robin McNeill, Colin Monteath, Jaz Morris, Richard Mortenson, Anesh Narsai, Peter O’Neill, Shane Orchard, Esther Packard-Hill, Kieran Parsons, Sefton Priestley, Tony Rac, Keith Scott, Matteo Scoz, Nick Sutcliffe, Andy Stowe, Chris Todd, Lukasz Warzecha, Mark Watson, Richard Wesley, Graham Zimmerman, .

Advertising enquiries Sefton Priestley tel: (64) 03 377 7595 e-mail: [email protected]

Subscription information Published quarterly. $9.95 per issue, $28.00 per year (incl. GST & NZ surface mail; overseas p&p at cost): [email protected]

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 [email protected] 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 A L P I N E C L U B

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U N W I N L O D G E M A N A G E R S O P P O R T U N I T YEWAN AND WILMA, the current managers of NZAC’s Unwin Lodge, have indicated that they will be exiting the role in October this year. They have done a great job since taking over from Chas and Katrina last year and we thank them for their efforts.

The good news is that this fantastic opportunity to live and work at Aoraki Mount Cook is open to new applicants. With a separate warden’s house and reasonable remuneration, the chance to grab this fantastic lifestyle opportunity should be given serious consideration by all NZAC members.

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C O M M U N I T Y C O N S E R V A T I O N P A R T N E R S H I P F U N DFEDERATED MOUNTAIN CLUBS, New Zealand Deerstalkers Association and Trail Fund have established a consortium representing a combined membership of over 35,000 people to sub-mit a $1-million per year bid to manage bulk funding of volunteer maintenance and construction of backcountry huts, tracks and facilities on behalf of all outdoor recreationalists through the Department of Conservation’s recent Community Conservation Partnerships Fund initiative. In essence, each of the three consortium partners will become responsible for allocating funds to a variety of backcountry projects within their areas of interest.

It is important to note that this fund will be applied to projects that would not otherwise be undertaken by DOC on public conservation land. The bulk funding approach is new and if suc-cessful, will be the first major game-change in outdoor recreation for a very long time. Federated Mountain Clubs worked hard to ensure that New Zealand Alpine Club huts remained within scope of the bid. The outcome of the bid is expected in mid-July. The initial bids included in the application will be reviewed in light of the amount granted.

–Robin McNeill, FMC

THE NZAC PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION IS OPEN FOR ENTRIESCheck out competition judge Mark Watson’s article in The Climber issue 87, ‘Eight Tips for Better Climbing Photos’ for some advice and inspiration. (The article is also available online at climber.co.nz).

Go to alpineclub.org.nz/photocomp to make an online entry and to get the details on a new category for this year: Mountain Culture.

EXTENDED DEADLINE Entries now close 1 August

NEW ZEALAND ALPINE CLUBPHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION 2014

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NZAC

ASPIRING HUT was built NZAC and officially opened in 1949. It has a long history with climbers, trampers and tourists and is probably the best known hut in the Mount Aspiring National Park. Located in the upper west Matukituki valley, the hut provides enjoyment for those simply looking for a wonderful overnight destination, or for those seek-ing further adventure climbing Mt Aspiring or undertaking other moun-taineering objectives in the region.

The issue of earthquake resilience has been closely investigated recently. This is an issue that will require a major capital expenditure project by NZAC. A report was prepared by Derek Chinn of engineering company MWH, who came to the conclusions that Aspiring Hut has a number of deficiencies, including a lack of bracing in the roof to resist horizontal wind and seismic loads, a lack of seismic resistance in the stacked stone walls, and the risk of collapse of the stacked stone walls causing the collapse of the roof structure. The hut is not alone in being earthquake prone; there are many similar unreinforced masonry build-ings in the Otago area.

Rather than restraining the existing stone walls, an approach of allowing these to fall away in an earthquake has been proposed. The approach taken is to support the roof structure with a structure inside the stone walls intended to both protect occupants from the stone walls collapsing inwards and to support the roof structure if the stone walls collapse.

Aspiring Hut is clearly an iconic hut with a great history behind it, and a large amount of goodwill with NZAC members. Losing the hut loca-tion altogether would be a major blow to recreation in Aspiring National Park, and by extension, a major tourism loss to the Wanaka area. This project will place Aspiring Hut—and all the huts in the great Matukituki NZAC/DOC Aspiring Agreement—onto a long-term, sustainable footing.

Up to this point, operating costs, general improvements and capital development have been achieved from user-generated income. For NZAC it is also the cornerstone of the Aspiring Agreement which, in con-junction with DOC, uses income generated from Aspiring Hut’s very accessible location

in the west Matukituki valley to help fund the running costs of the high huts French Ridge Hut and Colin Todd Hut.

The hut is extremely well known and used by the Wanaka commu-nity as well as by New Zealand trampers, climbers and travellers. It is also important in terms of international tourism promotion. A communi-cation strategy will need to be developed by the fundraising coordinator to ensure that we can fund this project from a wide variety of sources, matching its wide variety of user groups.

Aspiring Hut is located in a relatively remote setting within Aspiring National Park. Finding a suitable contractor with the skills and ability to work effectively within this sensitive environment will be important. The ability to transport materials to site, undertake the work safely given the remote and often weather impacted location, remove all waste at the completion of the work, and effectively follow the ‘leave no trace’ ethic, will need to be carefully evaluated during the ten-der phase.

The actual construction phase of the project will need to take place during spring or autumn to ensure the least impact on hut users. Although this also needs to be balanced against the risk of adverse weather impacting on the project.

Securing funds for the strengthening works from sources outside NZAC will be very important. We are now seeking a fundraising coor-dinator for the project. While some NZAC funds exist, which will be utilised on this important project, the actual contract construction costs will have to be raised externally. If you think you have the skills, energy and enthusiasm to contribute to this project, please do get in touch with the NZAC National Office, we’d love to talk to you.

–Richard Wesley, NZAC Accommodation Committee

Aspiring Hut, to some the name evokes a remote and wild place, somewhere to venture to one day

when feeling keen and able. To most of us however it is the opposite, a place to relax after a hard climb

or tramp, a place to gather thoughts and momentum on the way to places really remote and wild.

–From The Construction of Aspiring Hut

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Fundraising Coordinator Required for NZAC Earthquake Strengthening Project


NZAC

W H A T I S T H E U I A A ? NZAC HAS a proud history in the UIAA, having been one of 20 founder members when it was established in Chamonix in 1932, some 82 years ago.

NZAC nominate a representative to represent Oceania on the UIAA Management Committee, which meets twice yearly. For some years this was John Nankervis, who made a strong contribution to modernising and reinvigorating the UIAA structure. The current Oceania representative through to 2016 is Stu Gray, immediate past president of NZAC.

Over the years many NZAC members have contributed to various UIAA commis-sions, including Dick Price (Medical) and Don Bogie (Safety).

NZAC currently have two full members on the Mountain Protection Commission: Rodney Garrard and Carolina Adler, with Phil Doole as a corresponding member.

Many climbers will recognise the distinctive UIAA safety logo on the end of climbing ropes or stamped on climbing hardware like carabiners. But what is the UIAA? UIAA stands for Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme. The organisation is also commonly referred to as the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation. The organisation's mission is to ‘promote the growth and protection of mountaineering and climbing worldwide, advance safe and ethical mountain practices and promote respon-sible access, culture and environmental protection’.

The organisation operates through the work of its commissions which make recommen-dations, set policy and advocate on behalf of the climbing and mountaineering community.

The UIAA is recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the international federation representing climbing and mountaineering and aims to have ice climbing accepted as an Olympic competition sport.

The UIAA has 80 member associations across 50 countries and represents the interests of some 2.5 million individual climbers. National federations range from the huge DAV (the German Alpine Club), which represents a massive one million individual members, through to very small federations from various parts of the globe. The diversity is extraordinary.

The UIAA operates from a small secretariat in Switzerland, with direction set by a Management Committee made up of representatives from around the world, which meets twice a year. There is also an annual General Assembly for all member federa-tions, with the American Alpine Club hosting the next one later this year in Flagstaff, Arizona. The current president is Frits Vritjland of the Netherlands.

The UIAA has eight working commissions. These are made up of volunteer experts from around the world who contribute expertise. The commissions are: Access, Medical, Mountain Protection, Mountaineering, Safety, Youth, Ice Climbing, and Anti-doping.

The Safety Commission works with manufacturers to test and establish best practice standards for gear such as snow anchors, harnesses and carabiners. Last year it initi-ated a recall together with the manufacturer of a brand of Via Ferrata safety gear.

The Mountain Protection Commission promotes protection of mountain areas, par-ticularly through the Annual Mountain Protection Award which this year went to a com-munity development in the Ethiopian mountains.

The Medical Commission has played over many years an important part in reviewing research on how humans can operate at high altitude.

The Ice Climbing Commission runs the spectacular UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour. At the recent Winter Olympics in Sochi, ice climbing was a demonstration sport with con-tests on an impressive climbing wall getting extensive media coverage. Some 25,000 visitors tried out the sport during the games and the International Olympic Committee made special comment on how successful the demonstration had been.

–Stu Gray

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Marc Beverly and Alexey Tomilov demonstrating ice climbing in Olympic Park at Sochi, 2014. LUKASZ WARZECHA/UIAA

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RALPH JOINED the New Zealand Alpine Club on 13 May 1953. In 1956—the same year Ralph achieved full membership—he became active in the Southland Section. Ralph subsequently spent seven years as Southland Section Chairman, fours years as Vice-Chairman, eight years as Section Representative, one year as Treasurer, and 22 years on the Southland Section Committee—a total of 42 years’ service. Through concerted action in the 1990s, Ralph almost single-handedly saved the section from being closed when membership numbers declined. He has always supported section activities in many ways, often driving older, less able members to meetings and events, ensur-ing their continued enjoyment and social contact. He has often under-taken the unenviable task of writing obituaries for the NZAJ, ensuring that members’ contributions are appropriately remembered.

Over the time of his membership, Ralph has enthusiastically worked on hut-building and maintenance work parties, and has been active in instruction and Search and Rescue. He remains a SAR advisor for Southland.

Perhaps Ralph’s most significant contribution to Darrans mountain-eering was the Darran, Earl & Wick Mtns one-inch to the mile scale map that he and Lloyd Warburton produced and maintained from 1956 through to its sixth edition in 1962. This meticulously prepared and beautifully drafted map was made available to anyone who asked for it. An enormous, three-dimensional plasticine model he built and main-tained provided a basis for at least some of its direction. The accuracy of the map was remarkable and when, much later, it was overlaid onto an NZMS 1 S122 map, the topographic discrepancies were found to be very slight. This map, which, sadly, is now lost, made a profound differ-ence to those climbing in the area and undoubtedly encouraged climb-ing activity in the Darran Mountains in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Ralph is recorded to having achieved 22 first ascents between January 1954 and February 1970, mostly in the Darran Mountains. He climbed many other routes that are now regarded as standards, and his climbing career spans over 61 years. Climbs on Mt Aspiring and the

East and West Peaks of Mt Earnslaw showed his ability, as did several climbing seasons at the Hermitage. Bill Gordon made over 24 ascents with Ralph, 12 of which were first ascents. Bill found Ralph to be a meticulous planner and a competent climbing companion.

Ralph’s most important first ascents and routes include a traverse of Mt Madeline, a traverse of Mt Tutoko (interestingly enough, noted at the time as a Southland Tramping Club trip, and Ralph and Bill Gordon—both 19-years-old—remain possibly the youngest-ever ascen-dants of Mt Tutoko), the Central Buttress of the Sheila Face of Aoraki Mt Cook, the West Ridge and a traverse of Ngatimamoe Peak, Mt Suter, the North Ridge of Mt Moir, the West Face, South West Face and East Ridge of Mt Talbot, Mt Christina from the Hollyford direct, the North Ridge, the South West Face, the East Face and a traverse of the mountain, Mt Crosscut by the East Ridge and a traverse of the moun-tain, Mt Te Wera’s South West Face, Mt Sheerdown and Mt Karetai. Many of these routes are recognised as classics today.

Ralph has always been extremely modest about his achievements, which is why they have been overlooked by many; Ralph saw no reason to announce his climbing plans before a major climb and once a climb was completed, he felt sufficient satisfaction in a job well done that he felt no inclination to make much fuss. This is, he would say, ‘the Southland way’. This is not to say that his considerable abili-ties and energy were not appreciated by his contemporaries in the Southland Section, as in fact they have been held in awe at times. Rather, Ralph has not been as widely recognised outside of Southland as he deserves to be.

–Peter O’Neill and the NZAC Southland Section

NZACLIFE R A L P H M I L L E R

Ralph Miller, Southland, June 2014. JOHN HAWKINS/SOUTHLAND TIMES


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CLIMBING NEWS AND EVENTS

All of the information you need to

plan and enjoy a safe trip in

the mountains

EVER BEEN tempted to explore the world of backcountry snowboard-ing beyond the bootpack?

Splitfest is an annual splitboarding festival held at Temple Basin ski area. This year it will run over the weekend of 12–14 September. The festival offers people the chance to check out the latest developments and equipment, and try out splitboarding for themselves. The main aim is to get get the maximum number of backcountry snowboarders together in one place, and have a good time! To encourage maximum participation the registration fee is set at the minimum to cover event running costs. This makes Splitfest a great opportunity to give split-boarding a go, meet new touring partners, brush up on your technique, or all of the above!

Demo gear is available to try all weekend long and there will be les-sons for beginners, workshops on touring techniques and avalanche awareness, and organised tours to join—all free with your registration. Thanks to a big line up of sponsors there are a stack of prizes up for grabs too.

So far the formula has been working pretty well—Splitfest is now into its fourth year. The event has been blessed with powder condi-tions and good vibes for three years in a row, not to mention the great terrain at Temple Basin. This year will surely deliver more of the same! The festival will start on the Friday morning with a day of touring around the ski area, and the workshops and other organised events will happen on the Saturday and Sunday. Check out splitfest.co.nz for regis-trations and all you need to know.

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N I B S 2 0 1 4THE NZAC National Indoor Bouldering Series is underway for 2014, with two comps down and two to go.

The Christchurch event at The Roxx was the most popular NIBS comp ever, with over 100 people turning up to throw down. Erica Gatland took out the Open Female category and Dan Smith was the Open Male champ on the day.

The Wellington event at Hangdog gym is about to go down as we go to press, results will be available by the time you read this at nbs.org.nz.

Extreme Edge Hamilton will host the third comp on 26 July. And Extreme Edge Panmure in Auckland is the venue for the fourth and final day of NIBS action. Check nbs.org for more info, including reg-istration details.

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TRIFECTA MIDDLE REPEATEDTHE DAY before this magazine went to press, we received the news that Dan Smith, from England, now living in Christchurch, has repeated New Zealand’s most difficult boulder problem, Trifecta Middle (V13), at Flock Hill.

Trifecta Middle was put up in 2005 by Chris Sharma. The problem was originally thought to be V14, although consensus has seen it settle at V13, which still makes it the only established climb of that grade in the country.

In the nine years since the first ascent, only one other person has come close to ticking this problem. In spring 2009, Pete Allison tagged the final hold of the crux sequence, which, as it turns out, was a little green that day. Just millimetres from glory, Pete flew off, landed awk-wardly and spectacularly snapped his tibia and fibia in half, signalling the end of his attempts.

Dan had a total of six or seven sessions on the climb, spread over three months. On the afternoon of 19 June conditions were perfect: 4–6 degrees Celsius with 35–40 per cent humidity and a freezing wind. Having spent some time previously working out a sequence on a rope, Dan sent the problem on his first day of attempting it with spotters and multiple pads, but not before falling three times from the top section.

Dan attributes his success to a variety of factors: good conditions, belief, psyche, lots of power training on a 45 and fingerboard, and lots of core exercises; he reckons he actually gained weight through this training regime. He also made a judicious life-choice in quitting his job to climb and train full time.

Of the grade, Dan says he’s not really in a position to grade it accu-rately, but it’s certainly the hardest problem he’s ever done. He also com-ments that it is ‘a brilliant problem, one of the best I’ve ever done. Hard and fingery dynamic start to a hard reachy very slopey and scary top out’.

Dan on the opening moves of Trifecta Middle (V13). ANDY STOWE

S T O P P R E S S

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TITANICCLINT HELANDER (USA) and Graham Zimmerman (NZ AND USA) have just returned from the Revelations Mountains in Alaska, where they made the first ascent of the West Face (M6, 5.8, 50 degrees, 1200m) of Titanic Peak in a 22.5 hour push from base camp. It was a very enjoyable climb in a rarely visited corner of the Revelation Mountains. Unfortunately, the trip was cut short by an incident that necessitated an early departure.

The Revelations are a sub-range of the greater Alaska Range, approximately 130 miles south-west of Denali. The range has been receiving much attention over the past few seasons and a number of impressive ascents have been made in the area. This was Clint's seventh trip into the Revelations. He is considered the ‘Godfather' of the range, having written a profile of the range for the 2013 American Alpine Journal as well as having made many significant first ascents in the area. This trip was a chance for him to mop up a few more projects. It was Graham’s second trip into the range, having visited the Revelations Glacier last summer with Scott Bennett.

Clint and Graham flew in on 17 April and were dropped off on a small glacier in a southern tributary of the north-east fork of the Big River Glacier. Base camp was set up in a protected location directly beneath the West Face of Jezebel Peak (2941m).

On 21 April at 4.30am, Clint and Graham set off from base camp under a gorgeous display from the Aurora Borealis, and made the 4km walk to base of the route. The route started with 500m of steep snow climbing that led them to a contact between the lower quality rock of the lower buttress and the gorgeous white granite of the upper. From there the climbing turned to high-quality mixed climbing with beautiful chimney and corner cruxes. As the sun came up the route became drier and the pair rock climbed for 300m of granite that was at times impeccable and at other times was total choss.

Upon reaching the summit snowfield, they brewed up and hydrated before running to the summit. This was the second ascent of Titanic Peak (2834m). The first was in 1981, by a team including Fred Beckey, which climbed the East Face.

From the summit Clint and Graham descended the North Ridge to the northern margin of the east face, then abseiled and down-climbed to the glacier. From there they walked 8km over a pass and down another glacier back to basecamp, arriving at 2.00am on 22 April.

After a few days of rest under variable skies the pair headed off to try another objective. After deciding the weather was too poor they began the 3km ski back to camp. While on this ski decent, which they had made a number of times already, Graham fell into a hidden crevasse and twisted his right knee quite badly. After Clint extracted Graham, the pair made their way back to base camp. They flew out that afternoon and mad etheir way back to Seattle for an MRI.This trip was supported by the American Alpine Club's Copp-Dash Inspire Award, the New Zealand Alpine Club's Expedition Fund and the Mount Everest Foundation. Clint and Graham would like to extand a huge thanks to these organisations, and the rest of the climbing community, for the support they have provided. Clint and Graham would also like to thank Outdoor Research, Exped, Petzl, Boreal, Julbo and Second Ascent Seattle.

–info courtesy Graham Zimmerman

ABOVE Graham Zimmerman leading on the first ascent of the West Face of Titanic Peak. CLINT HELANDER

NEPAL OPENS NEW PEAKS TO CLIMBERSTHE NEPALESE Ministry of Tourism has announced it will open 104 new, as-yet unclimbed peaks to climbers.

Included in the list is one peak over 8000m, Kangchengjunga West (8505m), and two 7000ers named after Sir Ed and Tenzing: Hillary Peak and Tenzing Peak.

Hillary Peak is a 7681m peak located in the Mahalangur Himal, on the border between Nepal and China, at the head of the Nojumba Glacier, about five kilometres east of Cho Oyu (8201m).

For a full list of the peaks see the Nepalese Mountaineering Association’s website: nepalmountaineering.org.

Hillary Peak

LEFT The east face of Fastness Peak. The line of Guy’s ascent is in approximately the centre of the wall. n RIGHT The Kaipo Wall from near Halfway Peak. The Range Rover Route takes the prominent left-facing corner. GUY MCKINNON (BOTH PHOTOS)

A U T U M N S O L O SGUY MCKINNON completed some impres-sive solos back in March this year.

On 9 March, Guy made the first solo ascent (and third overall) of the east face of Fastness Peak, following approximately the line of the Dickson/Sveticic Route.

Then over 27–30 March, Guy soloed the Kaipo Wall via the Range Rover Route, in the Darran Mountains.

For more info see climber.co.nz.



GLACIER BAY PEAKSIN APRIL–MAY this year, Paul Knott and Kieran Parsons made the first ascents of three summits between Mt Abbe and Mt Bertha in Glacier Bay National Park, in south-east Alaska. The most exciting of these was Pk 8290ft, which sports a pyramid of clean granite on its summit.

The pair had originally planned to attempt the east ridge of Mt Crillon—a challenge put forward by Bradford Washburn in 1941—but heavy snowfall, high winds and unseasonably warm temperatures made the approach to the ridge too avalanche-threatened. Therefore, Paul and Kieran made a 20km traverse on the Brady Icefield to an area north of Mt Bertha, where they climbed to a col at 1887m and thence a high bowl overlooking the John Hopkins Glacier.

On 6 May, they made the first ascents of two snow summits on the south side of the bowl: Pk 7507ft, via its snowy northern arête, and Pk 7274ft via its west ridge. The most direct approach to the granite top of Pk 8290ft would have been via the snowy south-east face, but the view from the summits of peaks 7507ft and 7274ft convinced them that this would not be viable due to a threatening ice cliff and the fact that the face ran with wet slides each afternoon.

Instead, early on 7 May, the pair set off on the 2km-long south-east ridge from a camp by the 7507m col. They had noted the potential for time-consuming difficulties along this ridge, and beyond Pt 6706ft found themselves tackling a series of knife-edge corniced mushrooms and towers. It took them nearly three hours to negotiate a few hundred metres of ridge. Above, an easier snow arête took them to the base of the granite pyramid. The only way up this was on steep rock, but the granite was superb, providing secure climbing with juggy holds and plentiful protection. They climbed three pitches, all close to the crest, up to about grade 5.7 (or New Zealand 15).

From the summit, they could see just how much untapped poten-tial exists for climbing and big walling in this knot of granite peaks. Amazingly, the granite has been virtually untouched since Alan Givler, Dusan Jagersky, Steve Marts and James Wickwire climbed there in 1977. The west side of Pk 8290ft sports a continuous 500-metre pillar, and other summits in the Mt Abbe group sport similar monolithic pillars up to 750 metres in height.

In the afternoon warmth, Paul and Kieran found the difficulties on the approach ridge transformed from mostly snow to mostly rock. Collapsing cornices, sodden snow and disintegrating rock concentrated their minds and forced them to make two awkward diagonal abseils. Equally, it was hard for them to ignore the ominous clouds gathering over the ocean to the south. They finally ploughed otheir way to the tent in mist and light snow at 6.30pm, fearful that any oncoming storm would load the avalanche-prone slopes they still had to descend.

Fortunately, high pressure held off the worst of the weather, and early the next morning they post-holed down from the col, finding their footprints obliterated by wet slides. Towards the bottom of the slope, they noticed a huge cone of ice blocks extending out over the glacier, and realised that their stashed snowshoes lay just within the cone. This made the 20km walk back to base camp a distinctly unappealing pros-pect. Luckily, by the afternoon the weather had cleared and their ski plane pilot, Paul Swanstrom, was able to pick them up directly. After such a vivid experience, the spring shoots, fragrance and birdsong back in Haines was simply exquisite.

–report courtesy Paul Knott

CASSINIT SEEMS Kiwi teams couldn’t get enough of the Alaska mountains this season. In early June Steve Fortune and Matt Scholes punched out a very quick lap on the Cassin Ridge of Denali.

After warming up on the West Rib, Steve, Matt and fellow Kiwi Daniel Joll set out with a forecast for a very short weather clearance of less than 24 hours.

Daniel turned back early due to illness, leaving Steve and Matt to climb this classic alpine test-piece non-stop in a total of 27 hours round trip.

The Cassin requires almost 4000m of vertical height gain from a camp on the Kahiltna Glacier. While the climbing is not particularly difficult, technically speaking, the length, con-sistency of terrain, route-finding and harsh Alaskan environment make it a staunch proposi-tion and one of the world’s most sought-after alpine objectives.

Steve and Matt’s ascent is an impressive achievement given their fast time. To put it in perspective, only one other team was succesful on the Cassin this season, and it took that team five days.RIGHT Matt Scholes low on the Cassin Ridge. STEVE FORTUNE

LEFT The south side of Pk 8290ft from the high bowl overlooking the Johns Hopkins Glacier. Paul and Kieran reached the summit pyramid via the extended south-east ridge on the right-hand skyline, and climbed the granite arête dividing light and shade. PAUL KNOTT n CENTRE Kieran Parsons starting the second pitch on the summit pyramid of Pk 8290ft. PAUL KNOTT n RIGHT Paul Knott on the ridge section of Pk 8290. KIERAN PARSONS


Malte BrunAdventure Climbing on the Matterhorn of the South

By Keith Scott

PHOTO Mt Malte Brun from the north. The West Ridge is in profile on the right.

COLIN MONTEATH/HEDGEHOG HOUSE



I curled up on the locker and slowly

reviewed the joys and trials of an eventful

day […] [M]y mind wandered undis-

turbed, touching […] on beauties, but

half perceived at the moment, but now

photographed […] in my memory […]

I wove together the hopes, fears, doubts,

despairs and joys […] of a day in the

mountains. Waking up […] as the men

finished their pipes, I asked what were

our plans for the next day.

–Freda Du Faur, at Malte Brun Hut after the first ascent of the Full West Ridge, in 1910.

Malte Brun Hut

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT

n The second Malte Brun Hut, in 1972 or ‘73. This hut was constructed in 1931. The original hut was built some 100 metres north of the second hut site in 1898. By the 1970s subsidence of the moraine bench on which the hut was built meant the site was no longer a viable location and this first hut was demolished in February 1979. BOB MCKERROW n Climbers outside the hut in about 1977. From left: Pip Alpin, unknown, unknown, Paul Nankivel, Tom Patterson, Ron Peacock, Lyle Irwin, unknown. This photo was taken during a Park Service staff climbing course. The party spent a week in the Upper Tasman area, climbing Aylmer and Hochstetter Dome. PAUL NANKIVEL COLLECTION n The original Malte Brun Hut, early December 1908. JIM DENNISTOUN n The Malte Brun huts site in February 2013. JAZ MORRIS

Malte Brun Hut, Christmas Day 1910. Freda stands third from left, in white jersey. JIM DENNISTOUN

GO DEEPER The 1979 New Zealand Alpine Journal has an excellent tribute article to Malte Brun Hut, written by Ian Whitehouse. We’ve made the article available to down-load as a scanned PDF on our website (climber.co.nz).


Tom Fyfe was a dab hand on the rock. He also had an eye for a good PR line. After his solo ascent of the north-west face of Malte Brun in March 1894, Fyfe wrote in a note left at the De la

Beche bivouac that he had ‘played a lone hand […] and won’. Fyfe had completed the first ascent of the mountain the newspapers

of the time liked to call the ‘Matterhorn of the South’. And he’d done it in style. In a piece penned for the 1894 New Zealand Alpine Journal, he said he’d make no apology for climb-ing alone, despite authorities describ-ing this as ‘foolhardy’. He described the fascination of ‘depending on one’s own wits to pick out the route, and one’s own climbing abilities to over-come the difficulties’. Fyfe ascended the 500m or so up the centre of the face from high on the Bonney Glacier. He’d apparently intended to climb the North Ridge (the route taken on the second ascent in 1906), but had found access difficult so ‘conceived the idea of scaling the peak right up the vertical-looking face in front of me’. He completed the climb quickly, in rubber-soled shoes, which he sug-gested ‘the best climbers should go provided with’. And after a quick bite to eat on the summit, which he reached at 12.40pm. Fyfe was back on the Tasman Glacier by 3.50pm—an extraordinarily quick time, assisted by a 300m slide down a steep couloir to avoid falling rocks. (‘I simply went down as if falling through air.’)

It’s not necessary to be a solo climber to appreciate Fyfe’s perspec-tive. Most who have climbed, certainly at the lead end of a rope, will understand something of the space he inhabited.

In many ways, the first ascent of Malte was done in a style that suits the mountain as much now as it did 120 years ago. After decades of relatively easy access from Malte Brun Hut and later, to a point, Beetham Hut, the journey to Malte has done a full circle back to Fyfe’s time when a bivouac or camp out is a necessary part of the experience.

To climb Malte via any route is an adventure, and a mini-expedition, involving at least two nights under the stars, some of the best rock in the region, fantastic exposure and, at the summit, views over New Zealand’s two largest glaciers: the Tasman and the Murchison.

Prominence, height, accessibility and the quality of the rock were all factors attracting climbers in the early part of the twentieth century.

The second ascent of Malte, in 1906, was by Dutch alpinist Henrick Sillem and guide Peter Graham. The third, via the South Ridge, in 1909, was made by Calude MacDonald (of New South Wales), Graham and a second guide, Jim Murphy. More famous, how-ever, was the fourth ascent, in 1910, via what is now the classic West Ridge route, by a party including the Australian Freda Du Faur. In the early 1900s, Du Faur was probably the best amateur mountaineer active in New Zealand. Among many notable ascents (a number of them firsts), Du Faur climbed Mt Cook in record time in December 1910, Mt Tasman in 1911 and, in 1913, with Graham and Darby Thomson, completed the first Grand Traverse of Cook’s three peaks.

On Malte in January 1910, Du Faur was enjoying herself on ‘the finest rock climb in the Mt Cook district,’ but also doing her best to impress Graham, who had promised that if she ‘made good’ he would take her up Mt Cook.

Du Faur, Graham and Laurence Earle left Malte Brun Hut at 5.30am and made quick progress up scree and snow slopes to the West Ridge, soon arriving at the now-famous cheval section. Du Faur described the cheval in her book The Conquest of Mount Cook and other Climbs:

It was very sharp and narrow and on either side the steep, smooth faces dropped sheer for hundreds of feet […] Graham lowered him-self down to it and, putting a leg on either side, worked along till he came to the end of his rope […] [W]hile I was considering it […] Graham’s quiet voice broke in upon my meditations: ‘I think you had

The lower Tasman Glacier and the Malte Brun Range from the south-west. Malte Brun is the left-most prominent rock peak on the right-hand range. MARK WATSON

Beetham Hut was built in Beetham Valley in 1980 in reponse to the demise of Malte Brun Hut. Unfortunately it only lasted until 1995 when it was demolished after sustaining major damage in an avalanche. With the removal of De la Beche Hut, in 2012, there is now a pressing need for a mid-Tasman hut. NZAC and DOC have instigated plans for a medium-term solution—to install a heli-portable bivvy on the steel base frame that remains at De la Beche corner. Longer-term, a geo-logically viable site free of avalanche hazard has been identified in the lower Beetham Valley as a suitable hut or bivvy location. COLIN MONTEATH/HEDGEHOG HOUSE


better come now, Miss Du Faur’ […] I gingerly let myself down and proceeded as he had done […] He then set off again […] leaving me perched in the middle, a prey to conflicting emotions. One of them very shortly took the form of wishing I possessed a cushion.On the summit at noon, Du Faur felt she’d ‘accomplished a first-

class climb’ and she was ‘inclined to whoop for joy’ at the thought of being the first woman to have done it.

The fifth ascent of Malte—two weeks after Du Faur climbed Mt Cook—also included a woman in the party, Ada Julius, who summited with Jim Dennistoun and guide Jack Clarke. Julius’s father, the Bishop of Christchurch, was once attacked for saying he could conceive of circumstances under which mountaineering would be justifiable on a Sunday. Julius, Dennistoun, Clarke, Du Faur, Graham and a number of others spent Christmas Day 1910—a Sunday—at Malte Brun Hut.

The original Malte Brun Hut was built in the late 1890s. It quickly became popular among glacier walkers and climbers, who were accom-modated in greater numbers when a new, larger hut was built in 1929–1931. (The materials for it were hauled part-way up the Tasman by hus-kies on loan from Richard Byrd’s 1928–1930 Antarctic expedition.)

The huts served as bases for ascents of Malte and nearby peaks such as the Minarets and Elie de Beaumont, and as a destination for trampers drawn to the world beyond Ball Shelter. Visiting mountaineer and Colonial Secretary Leo Amery declared in 1927 that ‘unless it be the eastern face of Monte Rosa, I know of no single view in the Alps which can compare for impressiveness with the view of Cook and Tasman from Glacier Dome, or any view of snow mountains and gla-ciers generally finer than that from Malte Brun Hut’.

Ascents of Malte remained notable—and were reported on in news-

ABOVE The 400–500m south face of Malte Brun in thin, early-season conditions. This is one of the finest pieces of real estate in Mt Cook National Park for grade 4 alpine ice and snow face climbs. There are seven routes on this face, all of them are grade MC4. The West Ridge is in profile on the left. MARK WATSON

LEFT Nigel Perry on the first ascent of Zig Zag, on the south face of Malte, 1981. Of the climb, Perry wrote in the 1981 NZAJ: ‘The South Face […] has potential for ardent players of the glass wall game […] We met some rockfall and rubble, but also good ice pitches.’ RICHARD MORTENSON. RIGHT Carl Schiller near Malte Brun Pass in late autumn. The iceflow in the background is part of Zig Zag. MATTEO SCOZ


Mt Malte BrunA Old Malte Brun Hut site

1 North West Face Tom Fyfe, March 1894 First ascent of the peak

2 Fyfe’s Couloir First descended by Tom Fyfe after his climb of the North West Face in 1894 The first recorded ascent was by F McMahon, A Simpson & R Yates in December 1964

3 Standard West Ridge variants Hugh Chambers & Jack Clarke, February 1912

4 Full West Ridge Laurence Earle, Freda Du Faur & Peter Graham, January 1910

5 Central Rib Ian Cave, Mike Gill & John Nichols, February 1960 First ascent of the south face

6 Zig Zag Nigel Perry and Richard Mortenson, January 1981

7 South Ridge Peter Graham, Claude Macdonald & Jim Murphy, February 1909

8 East Rib Bill Beaven, Ian Gibbs, Earle Riddiford and Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe, January 1953

Access to the Beetham Valley from Ball Hut involves crossing the Tasman moraine and—thanks to glacial recession and erosion—climb-ing the ever-growing moraine wall out of the Tasman into the lower Beetham Valley. While this approach is still very feasible, it is not always straightforward, and definitely not always a pleasant experience! These days many parties aiming for the West Ridge prefer to fly in to the white ice of the Tasman and approach the mountain via the Darwin and Bonney glaciers. The Beetham Valley is outside of the permitted helicopter landing areas in Mt Cook National Park.

A

12

3

4

5

6 7

Mt Malte Brun

Bonney Glacier

Malte Brun Glacier

Mt Hamilton

Auguilles Rouges

Beetham Valley

8

ABOVE The north, west and southern aspects of Malte Brun. MAP BY GEOGRAPHX

LEFT The east face of Malte Brun. COLIN MONTEATH/HEDGEHOG HOUSE



papers into the 1940s. Even up until the early 1980s the mountain continued to offer new challenges, including the first winter ascent, in 1974, and lines on the south face such as Zig Zag (1981) and Rightside Direct (1983).

Stories from the mountain reported in The Evening Post included the deaths of two climbers, who fell descending from the West Ridge in 1943, and an epic climb that began at 2.15am on 31 December 1931 and ended more than 28 hours later, at 6.45am on 1 January 1932. The New Year’s Eve party of Dr FH McDowell, Noel Thomson and guide Alf Brustad cut steps up the Malte Brun Glacier and reached the summit at 2.15pm, but on the descent were caught in darkness and a storm on the face above a couloir leading back to the glacier. Due to ‘intense cold’ it was decided to keep moving and the group spent the night ‘carefully working down the rocks and ice face to the head of the glacier’. McDowell and Thomson were reported to be full of praise for their guide whom they said had been ‘nothing short of marvellous’ in extricating them from an ‘undoubtedly tight corner’. The paper said ‘each man was coated in ice, but […] no member of the party was seriously affected’.

Variations on the West Ridge—starting from near the top of the Malte Brun Glacier, (now known as the West Ridge route, as opposed to the Du Faur party’s Full West Ridge)—probably remained the most popular on Malte in the decades after World War II, although the closure of Malte Brun Hut in the late 1970s (due to subsidence of the ter-races, combined with the opening of Beetham Hut in 1980) made for a longer walk to the base of the climb. Bryan Carter, former guide and long-time owner of the Alpine Guides company at Mt Cook, recalls that the clo-sure of Malte Brun Hut and the deterioration of access up the old moraine gully made the ascent ‘quite a mission’. ‘After the hut closed, it became more of an expedition. The placement of Beetham Hut was meant to reinvigorate the peak, but of course it was too low; it never really justified itself and in any case turned out to have been placed in an avalanche path! I remember the storm cycle that was involved. I flew over the hut when it cleared and it was quite weird because the hut looked relatively undamaged, but had been moved about ten metres.’

But the attraction of Malte—along with Cook and other peaks in the region—as an adventure climb and a training ground for expeditions overseas remained for a small number of locals and Australians who were beginning to travel to the Himalaya and elsewhere.

University of California Professor Colin Cameron, who was then a student at Canberra’s Australian National University, recalls a trip in January 1979 with fellow Australians Steve Colman, Russell Fisher and Stafford Morse. They were preparing for the 1980 Australian Annapurna III expedition on which, sadly, three climbers, including Morse, were killed in an avalanche:

Malte Brun Hut had recently been declared unsafe, so few people were climbing there.

Dunedin climber Matteo Scoz on the famous cheval section of the West Ridge of Malte Brun in January 2013. DAN FREUHAUF

Of the first ascent of the West Ridge, in 1910, Freda Du Faur wrote: It was very sharp and narrow and on either side the steep, smooth faces dropped sheer for hundreds of feet […] Graham lowered himself down to it and, putting a leg on either side, worked along till he came to the end of his rope […] [W]hile I was considering it […] Graham’s quiet voice broke in upon my meditations: ‘I think you had better come now, Miss Du Faur’ […] I gingerly let myself down and proceeded as he had done […] He then set off again […] leaving me perched in the middle, a prey to conflicting emotions. One of them very shortly took the form of wishing I possessed a cushion.


This meant we had less idea about the route […] We walked up the Tasman from Ball Shelter and set up camp in the Beetham Valley, four people in a three-person tent, but the weather was fine […] From there, we went up the Beetham Glacier to Malte Brun Pass and the base of the South Ridge. Conditions were great though at one stage we had to sit in the dark and wait for some daylight to figure out the route. The bulk of it was un-roped. From memory, the rock wasn’t terrible, although on reviewing my photographs of the climb, it looks pretty bad. You needed to be careful. We descended the West Ridge, rapped down towards Malte Brun Hut and skirted the base of the ridge back to camp. We did the cheval un-roped—I was very deliberate in my movements! We saw no-one else the entire trip; it was a great way to finish a season.Carter says that what still makes Malte a ‘classic’ expedition peak is

its relative remoteness, the fact that it’s not climbed often, and that it’s not technically demanding, but is ‘enough of a mission to offer a great deal of satisfaction’.

Dave McKinley, a senior guide at Mt Cook Village, confirms the decrease in the number of climbers on Malte since the loss of the huts, but also detects a revival of interest as glacial retreat cuts access to other climbs, and says there have been discussions about the pos-sibility of new mid-Tasman / Malte Brun Range huts. He says the West Ridge and any of the variants on the northern buttresses remain popu-lar late-season climbs, and on the south side, Zig Zag offers a classic early season option. And if that’s not enough, McKinley throws out a challenge: ‘big new routes’ are still to be had on the east side of the

mountain, from the Murchison Valley. For now at least, ascents from the south, or the head of the Malte

Brun or Bonney glaciers in the north-west follow a similar style: a walk in through some of the best alpine country in the world (perhaps now, combined with a helicopter drop off), a night at camp in a cramped tent or bivvy bag anticipating the day ahead, an early brew in the dark, a classic alpine rock route and, hopefully, an inclination to ‘whoop for joy’ with Du Faur and 15 minutes admiring, as Fyfe did, a view ‘composed […] of the most sublime objects […] in every variety that could satisfy the eye and charm the imagination’.

Keith Scott is a Canberra-based writer and climb-er. He is a member of the Canberra Climbing Association and the Australia Section of the New Zealand Alpine Club. He has climbed several sea-sons in the Southern Alps and was part of a private expedition to the Himalaya in 2010 that made a first ascent of a 6500m peak in north-eastern Nepal.

Shelley Hersey high on the North West Face of Malte Brun in the summer of 2011/12. TONY RAC


A Guided AscentIn the Grand Tradition

With a week’s notice, the guiding company came through: guide Jamie Robertson would be available for five days from Tuesday 11 February and was happy to have a look at Malte Brun via the Bonney Headwall route and the cheval with me.

Climbing friends and I had talked of getting across the ditch to do the West Ridge, but had never managed to coordinate it. So I’d decided on the option of a guided climb, a grand tradition at Mt Cook.

A quick gear check on the Tuesday morning and we were away at 10.30am, having gate crashed a scenic flight that was heading up the Tasman Glacier. Thanks to the obliging pilot we got a good look at access to Malte via the Darwin and Bonney Glaciers—the route now favoured for guided ascents—as we flew up the Tasman.

The stay at Tasman Saddle Hut was brief (two nights), but a good way to bridge the gap between the metropolis of Mt Cook Village and our planned camp high on the Bonney. It was made all the more pleasant by the company of guide Dave Alderson and medic Sophie Wallace. Sophie was a few weeks out from heading off to work as a base camp doctor on Everest.

With a forecasted clearing on the Thursday morning before snow and expected 50km/h winds, Jamie and I had the hut cooker roaring at a civilised 7.00am before heading down the Tasman and across the moraine onto the Darwin Glacier. Camp was a serene little nook 1000m above the Tasman, by the small col dividing the Bonney from the Malte Brun Glacier.

The second half of the afternoon was passed snoozing and contemplating the snow and high winds. The night was spent snoozing and listening to rocks in Fyfe’s Couloir. But the real music was Jamie’s voice at around 8.00am saying he thought it’d ‘go’ and we should get a brew on. With the cloud finally clearing an hour or so after our hoped-for start of around 7.00am and the bad weather nowhere to be seen, we were away and up snow patches to the face proper around 9.00am.

Jamie led up the face on warm, solid rock—most of the gear stayed in—with plenty of small edges and pockets for mountaineering boots. Four pitches led us to a long, loose ledge below a snow-patch leading right to an arête and up to the ridge and cheval. We simul-climbed across, stashed some gear and scrambled up to the ridge. Jamie strode out to the cheval—edging his boots on small features on the face—and told me to follow when the rope went tight. Follow I did, removing pro, snapping photos when possible and moving, moving, moving to keep up with the lanky figure ahead, which was weaving left then right and then along the top, clipping and draping the rope around horns as he went.

I stole a quick drink and a bite to eat while Jamie set a belay to downclimb around a gendarme. I found time for another bite from food stuffed in pockets as we re-attached crampons for the summit slope. Loose rock was unhelpfully covered by a thin layer of ice and snow. Then we were there. Luck with the weather and good guiding saw us top out at 2.22pm.

Our descent was uneventful, although I found myself yawning as we re-crossed the cheval, which I figured couldn’t be a good sign. A cleanly sev-ered second rope—the result of a rockfall onto our carefully placed stash near the top of the face—meant we had to do eight 25-metre abseils down a rib and the face back to the snow slopes. But there was plenty of gear and we were back at camp for dinner on the rocks and a spectacular sunset.

In the pub at Mount Cook Village the next day, Dave told Sophie and me that he once went to a party where everyone dressed up as the person they most didn’t want to be. He’d gone to the Salvos and bought a suit. On the face of Malte and on the cheval and with the smell of warm rock and the clink of a climbing rack, I felt closer to me than I’ll ever feel in the suit that I knew was waiting in Canberra.

–Keith Scott

PHOTO Guide Jamie Robertson leads out onto the famous cheval section of the West Ridge, 500m above the Bonney Glacier. KEITH SCOTT


CLIMBER PROFILE

CRAIG HOUSTON

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY DANIEL KRIPPNER

Craig on the sika-fest section of Shining Bright Despite the Plight (32) at Froggatt Edge.



SAM WILLIAMS TOOK ME TO THE DARK SIDE (BOULDERING), WHICH

TAUGHT ME HOW TO CLIMB HARDER BY WORKING

SEQUENCES HARD


I’ve known Craig since before he owned a rope and I’ve seen his climbing continue to improve, despite some lengthy breaks

and complications. Craig’s capacity to push his limits when all the elements are against him is remarkable. Always one to

downplay his ability, Craig responds to my question about why he doesn’t enter more competitions with ‘I’m not very good at

them.’ His worst result is second place. Despite some noteworthy achievements, Craig has flown under the radar for quite some

time. But then, he’s from Hamilton, which isn’t exactly a stomping ground for hard climbers.

In the five years since he started climbing, Craig has made first ascents of two grade 30 climbs: Civil Unrest at White Falls and Sushi

at Mangaokewa. He also recently managed the FA of The Walls Within (V11) at Mangaokewa. He was the first to repeat Shining Bright

Despite the Plight at Froggatt Edge after a crucial hold broke, bumping the grade from 31 to 32. Craig has managed all of this despite

spending one year travelling and another dealing with a broken back. His motivation for going climbing despite injury? ‘I don’t like

making any excuses, like family barbecues or something.’

I caught up with Craig recently to gain some insight into the last few years of his climbing and hear his stories of injuries and pro-

jecting difficult routes. Never a stranger to accidents, he shows up with half his face swollen and a black eye. ‘I slipped getting out

of the shower and hit my head on the bath and got knocked out,’ he says … just like in the old ACC adverts.

How many times have you been knocked off your bike?

My postie bike three times, and my normal bike maybe four or five times. Of those, two involved an ambulance. The most serious one was when I was biking in the cycle lane and as the lady driving behind me came up she thought she had space to turn in front of me by beating me to the corner. She didn’t; she turned straight into me, resulting in a shattered bike helmet and a concussion. I still get headaches from that one—she ended up getting a measly $100 fine.

Do you reckon the 200km or so of cycling you do per week during your job as a postie helps with your climbing?

I don’t really feel like it has an effect. I can see how other people would say it does help with being fit, but it doesn’t really help for me. It just makes my legs heavy.

Where does your motivation for climbing come from?

To find a move or a sequence of moves that I can find my own crazy way of doing, because I can never do anyone else’s beta. I lack motivation a lot.

Really? That sounds odd, coming from someone who climbs so much.

I used to find it easy and was psyched all the time but in the last two years it has been way harder because there aren’t many psyched climbers in the Waikato. I climb by myself a lot because the people that get me psyched for climbing are usually too far away.

Who has helped your climbing the most along the way?

Probably Sam Williams, because he took me to the dark side (bouldering), which taught me how to climb harder by work-ing sequences hard. Sam is the compression master and he always strives to find the wackiest way to do a problem.

What was the first climb you sent that felt like the next level for you?

Louder (28) at Froggatt Edge. I spent ages working it because I kept falling on the last hard move—the dyno. When I finally latched the jug, I climbed easily to the top and let off a really loud ‘Yahoo!’ for Sam.

Several months after sending Louder you went overseas for a year and stopped climbing, why?

I just wanted to travel. I didn’t really have anyone to climb with and back then I didn’t really know much about bouldering.

Do you reckon it helped to have that time off?

Maybe mentally but looking back now I wish I had turned half of the trip into a climbing trip.

When you got back from your big trip you headed down to Castle Hill for several months, tell us about that?

I went with my good mate Luke. We just went down to explore and climb for fun. We bought a car in Hamilton and drove it down to Christchurch. We stopped off at Paynes Ford for two weeks, then blew the car up on the way to the Hill from Christchurch. We had to go back and get a new car as it was going to be my home.

Luke was there for another two weeks but after that I was climbing by myself. Later in the trip I met two crazy German guys at the campsite and hung out with them for the next three months. I managed to do a few V9s as well as a few of the classics, like Snake Eyes, which is one I’ve always wanted to do. I also did most of the V6 mantels at Quantum—there is a good circuit of them to train on. The rest of the trip consisted of getting spanked on every-thing else I tried. I had so many days of getting absolutely owned on boulders. I also got ‘Castle Hill elbows,’ which lasted for three weeks—no fun.

* * * FACING PAGE

Craig showing off his toe hook beta on the sec-ond ascent of The Fire Starts to Burn (V10), at Mangaokewa.


Once you were back in the Waikato how was the climbing?

I got pretty psyched for outdoor climbing when I got back from the Hill, probably because of the ‘Baronator’ (Jamie Baron). He is one of the most psyched climbers I have ever met for outdoor climbing. He couldn’t climb as hard as me at the time but was so psyched. He pushed me to get on heaps of routes that I wouldn’t have otherwise bothered to try. Jamie was developing routes at Waipapa at the time, so I started climbing there more. The climb-ing there was a completely different style to what I was used to but I think it is really good to try as many styles of climbing as possible.

Eventually, when I got the hang of the Waipapa climb-ing, I busted out a few of the harder climbs, including Handsome Julio Direct (28). The next weekend I felt really good and was trying heaps of climbs and after getting the second ascent of Kriptonite (26) I jumped on Batman (27). On my first attempt I had an awkward fall on the top crux, which involves camming your feet in two parallel cracks, with two small pocket crimps that you dyno from. When I dynoed for the ledge my feet stayed behind and I fell upside down and smashed my lower back into the rock.

Yeah I remember seeing you coming back to the climbing gym that night looking pretty crippled.

It was pretty sore but bearable enough. The next day though when I woke up I could barely walk. I tried to go to work but my boss sent me home. When I got home I went to sit on the couch and missed it, landing on the floor. This caused a disc to slip in my spine and crushed my sciatic nerve. I was stuck there for several hours until some friends came over and found me on the floor. The hospital sent me to physio and gave me stretches to do along with a lifetime supply of Tramadol.

How long was it before you were climbing again?

I was lying down for a long time. I stared at the wall a lot. I didn’t really think too much about climbing because of all the Tramadol. I was really amped to be able to move again and it was great to be able to ride a bike. It was about four months before I started climbing again, but it was a very long time until I could run again.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Civil Unrest (30) at White Falls, Mt Ruapehu, brought to you by the equipping efforts of Ewan Sinclair; brought to life by Craig in 2013 (pictured here on the FA). n Hard drag-hang on the finishing moves of Sushi (30) at Mangaokewa n On the opening moves of Sushi n Jason Watson’s 2010 problem Poptometry (V9) at the AGS Rockwall in Auckland is still unrepeated. Craig taking the measure of a back three on the problem’s tiny opening crimps.

FACING PAGE Craig halfway up Shining Bright Despite the Plight (32) at Froggatt Edge.


I WENT TO SIT ON THE COUCH AND MISSED IT, LANDING ON THE FLOOR. THIS CAUSED A DISC TO SLIP IN MY SPINE AND CRUSHED MY SCIATIC NERVE


THE SPECIALIST SAID I COULD

START CLIMBING AGAIN WHEN I

FELT READY BUT TO START LIGHTLY

AND BACK OFF IF IT STARTED HURTING.

I GOT BACK INTO HARD CLIMBING

PRETTY QUICK AS I WAS PSYCHED

TO GET BACK TO PROJECTING


How did climbing feel at first?

Every move felt really, really hard. I felt like a newbie. But once I got my endurance back I felt good. Lots of the time from when I started back climbing again is a blank for me. I’m not sure if this is because of the Tramadol or because of the number of times I’ve been knocked off my bike.

Did you start trying hard routes again after your back injury?

I’m not the kind of person to look at the grades and then work my way up the grade ladder. I like to try something that feels impossible and get destroyed on it but one day be able to do it. Working and eventually climbing Built to Last (29) at Froggatt Edge was probably the first time this really happened. I worked Built to Last for too long and had to come up with my own beta, which was cool because since then a few other climbers have used that sequence to send the route.

I remember you sent the route on your fourth day on?

Yeah it was on a long weekend. I had hoped to get it on the first day, but it didn’t come together, so I just kept try-ing the route to train on it. On the fourth day on I jumped on it one last time and managed to pull the mantle (crux) clean, with all my tips weeping blood—all my skin was gone. There was no way I was coming off after the mantel though, I sent it that go. This long process of projecting became pretty regular for me after that. I’m no good at this onsighting and flashing business.

Then you started trying Shining Bright Despite the Plight?

Yeah, when I started trying it I got pretty obsessed. I got very close to the first ascent, having fallen on the final crux move three times before Josh (Evans) crushed it. Wiz sent soon after and I was lucky enough to witness his send. The day Wiz (Fineron) sent, I fell on the last hard move again. Soon after that I ripped off a crucial sika’d hold which was used to rest on as well as for a foot on the crux section. This got me more psyched for the route as it was now going to be a greater challenge, which I knew would feel better to send in the long run. However, I had no luck finding a method for the new crux, so started going to White Falls instead.

How did that go? I hear you started with the hardest route at the crag.

When Jamie and I went to White Falls we had no guide. I saw a route with two big plate jugs that caught my eye, and jumped straight on it for a warm up. The next week-end I learned that this was Crag Vultures, which was the hardest route at the crag at the time. I was lucky enough to send that climb relatively quickly. In the following week-ends there my luck was pretty good. It seemed to be my kind of climbing. However, my back was getting worse and the leg cramps from my sciatica were getting quite severe. Despite that I managed to get the first ascent of Civil Unrest (30) after Ewan (Sinclair, the equipper) was asked if it could be opened.

Then back surgery?

Yeah, I finally got to see a specialist who immediately got an MRI scan done and the next day booked me in for surgery in two weeks. My last weekend of climbing before the operation was Easter weekend—there was a

good group of climbers at White Falls that weekend and I managed to send Snake Oil (30) and Them Crooked Vultures (29).

The surgery sucked—I hope I never have to go through that process again. They removed the disc out of my back but part of the disc had calcified, which slightly complicated the surgery. After the surgery I wasn’t allowed to sit for six weeks, which was not fine and dandy. The surgery didn’t really end up doing much—after three months off I decided to go back to the climbing gym. The specialist said I could start climbing again when I felt ready but to start lightly and back off if it started hurting. I got back into hard climbing pretty quick as I was psyched to get back to projecting. A few weeks later I returned to Shining Bright Despite the Plight and managed to unlock a sequence for the new crux.

What do you think allowed you to unlock the sequence so soon after the operation?

More awareness of body placement. I was also more relaxed, and not so focused on the send. I had almost done the move many times before, so sticking it came down to subtle changes in the foot placements.

After you unlocked the sequence, did the send come quickly?

Yup, the send came within a few days. I had a couple more attempts where I fell on the last hard move but the actual send attempt felt easy—it was my warm-up go for that day.

How did you feel after the send?

After that I didn’t really feel like I had anything left that I was really psyched to try on a rope in the North Island. I had a Castle Hill trip a few weeks later but wasn’t really that motivated for climbing. I was more keen on the Sheffield pies.

What got you psyched for climbing again?

Finding a good crew of people to boulder with in the North Island who were excited to develop new boulders and dig out landings. I had a lot of catching up to do though as the others had all bouldered double digits and they all jokingly rubbed it in.

You recently put up Sushi (30) at Mangaokewa—tell us about that.

Having focused on bouldering for a few months straight I decided to jump back on a rope. Ivan Vostinar’s project at Mangaokewa had just been opened. It looked fun and nice and short. The moves flowed really nicely when I first jumped on it and the crux move felt good. I had been working on the project at the Bat Cave and was lucky enough to send that later that afternoon after P-nut Steens got the first ascent. So I decided to project the route and sent it two weekends later.

What are your future plans?

I currently have another project in the Bat Cave at Mangaokewa to finish off which links from the left side of the cave into The Fire Starts to Burn. [Note: Craig has since sent this line, which he has named The Walls Within, V11]. I also have a short trip to the Grampians in July, which should be exciting. After that, who knows?

FACING PAGE

Craig climbing at White Falls, Mt Ruapehu.


S I X F A V O U R I T E S H O T S F R O MO N S I G H T [ c l i m b i n g p h o t o g r a p h e r p r o f i l e ]


PETER LAURENSON

t ANTS ON DIXONThis image is mostly about scale. Some people, thinking in terms of height above sea level, see our New Zealand mountains as small fry compared to the bigger peaks on the continents. Anyone who actually ventures onto our slopes soon gets the real picture, as these two climbers did. As a distant observer, across on Glacier Dome, I felt envious and inspired as I watched their careful descent of Mt Dixon that perfect December afternoon.

s VASTI like the depth in this image of Kanchenjunga, taken in December (winter) at sunset from the Singalila Ridge in north-eastern India. Although the trek to this point is easy enough, it offers one of the best wide views of the Himalaya I’ve ever seen. It was made even sweeter because I shared it with my partner Cathy, who isn’t a climber, on her first visit to the Himalaya.

u TOP GUNI love the way mountain people reflect their harsh and magnificent environment. This young Muslim top gun’s eyes beamed innocent inquisitiveness as he checked out the odd-looking Westerner on the roof of his mud-walled home in Hushe, in Baltistan. The hi-tech jet fighter movie advertised on his cap symbolises a culture clash that’s happening all over the developing world.



t RED DIVIDESometimes Mother Nature lays on something extra special for those who put in the effort to get to the right spot. This sunrise over the main divide, seen from near Pioneer Hut in February, was a jaw dropper. For me it was also a consolation prize for being denied suitable weather or snow conditions for any serious climbing during a five-day trip.

t CUPLOA AHEADThis simple image sums up several aspects of mountaineering for me: friendship, hard graft, focus, beauty and uncertainty. Due to poor snow conditions and avalanche risk, we never reached the top of Mount Cupola (in Nelson Lakes National Park) that dreary July day. But we had some fun.

Occasional ClimberAt 50-years-old I felt I’d amassed enough beautiful alpine imagery and thoughtful reflections to share. So I wrote my first book, Occasional Climber: A journey to Mount Clarity. I grew up in New Plymouth, so I chose an image of my mountain—Mt Taranaki—for the front cover. As we descended Tongariro that July evening it was perfectly calm, with no one else around—a perfect reflective moment, even by alpine standards.

Find out more or buy your copy of Occasional Climber at: accessprint.co.nz/Occasional_Climber.php.

p HOT AND COLDI enjoy how this image captures a seeming contradiction between volcanic heat and alpine freeze. While some mates skied at Turoa skifield one broody August day, I cramponed up and around part of the outer crater rim, around the crater lake and down to its sulphur-stained shoreline. The summit plateau was all mine for that entire day, and being alone at the shoreline accentuated how the gently lapping water and slowly rising steam concealed the fury lurking beneath.


I am a climber and I have only ever been in relationships with climb-ers. But while I have wooed been wooed exclusively by patched down-jacketed, coffee-addicted, strong-shouldered men, I know

that those same three male rock climbers have not exclusively dated female climbers. Indeed, a straw poll of my female climbing friends reveals a similar statistic: their serious relationships have all been with climbers, but each of those men has also had earlier wives, partners or girlfriends who didn’t climb. We can also see this pat-tern demonstrated by the international elites. We rarely think of Daila Ojeda without thinking of Chris Sharma, ditto Monique Forestier and Simon Carter. Although they’ve now broken up, when we would think of Beth Rodden, we’d also think of Tommy Caldwell.

Perhaps this disparity is just a consequence of there being more men than women who climb. Maybe all climbing men would like a romantic climbing partner, but there are not enough climbing women for them to date, whereas climbing women have much larger pool of men from which to choose from. (Please excuse my heterosexual assumptions.) Indeed, a friend once mused—shortly before she departed on a trip to Yosemite—that the odds for her finding a hus-band there were significantly in her favour. At Camp Four, she rea-

soned, there would likely be a total of four single women; two would be weirdos, one would be a lesbian and the last would be her. On the other hand, there would be approximately 40 single male climb-ers. Eighteen months later, she married the man she met on that trip. In reality, there would have been more than just four single female climbers at Camp Four. Of course there would have been. But those women would have been there with their boyfriends, husbands or climbing-friends-with-benefits. Of the Blue Mountains, I was once told by a prominent female climber that ‘in the mountains, a lady does not need a tent.’

What factors lead to the vast majority of climbing women dating, marrying and having tent-based benefits with climbing men? Perhaps it’s simply a preference for convex-backed, slender-legged, tuna-eating, dirt-baggy, mentally- and physically-driven men. From my own experiences, I could blame the surroundings I spent my formative teenage years in. I was one of those skinny, irritating teen competi-tion climbers who would spend weekends at Technical Onsite comps so I could climb four routes over two days. During those weekends (which my parents affectionately referred to as ‘hostage situations’), perhaps the ‘type’ of man I would grow up to prefer was potentially

A STUDY OF THE NORMATIVE GENDER EXPECTATIONS THAT MEDIATE FEMALE CLIMBERS’ RELATIONSHIP DECISIONSOr: Why do female climbers more often than not end up in relationships with male climbers?

BY ESTHER PACKARD-HILL


imprinted upon me by dozens of shirtless Open A male climbers, all shouldering and campusing from fuchsia hold to fuchsia hold?

Another explanation for why female climb-ers predominantly date male climbers—one that relies less on dubious biological-imprint-ing theories—is to do with how female climbers choose to spend their time. That is, because I and other female climbers spend a significant number of hours climbing, The only potential dates we’re exposed to are climbers. Thus, it’s not absence that makes the heart grow fonder but proximity.

Also, it makes sense, of course, to have similar interests to your romantic partner and so it makes further sense that female climb-ers tend to end up with male climbers. This additionally means that, reasonably often, male climbers try to foster a love of climbing in their non-climbing partners. What tends to

OF THE BLUE

MOUNTAINS, I WAS

ONCE TOLD BY A

PROMINENT FEMALE

CLIMBER THAT ‘IN

THE MOUNTAINS, A

LADY DOES NOT NEED

A TENT.’

happen in those situations is that the climb-ing community at large refers to the cajoled one as ‘so-and-so’s sometimes-climbing girl-friend’ and the sometimes-climbing girlfriend is rarely fully converted. Back when my cur-rent partner was a young, hormone-driven student in Christchurch, he even went so far as to buy the then-object of his affection a flash new Arc’teryx harness in a bid to get her to the Cave more regularly. Reportedly, it didn’t work.

Coming back to why female climbers date male climbers, regardless of physical preferences, regardless of wanting to have hobbies similar to your partner, and regard-less of the skewed male-to-female climber ratio, I believe that it’s crucial that we look at the gender roles, expectations and assump-tions inherent within our society to fully understand why this pattern exists. Indeed, I believe if and when climbing women date non-climbing men, the relationship could be more likely to fail because of how masculin-ity and femininity are perceived, performed and regulated in society.

Imagine if you will, a regular Kiwi bloke—there’s no such person except in political campaigns but bear with me—whose girl-friend, wife or life-partner regularly goes away for climbing weekends with either another man or a group of men. Now acknowledge that our non-climber regular Kiwi bloke’s stereotype of a male climber is probably something akin to Sylvester Stallone in Cliffhanger; that is, someone who is muscular, cocksure, confident, capable of conquering nature and bad guys simultane-ously and, most importantly, someone who will definitely end up getting the girl.

It’s fair to speculate that the non-climbing regular Kiwi bloke and, crucially, the regular Kiwi bloke’s masculinity, would be threat-ened and he’d feel jealous should a version of the above scenario arise. Regardless of the fact that the majority of male rock climb-ers are more likely to be wiry and spry than Stallone-sized (though should we ever need to use his bolting gun, we’d need metaphori-cal guns like his), the masculine insecurity could still remain. Here is another man, doing typically manly things like wearing a bicep-showing singlet and subjugating cliff faces because they are there, all in front of our non-climbing Kiwi bloke’s woman.

Compounding this fear and further under-cutting the average Kiwi bloke’s masculin-ity is the fact that if his wife, girl-friend or partner climbs and he doesn't, the woman is undertaking a pursuit which is tradition-ally coded by society as ‘masculine’ (while other pursuits like sewing, shopping and syn-chronised swimming are conversely coded ‘feminine’). Consequently, a woman climbing and a man not climbing fundamentally under-mines our society’s expectations of what is ‘appropriate’ male and female behaviour. Moreover, rock climbing, like most sports, requires participants to develop qualities such as strength, resilience and physical power. These qualities are also typically coded in our society as ‘masculine’ (see my article on playing The Game, in The Climber,

issue 81. Thus when women climb and men don’t, society’s ‘rules’ about what men and women should (and shouldn’t) be like and behave like are undercut further. I’m stereotyping, of course, but nonetheless, stereotypes about gender inform both how we behave and what we deem ‘appropriate’ on a day-to-day basis.

Even if it’s at an unarticulated, subcon-scious level, a woman climbing and a man not climbing could be perceived as uninten-tionally emasculating. Many of my female climbing friends have unintentionally—or, in some cases, entirely intentionally—put prospective non-climber partners off by taking them climbing and comprehensively out-climbing them. Hence, maybe it’s just easier for a climbing woman to avoid all the placatory statements, insecurities and ego-soothing—‘I’m sure you could climb better than me if you wanted to, babe’—and just find herself a man who climbs. Sure, a woman who climbs certainly still undertakes a ‘masculine’ pastime but the transgressive nature of said pastime may be less unsettling for a man who climbs too.

I know that there are exceptions to every rule and that therefore, there must be many women who climb regularly and whose male partners don’t and that they live very happily ever after. Nonetheless, it’s interesting that, remarkably often, female climbers end up with male climbers but that male climbers don’t necessarily end up with female climb-ers. I do suspect that the reasons for this disparity can be at least in part attributed to societal gender expectations. Or maybe it is just that us climbing women can’t resist a bloke in a woolly beanie, patched down jacket and chalky harness.

PHO

TO: K

ESTE

R B

RO

WN

BOOKS AND F ILMS


AMONG SECRET BEAUTIESA memoir of mountaineering in New Zealand and the Himalayas

By Brian Wilkins

Reviewed by Chris Todd

FIRST, A DECLARATION of personal interest: Colin Todd, who climbed with Brian Wilkins, was my uncle. This is relevant because Wilkins’ narrative includes strong criticism of some of his fellow climbers, their decisions and their accounts of the events he was witness to. Colin died five years before I was born, but as a teenager I pored over his expedition slides from Nepal. I am grateful that Wilkins’s book Among Secret Beauties has helped me gain another perspective on those slides and Colin’s life.

In the 1950 movie Rashomon, the nature of truth is examined by recounting a violent crime from four very different perspectives, each ‘true’ from the perspective of its narrator. This gave rise to the term ‘the Rashomon effect’. The contrasting accounts of the 1954 NZAC expedition to the Barun region of Nepal, the central narrative of Wilkins’s book, are collectively a fine example of it.

The defining event of that expedition was Wilkins’s 20-metre fall into a crevasse, and dragging his climbing partner Jim McFarlane after him. Both were concussed; Wilkins managed to climb out but McFarlane remained overnight, resulting in severely frostbitten hands and feet. Hillary cracked three ribs during the rescue and had to be car-ried down to lower altitude. McFarlane was carried almost all the way to Kathmandu, an extraordinary feat by a man named Pasang Dawa. With the expedition weakened and Hillary temporarily out of action, act-

ing leader Charles Evans (contentiously) decided to abandon the highest prize, Makalu. The remaining expedition mem-bers still managed a substantial consola-tion prize: over 20 first ascents, including route-finding and mapping across very rugged terrain.

I found Among Secret Beauties par-ticularly interesting as an account of post-Everest climbing in the Himalayas (booming and well-funded); and closer to home the thriving post-war mountaineering scene in the Southern Alps (increasingly self-confident and outward-looking). I enjoyed Wilkins’s vivid account of his first (and almost fatal) ascent of the North East Ridge of Aspiring, which involved bivvying out near the summit and near-death experiences from lightning and exposure.

The book is well illustrated with photographs and the extensive footnotes are well worth a read. Brian Wilkins’s descriptive first-hand accounts provide another valuable perspective on some of the golden years of New Zealand climbing.Among Secret Beauties: A memoir of mountaineering in New Zealand and the Himalayas. By Brian Wilkins. Otago University Press, 2013.

GUYThe Adventures of New Zealand Photographer Guy Mannering

By Margie Mannering and Nikki Latham

Reviewed by Colin Monteath

THE NAME ‘Guy Mannering’ is synonymous with the early days of moun-taineering in New Zealand. GE (George, but known as Guy) Mannering (1862-1947) wrote the classic book With Axe and Rope in the New Zealand Alps, in 1891, which documents his five attempts to climb Aoraki.

But it is George’s son Guy Mannering (1925–2003) who I came to know and admire as a mountaineer, adventurer, jetboat enthusiast and, crucially for me, as an Antarctic photographer. It was Guy’s crisp black and white prints of emperor penguins at Cape Crozier that caught my eye upon first entering the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research’s Antarctic Division library in 1973. These images were in part responsible for setting my life’s course.

While Guy junior climbed our highest peak, a summit that eluded his father, Guy is not really a climbing biography. Instead, the book covers the years from the early 60s through to the mid-70s when Guy was par-ticularly active in many fields, not the least of which was his highly suc-cessful Christchurch photographic business: Mannering and Associates.

Many will be familiar with Guy’s two wonderful books The Peaks and Passes of JRD: James Robert Dennistoun (1999) and The Hermitage Years of Mannering and Dixon (2000). Both were privately published and produced from his retirement home in Geraldine. The books were not only much-needed histories; they oozed with attention to detail, with fine art paper and quality photographic reproduction. With similar production standards, Guy has been crafted lovingly by Guy’s widow Margie and Guy’s granddaughter Nikki Latham. Much of the book is based on Guy’s expedition dairies, with linking passages of text by Margie and Nikki.

Guy was an early aficionado of jet-boating in Canterbury, so much so that his boat was the third ever produced on Jon and Bill Hamilton’s line (of Hamilton Jet). Together with the Hamiltons, Guy pioneered ascents of many New Zealand rivers, proving beyond doubt the versa-tility and manoeuvrability of these remarkable craft. This friendship led to a jet boating adventure up (and down) the Colorado River in 1960, an expedition filmed by Guy. There are in-depth chapters on subsequent jetboat expeditions up the Mekong River in South East Asia in 1965; the Sepik River in Papua in 1966; and down the Congo River (formerly the Zaire) in Africa in 1974. These were all inspirational, difficult trips that I’m sure influenced Ed Hillary’s decision to use jet boats on the Ganges for the From the Ocean to the Sky Expedition in 1977.

But it was the chapters in Guy on Antarctica that really drew me in. Guy was invited to Scott Base in 1962 as a photog-rapher (along with writer Graham Billing) in the early days of what became the PRO position, a vital publicity role to document base activities and scientists at work in the field, then to send out press releases to the media. Sadly, this position has now been discontinued. Guy’s photographic record of the New Zealand Antartic Research Programme in the early 1960s is priceless, largely due to his passion for working long hours and taking every opportunity offered to disappear on a flight when a field party was being dispatched.

This was an era when Scott Base dogs were thrown onto RD3 aircraft prior to a sledging season, of unreliable aircraft that crashed all-too-often after JATO (jet-assisted take-off) bottles misfired on take-off (Guy was on board during one crash), of the Nuky-poo nuclear power station at McMurdo that was in the process of self-destructing, of ice-breakers and cargo ships arriving on Ross Island in November, of regu-lar ship visits to the then-functioning USA and NZ base Hallett in North Victoria Land, of a time when Kiwis were allowed to go to Cape Crozier to see emperors and of a time when every skerrick of water had to be melted from ice blocks. (Minute dirt particles in the water caused all sorts of hassles for Guy in his black and white darkroom.)

Guy Mannering loved Antarctica. He made several trips there dur-ing the 1960s prior to the release of his classic book South—Man and Nature in Antarctica, which was first published in 1964 (with text writ-ten by Graham Billing). If you are after an insight into how Scott Base used to function—an Antarctic world now long-gone—then I strongly suggest delving into South and now, Guy.

Alongside granddaughter Nikki, Margie Mannering laboured long and hard over this fitting tribute to her husband. Margie was tragically killed in a car crash as this book was going to press. Thankfully, she did at least have the satisfaction of seeing the book to completion before her death.Guy: The adventures of New Zealand Photographer Guy Mannering. By Margie Mannering and Nikki Latham. Privately published, 2013. RRP $60 (hardback) and $45 (softbound).

BOOKS AND F ILMS


LEARNING TO FLYAn Uncommon Memoir of Human Flight, Unexpected Love, and One Amazing Dog

By Steph Davis

Reviewed by Nic Learmonth

WHAT DO you do when you lose the things and the people who are the foundations in your life?

In 2006 American professional climber Steph Davis was at the top of her game. An impressive collection of monumental ascents—including the second female free ascent of Freerider, the first female free ascent of the Salathé Wall on El Capitan, and first ascents on Torre Egger and Cerro Stanhardt in Patagonia, with her husband Dean Potter—had won her acclaim from the climbing community and mainstream media, and sponsorship from some prominent outdoor companies. Davis had every-thing she needed to keep doing what she was doing, and to do it well.

But then Potter soloed Delicate Arch in the Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah, and unleashed a media-driven tornado. Suddenly Davis and Potter were getting trashed on online climbing forums and being threatened with legal action. When the media storm had passed, Davis found herself without the support she had come to rely upon from a once family-like key sponsor, from the wider climbing commu-nity, and from her husband.

This is where Davis begins her second autobiographical book, Learning to Fly: An Uncommon Memoir of Human Flight, Unexpected Love, and One Amazing Dog. Davis talks about how she found herself in an emotional free-fall, and about how she dealt with that by casting about for a challenge to focus on. She chose her greatest fear: falling—the next day Davis was in Boulder, Colorado, learning how to skydive.

In this account of her journey into skydiving Davis reveals herself to be a strong-willed and very capable athlete as well as a brutally honest writer. She talks about the emotional turmoil that led to her first steps into this new sport and about how her climbing background shaped this introduction, gently guiding her reader through the mental gymnastics of this shift from climbing to jumping out of planes.

Thoughtful and articulate, Davis also makes it unexpectedly easy to

understand the attractions of jumping into space. I’ve always thought that falling through the air like that would be too fast, too scary and too out of control to feel like anything more than a plummet. But as I read Davis’s descriptions of her jumps, I realised there is time to think about how you move through the air. Drawn to the technical challenge of flight, Davis takes her reader on a tour of the sub-genres of skydiving and flying as she quickly masters basic skydiving and then moves on to ‘tracking’ and then to skydiving with a wingsuit, base jumping, and wingsuit base.

Jumping’ is a scene with its own culture and unwritten rules, though it’s so small and focused it’s not usually accessible to outsiders. But Davis shows us this scene is not as foreign as many climbers might expect: it’s ‘An expensive, octane-fueled cousin, but certainly a relation.’

In many ways Learning to Fly is about Davis’s on-going confrontation with fear. During the six or seven year span of Learning to Fly, Davis faces some big challenges, and makes some significant advances in her climbing, including free soloing Pervertical Sanctuary (5.11a/21) on the Diamond, in Colorado, and the North Face (5.11b/22) of Castleton Tower, in Castle Valley in Utah (which she then base jumped off). Davis talks in detail about the emotional challenges she encountered as she prepared for and completed these ascents, offering further insight into her strategies for staring down fear.

Autobiographies like Learning to Fly always reveal more than the author intends. The Steph Davis we meet in Learning to Fly is honest, centred and very likeable—definitely worth getting to know better!Learning to Fly: An Uncommon Memoir of Human Flight, Unexpected Love, and One Amazing Dog. By Steph Davis. New York: Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, 2013.

GO DEEPER See climber.co.nz for an interview with Steph by Nic learmonth.

http://ampro.co.nz


TECHNIQUE

BY GRAHAM JOHNSON

Leashless ice climbing is well established, but climbers are justifiably reluctant to remove their leashes on larger alpine routes. And it’s easy to understand why—dropping a tool at Wye Creek or Mangaturuturu means you’re done until you can grab it again. Dropping a tool on the Balfour Face means you might be done-done. To help avoid this, many climbers use an ‘umbilical’ bungee to join their tools to their harness. Using an umbilical retains the flexibility of leashless climb-ing and reduces the risk of dropping a tool to near zero. Here are some basic instructions for constructing your own umbilical. This will not be as flash as a commercially-made one, but it will be much cheaper and work just as well.Note: Umbilicals are not anchors! They are for saving your tool, not you!

WHAT YOU NEED1 Three metres of tubular webbing. Three metres will make an umbilical to fit a giant, so most people will need to trim down the end prod-uct. Pick the thinnest, most durable and water-resistant webbing you can find so your umbilical will be as light, compact and functional as possible. The thick all-nylon webbing commonly sold at gear shops is okay, but tends to ‘fuzz’ quickly and absorb water. Fifteen-millimetre-wide webbing is the thinnest commonly available in New Zealand, but try to find thinner webbing if you can. Twelve-millimetre webbing is good and cheap, but it’s hard to find. The difference between 15mm and 12mm doesn’t sound like much, but 12mm has a lot less bulk and will make for a much more compact system. Mammut’s dyneema Contact slings are ideal, but very expensive. An umbilical is an excellent use for a retired Mammut 240cm sling.2 Three metres of 3mm or 4mm bungee cord. Three-millimetre bungee will be easier to extend but will not retract as well as 4mm. 3 A swivel (optional). Suitable swivels can be purchased from hardware or fishing supply stores. Look for one that is small, light and strong, but still has eyes large enough to fit a carabiner or webbing through. 4 Two or three carabiners. These may be small accessory carabiners or normal, full-strength carabiners. If you’re going to use accessory cara-biners, I’d pick metal ones over plastic. Metal ones are much more durable and some are rated to several hundred kilograms. 5 A lighter.6 Scissors or a rope-cutter.7 A harness or belt.8 Two safety pins.9 A permanent marker.

ASSEMBLY1 The crux of this process is threading the bungee cord through the tubular webbing. Tying the cord to a safety pin and shuffling it along is an easy way to do it. This is a time-consuming and boring process. Apparently there is a tool for threading elastic waistbands that is available from sewing supply stores that works better than a safety pin. 2 Once you have the bungee all the way through, find the middle of the webbing and tie a knot there. I like to use a butterfly, but an over-hand will also work. If using a swivel, thread the swivel on first and tie the knot so the swivel sits nicely in the knot. If you’re not using a swivel, leave the loop of the butterfly about fist-sized.3 Clip or attach the umbilical to your waist somehow and, holding one end of the umbilical in each hand, extend your arms as if swinging a tool. Measure the distance between the swivel and the tool and mark it on the webbing with the pen. This mark is the bottom of the next knot. 4 Pull about 40cm of bungee through the webbing on each side. Pulling more or less through will vary the amount of tension in the umbilical. I like to use a safety pin to secure the bungee to the webbing where it exits the tube so it won’t spring back in as I tie the knot. 5 Tie overhand knots, or half-fisherman’s knots at the end of each strand of webbing. The loop in the knots should be just big enough to squeeze a carabiner through. 6 Clip your tools in and have a swing. At full reach there should be some tension on your tools, but not too much. You also want the webbing to bunch up nice and small when the tool isn’t extended. Play with the amount of tension you like. I prefer to err on the side of more tension because I prefer to have my umbilical bunch up as small as possible and I really don’t notice the extra tension when I’m swinging my tools. 7 Once you’ve got it set up the way you like it, cut off the extra webbing and bungee and burn the ends with a lighter to prevent fraying.

VARIATIONSThere are four possible ways to attach your umbilical to your harness. Experiment and see what works best for you.1 Swivel and carabiner. The swivel gives maximum flexibility, and the carabiner allows you to unclip completely from the umbilical if things get hopelessly tangled or you want to clear things away from your belay loop. 2 Straight girth-hitch. Leave out the swivel, and tie your butterfly with a large enough loop to girth hitch it directly to your harness. This is the lightest and simplest set-up. 3 Carabiner to harness. Tie your butterfly in a loop just small enough to accept a carabiner. The carabiner may be full-strength or not. This method is good if you like to clip your tools to the anchor at the belay and you don’t want the added weight of a swivel. 4 Swivel and girth-hitch. Assemble as described, but tie an extra loop of left-over webbing or cord into the free end of the swivel and girth-hitch this to your harness. Many climbers prefer this method because it allows for maximum flexibility but is lighter than the full ‘biner and swivel set-up.

A FEW TIPS ON USING YOUR UMBILICAL1 The umbilical is designed to hold tool-weight only. Do not incorporate this system into your anchor or use it to rest on your tools while climbing. 2 Many people struggle with using an umbilical at first. Pay attention and make sure you don’t step over your umbilical and have to make an awkward move to get your tool back from between your legs. 3 Switch the attachment point from the spike of the tool to the head if you’re going to be using the tool as a piolet. 4 Use your umbilical on appropriate terrain. Single-pitch cragging is not the place to be using an umbilical.

BUILD YOUR OWN UMBILICAL


STUFF YOU NEED

AVALANCHE AWARENESS

in the New Zealand BackcountryNEW EDITIONNew 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

MONTBELL TACHYON ANORAKTHE MONTBELL Tachyon anorak is one of the lightest hooded jackets on the market today. At 65g (in a men’s size medium) this featherweight anorak has been stripped of just about every extraneous feature. It’s built for people wanting to move as fast as possible. The jacket takes its name from a hypothetical particle which moves faster than the speed of light (thanks Wikipedia). Montbell designed this jacket on the principle of ‘function only’—they tried to take away everything that is not purely necessary and the execution of this is just about perfect. There are no pockets, and only a quarter-length zip. Everything you absolutely need is there though: there is a drawcord at the waist and a hood-volume adjustment. The cuffs are elasticized so they seal nicely around your wrists, and for the hood, a small Velcro tab at the back and a bungee around the edge works surprisingly well.

While the Tachyon anorak was designed primarily for trail runners, I’ve been using it for all sorts of other mountain activities—from spring ski-touring to mixed climbing. When packing for a trip—it doesn’t even really matter what my destination or activity is—the Tachyon anorak is just about always in my pack. It is so light, and so multifunctional that it’s too easy and useful to have on hand. It weighs so little that if I carry it and don’t use it, it’s not a big deal.

It blocks wind very effectively, and the hood fits well both with and without a climbing helmet. There is a slight brim to the hood which helps keep it off your forehead when using it. Having used a few other jackets in the ultra-light category I would say that breathability and rain-

resistance of this one is above average, but it is by no means a jacket for anything but the light, intermittent drizzle. I occasionally wish it had a pocket to stash a key or my iPod, or a longer zip so I could vent better without taking it off,

but overall these are minor concessions to con-venience that are unnecessary. There is a very

small stuff sac which can be attached to the inside to double as a pocket for a key or phone, but I’ve

never bothered to use it. As one might expect, durability is not high on the list

of the Tachyon’s attributes. The oddly shimmery 7-denier nylon rip-stop will not last as long as the canvas Macpac gaiters you bought in 1976, but aside from one small hole from hooking my ice tools over my shoulder during a mixed climb, it has held up to testing very well. I wouldn’t recommend it for any high-contact bush-bashing or especially grovelly climbing but for just about everything else it is a great wind layer to have on or in the pack.

As far as high fashion goes, I think it looks pretty cool, but my friends call it my ‘trash-bag jacket’ and my girlfriend refers to it as my ‘knob jacket’ … so make of that that what you will.

The bottom line: This ultralight anorak is a great piece for just about every low-contact outdoor activity from tramping to alpine rock. MontBell T achyon anorak. RRP $130. HHHHH

–Graham Johnson

https://alpineclub.org.nz/product/avalanche-awareness-in-the-new-zealand-backcountry


STUFF YOU NEED

BLACK DIAMOND SUPER CHUTE AND TRANGO ANTIDOTE ROPEBAGSI USED to consider a ropebag a useless piece of kit; instead, I used lab coats ‘borrowed’ from the University of Otago when I wanted to keep my gear out of the sand at Long Beach. I have since changed my mind and now fully embrace the ropebag as quite useful for cragging. I have been using both of these ropebags for almost a year now and both do exactly what they say on the tin, and share a number of standard features. I have been using ropes between 9.7 and 9.8mm, both 60m long and they fit the rope bags just fine.

THE SUPER CHUTE is a lightweight bag (490g) with a thin nylon tarp. There are two loops (one red and one green) on opposite ends of the tarp for tying the top and the bottom of the rope to. Once the rope is in the bag there are two metal buckles for securing the tarp in the bag, as well as a drawstring. My only real nit-pick is with both bags: the drawstring closure. The drawstring on both bags is used to cinch up the top of the bag once the rope is put away. This leaves a very long bit of cord that needs to be tucked away. I can’t think of a better way to accomplish this task but it is a little bit of a fuddle. I’m sure ropebag manufacturers would welcome a more elegant solution. The bag itself has a coloured half, of thicker nylon (the Super Chute comes in four nice colours) and a back half, in grey, which is a slightly thinner nylon. There is a single adjustable, removable padded shoulder strap and that’s about it. It’s quite a simple ropebag, really. The bag itself is quite large—Black Diamond claims that it’s big enough to carry an 80-metre rope—but it still seems to pack down reasonably well in a sort of messenger-bag shape. The ‘feature’ that sets the Super Chute aside from other ropebags is that the tarp has been furled up towards the bag end so that when you lift the two outside corners of the tarp, the rope slides down the ‘chute’ and into the bag. This supposedly makes packing the rope easier, but I haven’t found it to be any better than the traditional roll-and-stuff method. All in all, the Super Chute is a very simple, lightweight and effective ropebag.

THE TRANGO ANTIDOTE is a bit heavier at 550g, a bit cheaper, and is packed with many more user-friendly features. The basic design—a large tarp, with two different coloured rope-end loops, that rolls into a bag secured by two straps, two metal buckles and a drawstring closure—is the same as on the Super Chute. The selection of colours for the Antidote is enormous, as long as you like black. The bag itself claims to be the same size as the Super Chute but actually feels and looks a bit smaller. There is a zippered pocket about the right size for a wallet, keys, phone and maybe a snack. There are two padded straps so the bag can be carried as a (rather uncomfortable) backpack, as well as a handy grab loop on one end. The shoulder straps are removable and adjustable so that you can carry the Antidote over your shoulder as well. The fabrics used for the bag and the tarp feel a bit burlier than those on the Super Chute. There is also a little window on the tarp that is positioned so that you can tell what rope is in the bag even when it’s all packed away. I doubt most climbers have enough ropes to forget what rope is in their ropebag, but this could be a handy feature for institutions or guide services that do have a lot of ropes. The tarp on the Antidote is marginally larger than on the Super Chute. The Antidote seems to pack into a more compact package than the Super Chute—the bag is a more rounded shape than the Super Chute.

Both of these ropebags work really well and should stand up to years of reasonable abuse. The Super Chute suits the climber who prefers to either carry their rope in their backpack or over their shoulder in addition to their backpack, with only the rope in the ropebag. The Antidote may work better for the climber who likes to stuff everything into their ropebag (shoes, har-ness, quickdraws) and carry the ropebag as a pack. It’s hard to go too far wrong with either one.Black Diamond Super Chute and Trango Antidote.

–Graham Johnson

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STUFF YOU NEED

SIMOND VAMPIRE SPEED CRAMPONSTHE AVAILABILITY of mountaineering equipment, or lack thereof, is a topic of heat-ed debate—specifically when considering whether to sup-port local distributors or procure gear from overseas. I’m pleased to announce that when it comes to crampons, climbers here in New Zealand are aptly catered for by the local market.

Producing equipment out of a small workshop at the base of Mont Blanc in France since 1860, Simond has managed to keep its manu-facturing true to small-outfit ethics—Simond’s design is focused on what an alpinist needs and its pricing is below some of the bigger brand names. Simond’s gear is well worth considering by anyone in the market for proper mountaineering equipment.

The Vampire Speed is a technical crampon with 12 points in dual front-point configuration or 11 points when adjusted to a mono-point configuration. Options for both are supplied and the modification pro-cess is simple. The crampon mimics the Petzl Lynx in several of its design attributes, with some small compromises that are noteworthy but negligible to their performance in the field. They are reasonably light (1090g) for a modular unit with anti-ball plates and replaceable front points. The front points can be adjusted from a moderate to a more pronounced position as ice conditions or personal prefer-ence require.

The Vampire Speeds fit well to my La Sportiva Nepal Evo boots. Both the toe and heel bales resemble those on the Petzl Lynx, and the Lynx is widely praised for its ability to fit the vast majority of boots. The Vampire Speed, in its ‘speed’ format, requires a welt at both the toe and heel.

While the Vampire Speeds fits on my size 45 boots, I suspect that larger-sized boots may require an aftermarket extender. I am yet to ascertain if it is a conscious decision or a flaw in the design, but the extender does not retract into the heel unit when the crampon is packed away. Thus, to shorten the unit for storage one must manu-ally adjust the extender bar from its boot setting so the crampon will fit in the bag provided. This is a small faff when you’re in the field and wanting to quickly transition crampons on or off, but when it comes to climbing performance, this is really a minor inconvenience.

Simond has distinguished the Vampire Speeds from almost all other crampon manufacturers by hot-forging the front points from

stainless steel, rather than chro-moly steel (which is what the rest of the unit is

constructed from). Simond claims this will increase the lifespan of the points. Having

worn a pair of Petzl Darts down to an unusable level, and having used the Lynx extensively on ice, I can safely say the Vampire Speed’s stainless steel front points are at least as dura-ble as those found on the Petzl crampons. Whether or not they are actually of increased durability is difficult to gauge.

The heel-bale fitting on the Vampire Speeds is possibly the most frustrating feature, because it is constructed from metal instead of plastic. The heel clip has damaged an area on the heel welt of my boot and thus is fairly destructive compared with plastic clip-styles used by other manufacturers. I have mitigated further damage by not winding up the heel bale as tight and have not had any further problems since. But it can be a concern if you like to have your gear secured tightly as I tend to.

In the field, the crampons perform well on steep ice and moderate mixed terrain. The secondary points bite reliably when you drop your heel, and the size of the downward-facing points is considerable, allowing plenty of material to be removed when sharpening before they need to be decommissioned. The Vampire Speeds have served without fault for glacier travel despite being short two points of con-tact over most competitors’ offerings. The anti-balling plates work in both wet and dry snow. The Vampire Speed is a technical crampon, most suited to vertical endeavours. Once embarking up a pitch, I cannot distinguish any difference between either of the earlier men-tioned Petzl models and the Vampire Speed.

Despite the few shortcomings of the Vampire Speed, I firmly believe that these are a reasonable option, given their competitive price point. Simond products represent great value when compared with their competitors, even in New Zealand, and the Vampire Speed is no exception. Simond Vampire Speed crampons. HHHHH

–Anesh Narsai

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STUFF YOU NEED

FITWELL SIRIUS WINTER BOOTSCLASSIC ALL-PURPOSE general mountaineer-ing boots are like All Black first-fives—the more options available in New Zealand, the better. Thanks to Christchurch company SplitN2, the Fitwell Sirius Winter is now added to the stable of boot choices available to pur-chase here.

Fitwell is a small Italian company famous for producing the inno-vative and super-popular Backcountry snowboard mountaineering boots. The company have been making climbing boots for 20 years or so, and notably, they manufacture all of their products in Italy. The construction of the Sirius Winters is exceptional; the upper is made from leather and kevlar, with Primaloft insulation and water-proof, breathable eVent membrane. The sole is Vibram with toe and heel welts to take automatic crampons.

Although they are marketed as a winter boot, these are suitable as a year-round boot for New Zealand mountaineering; good for sum-mer alpine climbing and winter ice climbing. I might choose some-thing warmer for multi-day alpine routes in the middle of winter, but for everything else—including hut-based winter alpine climbing on shorter routes—these boots fit the bill. A comparable model popular in New Zealand is the La Sportiva Nepal Evo, if you’re looking at

a pair of Nepal Evos, I recommend checking out the Sirius Winter as a significantly cheaper and

slightly lighter option. (Nepal Evos RRP is $999 and they weigh 1012g per boot. The Sirius Winters weigh 940g per boot). The sizing runs similar to La Sportiva models.

The upper feels quite soft, it doesn’t have the same ankle support as some other winter mountaineering boots, but the compromise is increased ankle flexibility, which is great for steep climbing. They are a perfect ice climbing boot: warm, with a solid, supportive sole, light enough and flexible.

The fit is reasonably narrow, with a roomy toe-box. Although they fit me very well and I don’t have particlarly narrow feet, I suspect people with wide feet will find these too narrow.

All-in-all, these boots are awesomely comfortable, well-made and come at an agreeable price-point—definitely check them out when looking for your next pair of alpine climbing boots. Fitwell Sirius Winter boots. RRP $595. HHHHH Available from Splitn2.com.

–Kester Brown

DYNAFIT RADICAL ST SKI-TOURING BINDINGSIF YOU’RE a backcountry skier, you’ll probably have a set of tech bindings, or you’ll be thinking about buying some.

I’ve used step-ins for all of my touring until this year when I finally switched to a set of Dynafit Radical ST bindings.

While tech bindings have surged in popularity in the last few years, the concept is actually over 20 years old—the first frameless binding system was patented in 1984. But the reason this design is now readily available to you and me is largely thanks to European com-pany Dynafit, which produces a variety of tech binding models. Dynafit makes bindings to suit skiers looking for super-lightweight options for mega-tours and racing, through to those after a system that can be thrashed off the lifts and in the side-country. I went for the middle-of-the-road option—and what is by far the most popular model—the Radical ST.

The other brand of tech bindings available in New Zealand is Plum. These are apparently good, strong, reliable bindings—they’re a little cheaper than Dynafits, but note they don’t come with brakes.

The Radical ST weighs 531g per binding, without brakes. That doesn’t sound particularly light until you consider that my previous touring bindings (Fritschi Freeride Pluses) weighed over a kilogram each. This kind of weight reduction is the main reason for buying this type of binding. I’m already dragging fat skis and downhill boots up every hill I skin up (not to mention a bit of extra pie-and-beer ‘winter insulation’). So I need all the weight-savings help I can get. Dropping an entire kilo from the weight on your feet makes a huge difference for lengthy uphills!

To be honest, I’m not that keen on lengthy uphills. I chose this medi-um-weight model because I’m your average skier who mostly just wants to do day-trips from a hut or home, looking for good snow. I’m not going to go in a race against Grant Guise or try to follow Erik Bradshaw across the entire length of the Alps, or huck 100-foot cliffs. But I might do the Symphony on Skis with these one day, and huck a one-foot cliff.

For any tech binding to be compatible with your boots, you’ll need tech inserts in the soles. Most ski tour-ing boots will come with the inserts, and some freeride boots do as well these days. If you’re planning to switch sole blocks on the one pair of boots, to use with both alpine and tech bindings, be aware that touring soles will have more rocker, so the toe-piece might sit too high for your alpine

bindings, meaning they won’t release properly, and apparently the binding can break when you click in. So take the time to change ‘em out when necessary.

Dynafits release differently to most alpine bindings—the lateral release is at the heel, not the toe. From what I have read (which corre-sponds with personal experience), the two systems are equally safe.

One thing to pay very close attention to with Dynafit bindings is clicking your toe in properly. This can be a bit tricky at first—it helps to mark a spot on your boots next to the inserts so you can see where they are easily from above. Ice, snow or dirt can build up in your boot inserts or the toe-piece, and as a result the bindings can close and grab your boots even if the pins aren’t actually in the inserts correctly. So it’s important to double-check that your bindings have engaged prop-erly every time you click in, or you risk inevitable pre-release. I don’t count this as a downside to the binding, because it’s easy to do—you just have to remember to do it!

I haven’t had my Radical STs long enough to comment on their dura-bility, but my regular ski-touring partner has been on a pair for a couple of seasons, and they have stood up well.

For an every day, all-round binding for 99 per cent of skiers who want to go beyond the ropes, the Radical STs are the best tech binding option available.Dynafit Radical ST bindings. RRP $799. HHHHH

–Kester Brown


THE LAST P ITCH

The Last Pitch: continued from page 56through my mind. ‘Do I skin over and up to where I heard Jay’s voice?’ No, that would put me in the slide path and lots of hang fire. But I was a 30-minute skin from the top! People can last eight minutes buried, so I was going to have to go up and dig out my best friends’ bodies!’ I didn’t know what to do. I tried to put my skins on. I put them on the wrong way around! ‘Good god, get it together Tess.’ It took all my concentra-tion to do that one action and to keep my head together enough to get my skins on. Even then I did not know what to do. I just had to act.

I started back up towards the skin track when I heard Aili calling my name. I screamed at her and yelled a bunch of obscenities because I was so glad she was alive and they were okay but I was livid they did not go down the way they said they would. Aili skied up and said, ‘Tess, Liza’s dead.’ Silence. We skied back to Jay. He was standing there shattered and broken, tears streaming down his face. He was saying, ‘I killed her, I killed her.’ I shook him by the shoulders and said, ‘No, you listen to me. You did not kill her, you hear me, you did not kill her!’

Jay, Aili and Doc had left your body crumpled against the tree. Jay turned on your boot heat-ers before they left because your feet had always been cold. Your eyes had been closed but you were turning blue. You suffered a caved-in chest and head trauma. Liza, you died in Jay’s arms while he told you that he loved you. It was only ten minutes after you hit that big beautiful tree that you stopped breathing. Doc—who is actually a physician—said there was nothing we could have done for you. Aili said she had just got to the top and did not even have time to talk about the conditions or take off her skins before you dropped in. An eight-inch soft slab broke under your feet and, because the layer beneath was so firm, you slid with tremendous pace into a big tree about ten metres below. You were not even buried. The pack that had rolled down the hill was your pack—Jay had taken it off so that he could hold you. There was nothing more we could do, so our group of four skied down in the pink sunset making turns in the perfect powder.

Jay was the head of the county Search and Rescue and he had a radio with him. One of his team members was snowmobiling in the area so he was able to meet Jay immediately. We got down to the snowmobiles and Aili and I stood, stunned, as Jay raced off without his goggles to meet the Search and Rescue team. By the time he arrived he was nearly blind from the snow flying in his eyes and grief.

At the parking lot there was a debriefing. Jay’s Search and Rescue team was there. They asked us to describe the place where the acci-dent had occurred and the avalanche conditions. They were going to heli-lift your body out if the weather was good tomorrow. Aili drew an incredibly detailed map of the location of your body, and pointed out

areas where they might encounter dangerous avalanche conditions. The team had to go in on snowmobiles and foot because the weather was too bad to fly.

The day of your memorial, Aili and I did a dawn patrol on Teton Pass. We were not alone. The other party at the hut on the top of Glory Bowl was there to represent their friend Nick who had also been lost in an avalanche in Teton Park on that same Sunday that we lost you, Liza.

When I go into avalanche terrain now I see the terrain differently—with more active and critical eyes. I am always evaluating the snow: ‘If this slides or sluffs, even a little, where is the fall-line going to take me? What is the condition of the snow? How do I make my next turn to avoid a bad terrain trap?’ I know that even with constant analysis, travel in the backcountry is not failsafe. The times when the avalanche danger is high are often the times when the powder is the deepest and the most fun. It has never crossed my mind to stop going into

avalanche terrain. I can’t say that I will not ever go out again when the avalanche danger is con-siderable—the question is how do we make an inherently unsafe place safe? We pay attention.

When I talked to Jay later he still held himself solely responsible. Was that because he had the most training? I told him that if he was respon-sible then we all were. Was I responsible? I had been distracted by the powder fever and my competitive streak. Or was it Aili, who did not speak up loudly enough about her concerns and wanted to fit in with the group? Was it Doc,

for trusting everybody else to make the right call? Was it you Liza, because you made a ski cut on a roll with slabby conditions?

Shared responsibility does not take that burden from my dear friend’s shoulders.

Fast forward to this season. I was storm-riding again. This timethe snow was thigh deep. I was out with two very good skiers and as the token snowboarder I was trying hard to keep up. It was snowing so much that it was creating soft slabs while we were skiing. We were skiing down 30–35 degree slopes. I dropped in and quite a lot of loose snow came down behind me. Then while we were waiting for our friend JD to make a phone call, a small chute above us released. We had talked about skinning back up and it seemed a bit risky but the ski-ing was so good! Then all of a sudden I remembered you, Liza Grey, and how I had powder fever that day. I had the fever again and it was clouding my judgement. I said as much and my friends and I decided to get out of there.

Liza, thank you for reminding about the powder fever. Thank you for teaching me about how the littlest distractions, such as competition between girls, or how good those powder turns feel, can hinder a clear judgement. I will try harder to pay attention—for you and for my partners.

‘THIS IS BAD,’ I THOUGHT. ‘I

NEED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S

HAPPENING.’ THEN I KNEW,

I JUST KNEW … THERE HAD

BEEN AN AVALANCHE.

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THE LAST P ITCH

I had met you just a day earlier. We had fun skiing in Cliff Creek; it is one of the most beautiful forests I have ever been in. Cliff Creek is a micro-climate and has more

moisture than the rest of the Wyoming Range, so the Douglas Firs were majestically huge. We happily skied through these giant trees in perfect, knee-deep powder. We had one last moment on the ridge with about 20 ruffed grouse roosting in a white bark pine nearby. Suddenly the clouds parted and we could see lines for miles. We were definitely coming back here the next day!

Aili and I were so excited about how good the snow was that we could barely sleep. Early the next morning, bacon breakfast burritos were chowed down by all. Apparently you and Jay had a big evening, because our friend Doc told us later that Jay opened the door of your cabin naked! Well I guess you were getting your lovin’ in. I did not know then that he loved and adored you so much. You see, Jay was my ex-boyfriend and he is one of the good ones!

There were five of us that day: you and Jay, Doc, Aili and me. We three women chatted on the skin up. I was glad that you were feeling welcome in this sometimes hard-to-crack rural Wyoming community. I felt proud of my town for welcoming you; you would be an asset to the area when you finished your physician’s assistant programme and moved to Pinedale. I imagined you and Jay would have a garden and maybe kids. I have to say I was a little envious—you were a lucky girl!

I liked you though: you had fire, and you were a good skier. I hoped we could go skiing again.

Aili and I talked about some of the lessons and observations from the day before: don’t stand in front of trees when someone is coming down because if the slope slides then the trees will act as strainers. We observed that the bowl on the skier’s left was a little slabby. It was a little strange that we decided to ski there, though not too strange really. It had been snowing, but the conditions were the same as the day before, and the bowl was wide open and untracked. We had seen only powder sluff, except on the firmer sun- and wind-affected aspects at the top of the bowl, which were flaking off in small consolidated soft slabs. We had powder fever bad though, and decided to ski the bowl one at a time. Standing on the ridge above a group of trees, I said, ‘Manage your sluff’. What does that mean anyway? I meant to tell you to not turn in front of your sluff because it will take you out. You squeaked by, that time. Aili was going too slow and was almost taken out. Doc was taken out and was pushed upside down into a tree! I just pointed it and out-ran the sluff.

At the bottom of our run you pointed out some avalanche debris to

skier’s right of the bowl we had just skied. Was it old? It should have been a red flag, but we ignored it. You said, ‘I want to go over to the other side of the big rock to the open chute, on the skier’s right of the chute we just skied.’ So as not to be one-upped I said, ‘Yes, that looks good.’ Aili said to me, ‘I don’t like this, Tess.’ Jay even mentioned that he did not want to go further over to the right. We talked about it. But Liza, you and I, we wanted to drop into a new zone. Meanwhile, my gut was churning and burning—that nasty jalapeno oil in the breakfast burrito had been distracting me and now it was slowing me down. I stopped at the border of the chute we had just skied, using the excuse of getting some powder shots of everyone to not climb to the top. I waited with my camera. I hated being a wimp, but my gut was feeling really bad.

Now separate from the group, alone, I waited. I heard you guys above me. I waited and focused for the perfect shot … but nothing happened. ‘Dang’, I thought, ‘they’ve dropped the other side and I won’t be able to see them.’ I put my board together and dropped in, flaking off a 12cm by 120cm slab that slid on a firm buried layer. I was able to get around it. I went down to wait under a big rock. Then some-thing terrible happened.

What was that rolling down the hill? Was that a body?—no, it was a backpack. Ha ha! Freaking Doc lost his backpack, what a goof!Any minute, any minute now, I’ll hear whoops of joy, any min-ute now.Damn. I’m getting cold. Where are they? The terrain over to the right is calling me, but it looks like a perfect slide path. I don’t like the look of it. I could probably squeak by, but it will be risky … I talked myself out of going down the skier’s right side, and went

down the bowl that had our tracks from the time before. I was rid-ing really badly so I looked down and noticed that I had put my board together wrong. My board is directional and it rides really funny with the shorter side in the front. Rookie mistake!

‘Phew!’ I was relieved that I did not drop over to the untracked bowl to the right as I would not have been able to get out of there fast enough. I finally got down to the last meeting place at the bottom of the slope.

‘Any minute now they will be coming down,’ I thought. But nothing. I could see nothing. It was snowing harder now and getting darker. I yelled up the hill ‘Hey!’ Nothing, and then about five minutes later I heard my friend Jay crying out, ‘No, it’s too hard, it’s too deep’.

‘Hey,’ I yelled again, ‘What’s going on?’‘This is bad,’ I thought. ‘I need to find out what’s happening.’ Then I

knew, I just knew. There had been an avalanche. Thoughts racedPlease turn to page 55

PHO

TO: T

ESS

CAR

NEY

POWDER FEVER

For Elizabeth Grey Benson

BY TESS CARNEY

BY TESS CARNEY

Dear Liza,

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